The well-known messaging service WhatsApp is developing a new function that will convert audio messages into text. As a result, customers who dislike listening to audio messages will be able to view the messages’ content as plain old text.
According to WABetaInfo, the most recent beta of WhatsApp for iPhone has an audio message transcription feature. With this function, the app can convert audio input into text by figuring out what was stated in the message. Of course, there are certain restrictions given that this is a beta version.
For instance, when no words are recognized or when the voice message is in a language different than the language designated for transcriptions, transcriptions are not provided. However, all transcripts will be processed locally rather than being sent to Apple or WhatsApp servers, which is a huge privacy benefit.
The transcribing capability is now only available in WhatsApp’s iPhone beta version; a release date for the Android app is unknown. Today’s top WhatsApp rival Telegram already provides voice and video transcription. But in that scenario, only subscribers of Telegram Premium have access to the feature. Everyone will be able to use the function for free on WhatsApp.
