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iPhone 101: Switch between audio outputs for your voicemail

by Cory Bohon Sep 18th 2008 at 9:00AM

Many iPhone users use a Bluetooth headset on their phones. However, they may not know that you can use the same headset to listen to their Visual Voicemail.

To listen to your voicemail through your headset, just navigate to Phone > Voicemail. Once there, click the "Audio" button in the top right -- you will be presented with some options. If you have your headset paired with your iPhone, you will see a headset option along with the iPhone and Speaker Phone options.

Clicking any one of these will immediately transfer the audio to the output specified.

Thanks for the tip, Brandon!

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Many iPhone users use a Bluetooth headset on their phones. However, they may not know that you can use the same headset to listen to their...
 

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Howie Isaacks

I've known about this all along. The trouble is that some bluetooth headsets don't work like this. My Plaintronics Voyager 520 didn't allow this feature until the iPhone 2.1 update released.

September 19 2008 at 7:03 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Brian

Unfortunately, Visual Voicemail doesn't work in BMWs with their bluetooth connections. I don't think it's a BMW-specific problem; many users are reporting problems with particular non-Apple bluetooth headsets.

September 18 2008 at 7:02 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jason

Part of people's show is the fact that this is a "smart" feature, that works one of two ways.

I don't have a bluetooth headset, and thusly, I don't have it paired to my phone. As described in the post, my button is labeled "Speaker". When tapped, it turns a lighter blue, and playing back a voicemail outputs through the speakerphone speaker (what a surprise), tapping it again sends it through the normal call ("handset" so to speak) speaker.

I suspect that if I ever pair a bluetooth headset to my phone, the "Speaker" button will change to "Audio". Alternatively, it many only happen if the headset is not only paired, but "on" and connected to the phone.

I suspect the latter, given the issues other commenters have raised here, but I can't presently confirm it.

September 18 2008 at 6:00 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Jason's comment
Jason

Hmmm. I'm not sure what I was trying to say in that first sentence.

I think I was going for:
"Part of people's *SHOCK* is the fact that this appears to be a "smart" feature." [...]

September 18 2008 at 6:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ted

Not shocking to me, then again ... I use a Mac, so I am used to these sorts of things. I don't need a grayed out option for bluetooth a la Win Mo. I just need a speaker on/off when not paired.

Seems pretty elementary to me. Good on Apple for not documenting these features, oh wait ... it's all in the hand book.

September 18 2008 at 6:17 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
c-dude

I wish there was an option to route the sound out of the dock connector... then I could play my VMs through my car stereo speakers, just like my music.

September 18 2008 at 4:21 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to c-dude's comment
JinjaNinja

Same here, but in the UK, dialling 901 just connects you to the conventional voicemail and so you can listen to them that way. Safer than getting nicked for driving with the phone pressed to your ear!

September 18 2008 at 4:54 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
gtdavemac

There is! Go buy a dock and find a place to mount it in your car. The dock has 3.5mm audio out which you should be able to route into your sound system. I've mounted a dock under the center "tray" in my Jeep and carefully cut out a hole the same size, so that I hop in my car, insert my phone, and WHOILA! Not only does it look good, but I can easily change songs, pick it up to answer calls, etc. Or, there are other products such as http://www.sendstation.com/us/products/pocketdock/lineout-usb.html that route the audio out of the dock connector.

September 18 2008 at 11:39 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
pherplexed

Still a no-go in my Land Rover. Sigh...

September 18 2008 at 2:30 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Brandon Wells

The reason Corey posted this is that 2.1 made this feature available for most headsets that did not work previouslly! My Cadillac never would connect to bluetooth for voicemail prior to 2.1!

Thanks for the post Corey!

September 18 2008 at 1:36 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Hunter

Seriously? When did clicking the button right in front of you while doing something become a tip? Especially the same button you used the rest of the time to switch audio modes anyhow...

September 18 2008 at 12:36 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Johnathan

I thought this was common sense...?
When I got my Bluetooth headset I went to the voicemail and automatically it played it on my headset, then I clicked the Audio button and changed it to regular speaker or internal....

I thought this was basic?

September 18 2008 at 12:33 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ronnie

Cool tip! Thanks for that...

anyone know how to save/transfer iPhone voicemails?

that'd be great!!

September 18 2008 at 12:31 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Ronnie's comment
bobman2007

The easiest way to get voicemails off your iPhone is to plug a 3.5mm audio cable from the headphone port on your iPhone to the audio line in port on your computer and use a program to record the voicemail you want to keep. I use Quicktime on my MacBook Pro with my iPhone 3G to record voicemails, but it might not be as easy with a first generation iPhone since most 3.5mm audio cables won't fit the recessed headphone jack.

September 18 2008 at 1:00 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Slobi

Wow, I am amazed to see pretty much no one knew of this one. it has been there FOR EVER! Just goes to show, never assume people know things...

September 18 2008 at 12:06 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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