The feature is available for four languages at launch: English, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian. — Photo by appshunter.io on Unsplash
WhatsApp has announced the launch of a new feature that provides a text transcript for voice messages sent via the app.
In a post on its blog, WhatsApp said the new feature is intended to help users "keep up with conversations" when preoccupied with other tasks, on the move, or in loud environments.
It emphasised privacy, stating that transcripts are generated locally on a device without being visible to WhatsApp or third parties.
Like regular text messages, read receipts for voice messages can be enabled in privacy settings.
Once enabled, transcripts can then be generated by long pressing on voice messages and selecting the 'transcribe' option. — WhatsApp
To enable the transcription feature, navigate to "Settings" and tap on the "Chat" option. From there, toggle the "Voice message transcripts" option and select the language it will be transcribing.
Once enabled, transcripts can then be generated by long pressing on voice messages and selecting the "transcribe" option.
Do note that the feature is only available for four languages at launch: English, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian.
WhatsApp says the transcription feature is being rolled out over the coming weeks and will be available on both Android and iOS, with additional languages to be added.
