They say no one actually uses their phones for phone calls anymore. That’s not really true, though maybe the “Phone” app does get underused. Instead, many of us have turned to chat apps for our calls. FaceTime, WhatsApp, Messenger—these apps are now our go-to choices for getting in immediate touch with friends and family. (Not that I’m complaining: The call quality is usually better, anyway.)
But one thing the Phone app—and traditional phone calls—have on these chat apps is voicemail. For decades, when you called someone and they didn’t answer, you could “leave a message after the tone.” That way, when the person saw they had a missed call, they didn’t need to guess what you wanted to say. If it was important, they’d hear about it, and call you back. If it wasn’t, they could choose to call back when it was convenient.
Voicemail isn’t dead: You can still leave these messages if you call someone the old fashioned way. But since many of us choose to use our chat apps of choice, we’ve largely lost this practice. It’s been wholly replaced with text messages and voice notes: If they don’t answer the call, you can simply text them what you wanted to talk about, or record a voice note to achieve a similar end.
Some chat apps are trying to bring voicemails back, however. The first major player on my radar was FaceTime: Back in 2023, Apple made it possible to leave video and audio messages for people whenever they didn’t pick up a FaceTime call. It’s a small but logical feature: Sure, there are other ways to leave a message. But it just makes sense given the history of phone calls to present the option as soon as someone misses your call.
How WhatsApp voicemails work
Now, WhatsApp is getting in on the feature. The company first started testing missed call messages in August, before rolling out the option in full on Thursday. Now, when you try calling someone in WhatsApp and they miss it, you have the option to leave either a video or an audio message—depending on what type of call you started.
Again, these are functions you could initiate already in the app itself: You could simply record a video saying what you want to say, and send it to the recipient, or record an audio note letting them know to call you back. But this built-in option isn’t only convenient, it establishes voice messages as a standard for missed WhatsApp calls.
Interestingly, WhatsApp says this new feature “will make voicemails a thing of the past.” As it see it, it’s actually keeping them alive.
