How do you know if someone heard your audio message on iPhone? Some users adore audio messages, others find them irritating and impractical. Regardless of what camp you belong to, it’s hard to deny that audio messages are part of our lives now. So it’s critical to understand all the nuances of how the audio messages work.
Can you know if your contact listened to your messages? Why can’t you listen to audio message on iPhone again after some time? You’ll find the answers here.
Popular messengers
To answer these questions we first need to specify what messages app are we talking about. The problem is even though messengers have similar functions some of the core mechanisms as well as the user interfaces are often quite different.
This is why tips applicable to some messages app might not work for others. In this article, we’re going to look at two of the most popular messengers: iMessage and WhatsApp.
You’re gonna learn more about how they function, and how to use them more efficiently.
IMessage voice message
So like most iPhone users you prefer iMessage. Is there a way to know that the other person listened to your message?
This is simple. The app interface is very intuitive and easy to navigate.
Initially, when you just send off an audio message to your contact on iMessage, the first thing you’re gonna see is a small word Delivered under your sent audio message.
Delivered pops up if the sent audio message has been received by the other device, i.e. there was no connection issue or error.
Once your contact listens to your audio message you’ll see another pop-up in the message thread: Played.
Keep in mind though that Played doesn’t indicate that the person listened to your entire audio message. If the message is on the lengthier side and they were too busy to listen to it in its entirety, you’ll still see the word Played.
The word Played will be also displayed even if your contact just hit play and then closed the app. This might happen to any of us, right?
Imagine, your friend wants to listen to your audio message, they hit Play and then immediately something distracts them, maybe they get a phone call, or maybe their cat drops a vase or something.
Many things can happen and you’ll still see the word Played which doesn’t necessarily denote that your friend listened to your audio message. So that’s a little detail you have to be mindful of.
Kept
But what if you don’t see either of those words under your audio message? Quite often you might see a little word Kept in the bottom right corner of the audio message. What does that mean?
Kept means that your friend has listened to the audio message and then saved it.
You might’ve noticed that it is impossible to return to audio messages on iMessage. After some time audio messages disappear from your iPhone leaving an empty bubble.
The thing is that by default settings apple devices don’t save audio messages. The voice messages just self-delete automatically a mere two minutes after you listen to them for the first time.
This feature serves two functions.
First, it helps to secure your privacy because all the audio messages are only accessible for a very limited time.
Second, this feature helps to use your iPhone’s memory more sparingly.
At the same time, many iPhone users find this feature impractical and tweak the default settings to save the audio messages. For this exact reason the word Kept might be displayed in the bottom corner of the sent audio message.
It signifies that the iPhone user either saves all the audio messages or decides to save this particular message.
Whatsapp voice messages
Can you know if the other person listened to your audio message on iPhone if you use WhatsApp?
Take a look at WhatsApp voice message on iPhone. You might notice that there are no pop-ups dedicated to the status of your message. You won’t see words like Delivered or Played.
So is it impossible to know if the recipient listened to the audio message? Totally! You won’t see any texts however, you will be given easy-to-understand visual clues.
Inspect your freshly sent audio message closely. All interactable parts of the audio message bubble will be grey: the play button, the audio icon, and the microphone icon.
However, once your contact listens to the audio message all the buttons will instantly become blue. This will tell you that your friend listened to the message.
How to save voice messages on iPhone?
Now you know how to tell if your contact played your audio message. But don’t leave just yet, I’ve more tips for you.
For instance, I can tell you how to save messages for longer than 2 minutes. Many users are dissatisfied with this feature. Luckily, there are many ways you can solve this problem.
Just press KEEP
The first one is extremely simple. If you want to keep some specific message just tap on the word Keep in the message bubble.
After that, this audio file will be stored in the memory of your iPhone until you decide to delete it. All you need to do to listen to it is just open the voice message app and hit the play button.
Even though it is quite convenient, you still need to manually save all the messages you need. What if you forget to do that and the two-minute timer has already run out? Don’t worry this is easily fixable.
Saving all messages automatically
As I said it is easy to tweak the default settings and have all messages saved automatically.
- To do that open the settings menu on your iPhone and locate the word Messages Tap on it.
- When the new menu pops up find the AUDIO MESSAGE settings.
- Pick EXPIRE and checkmark the word NEVER. Sadly, there is no middle ground option: the audio messages will either expire after two minutes or stay on your iPhone permanently.
Other ways to save audio messages
Are there any other options? What if you don’t want to fill up your storage space with countless audio messages? One audio file isn’t that big but believe me these things add up.
In no time you’ll be wondering why your iPhone has run out of space. Luckily, there are other ways to save iPhone messages.
Voice memos app
On the iOS versions preceding iOS 12, you could also save messages with the help of the Voice Memos app. If you own an older version of the iPhone this might come in handy.
Go to the message app. Tap and hold on to the audio message that you need.
Hit SAVE. This audio message will now convert into a voice memo.
You can access the saved audio messages at any time by opening the Voice Memos app.
Notes app
This method is even more simple. It’ll allow you to turn an audio message into an audio file. Neat, isn’t it? Besides, this method works on all iPhones regardless of the software version.
- First, open the messages app.
- Find the needed voice message among the text messages. Tap it and hold for a couple of seconds.
- The same menu will pop up but now you should press COPY instead of SAVE. If you’re using one of the latest iPhones the SAVE option won’t be available at all.
- Now just proceed to the Notes app.
- Create a new note by tapping on the yellow pen icon in the right bottom corner of the screen.
- Here long tap on the text field of the new note and pick PASTE in the contextual menu.
- Finally, tap on the three yellow dots in the top left corner of the created note. Now you can transport the audio message between other iPhone apps or save the audio file on your PC.
Conclusion
How do you know if someone heard your audio message on iPhone? The answer to this question depends on what messages app you use.
If you use iMessage just look at what word is displayed directly below the audio message you sent. If there are words like Played or Kept it indicates that the message has been listened to.
If you’re using WhatsApp, the audio message will become blue once the person listens to it.
FAQ
Can you tell if someone listened to your audio message?
Yes. If you’re using iMessage, you’ll see a small word Played under the sent audio message after your contact listens to it. If your contact chooses to save all audio messages, you’ll see the word Kept instead.
WhatsApp works a little bit differently. Initially, the audio message will be grey. But when your friend listens to it the main buttons of the audio message will automatically turn blue.
How do audio messages work on iPhones?
The user interface of iMessage is straightforward and intuitive. Upon raising your iPhone to your ear the message will play automatically. Just tap on the little soundwave icon next to the text field when you’re ready to record and send a response.
What happens to audio messages on iPhone?
Audio messages expire 120 seconds after they are played for the first time. You can choose to change this by going to the iPhone settings and selecting Never in the section dedicated to the audio message expiration date.
What does it mean when someone keeps an audio message on iMessage?
The audio message disappears two minutes after the first time it’s played. Many users don’t like that. Because of that they tweak the settings and save all the incoming audio messages.
In this case, the word Kept will be displayed at the bottom of the audio message.