Ah, WhatsApp voice messages. Often more convenient than texting if you’re the sender, a potential pain in the butt if you’re the recipient.
After all, not everyone has headphones with them, the environment may be loud and people may be reluctant to play the message aloud in public to discover its contents. For people dealing with hearing loss then it can be inaccessible.
Besides, when your friend sends you a 3-4 minute diatribe, do you really want to commit without knowing whether the contents are worth your valuable time? Thankfully, WhatsApp has come up with a compromise that should please all parties – automatic transcription of voice messages.
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The feature has been spotted in a beta version of the Meta-owned messaging app. A report from the sleuths at WABetaInfo have spied the option to “Read your voice messages with transcripts” and pick from one of five supported languages (English, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, and Hindi).
The report points out that the transcripts are created on the device so in order to maintain the security of the encrypted message. The report says the transcriptions require downloading an “additional data package” to ensure it happens on device and not in the cloud.
There are loads of potential benefits for this feature, including those we listed at the beginning of this news report. While more discreet access to the contents is appreciated, it’ll also make the voice message searchable by text, meaning you’ll be able to locate important deals without downloading and listening to the voice message again.
It’s not clear when the feature will roll out to WhatsApp users, but it’s currently in testing with just a small number of Android users at the moment.
Transcribing of voice messages is having a bit of a moment right now, but it’s mainly thanks to the deployment of powerful generative AI tools. It’s not clear whether Meta is using its Meta AI tech slowly worming its way into its suite of apps and social networks for this tool.
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