Filed under: Hacks, How-tos, iPhone
Trick your iPhone voicemail into using voice recording data
The other day, I discussed how to record audio on your iPhone. Several people wrote in asking whether they could have their recordings show up in voicemail, so I scouted around a bit. I discovered that voicemail is stored in ~/Library/Voicemail and that it uses an sqlite3-compatible database to manage that information.
Last night, I put together a shell script that allows you to trick the iPhone into thinking that amr files added to the voicemail folder are actual voicemails. To make this happen, I ported sqlite3 to the iPhone (You can download a copy here). I also wrote a csh script, which you can download here and a time utility, here. The reason I wrote the script in csh rather than bash (both of which appear in the standard binary distribution kit) is just that I'm more familiar with csh.
To run the script, supply it with the amr file as its one argument, e.g. copy2vmail foo.amr. The script copies the amr file to the voicemail folder and updates the voicemail database as if the voicemail were received at the current time.
To force voicemail to update and re-read the database, enter the phone application and quit it by holding down the home button for 4-8 seconds. Re-enter the phone application and, with luck, you will see the recording as new voice message from "VoiceRecorder".
Thanks, Spaced.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
SpacedCowboy said 1:53AM on 8-09-2007
For those looking for an ObjC version of this, you can find it (minus the file-copy and restart-the-phone-app parts) at http://www.gornall.net/files/vmail.tar.bz2. Mainly it was a test of my SQL datababase manager code, but perhaps it'll come in useful for someone
SC.
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Brian said 11:29AM on 8-09-2007
So, has anyone noticed that their voicemail goes away after a time? Over the last few days, I have lost several voicemails that I was wanting to keep. Is there a way to get the voicemail files off the phone? Could the ones I lost still be in a backup on my mac?
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WickDC said 11:03AM on 8-09-2007
Love it! How about having that as another option in the recorder GUI instad of just Save....so [Save] or [Save+Add to VM]
And with sqlite3 ported, I can see some simple GUI DB apps coming....all your logins/passwords in your new digital little black (and silver) book? Of course with some encryption. I wish I were a better coder!
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ad6am said 3:03PM on 8-09-2007
Or, you could simply call your own phone number and leave yourself a message. Why bother with the hack?
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GadgetGav said 11:52AM on 8-09-2007
You do know you can do this without hacking your phone, right..?
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20070803221625100
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Tate Roam said 1:31AM on 8-10-2007
I would like to save some of my voicemails on to my computer. Please help me do it someone.
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Kevin said 1:40PM on 8-10-2007
Here is the link for HOWTO: Pulling off Your Voicemails Onto Your Computer
http://www.modmyiphone.com/wiki/index.php/Saving_iPhone_ringtones_to_your_computer
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Gabe said 5:33PM on 8-11-2007
Hey Erica, I have a question that is slightly off topic, but would like to discuss further with you.
I am interested in creating a GUI iPhone web app builder so I can help people create websites like http://app.getleaflets.com/ with an iWeb interface, etc.
Let me know if you are interested in this idea, or if you know anyone who is.
Also, thanks for responding to my previous question on this post, it was nice to hear from you and get some feedback.
Thanks again!
Gabe
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Isaac said 11:11AM on 8-16-2007
Hi Erica,
A feasability question for you: is there access to the music storage folder on a hacked iPhone? If so, what are the technical barriers to creating a iPhone to iPhone or iPhone to pc music/file sharing app? Can you copy music files into a hacked iPhone without itunes? Welcome to the iPhone social?
thanks,
Isaac
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