When your recipient receives the message, they tap the Play button to listen.

Drawbacks With Using Messages

Here are a couple of disadvantages to using Messages for your voice message.

As an iPhone user, you cannot currently send voice messages using the Messages app to other smartphones like Android. By default, audio messages expire two minutes after you listen to them and are automatically removed. Your recipient can tap Keep to hold onto your message or disable the expiration by going to Settings > Messages.

If your recipient isn’t an iPhone user or you want to avoid the possible expiration of your audio message, consider sharing your message using Voice Memos.

Create and Send a Voice Message With Voice Memos

The Voice Memos app is excellent for capturing audio notes, speakers during a meeting, and more. Since you can easily share a voice recording from the app, this is a solid alternative to the Messages app on iPhone. To share, tap the three dots next to the name of the recording. When you send a recording using Voice Memos, it will be formatted as an M4A file. So your recipient can use whichever audio player they have to open it and listen. Rest your fingers, say everything you need to say, or let your family hear your kids say hello with voice messages on your iPhone.