Whatsapp, owned by Meta, is introducing a slew of new features to its users. It has already improved its status feature and increased the number of photos that can be sent each time to over 100. But the most recent innovation that we are awaiting, is the capability to transcribe voice notes into text.
This new feature is currently under development and will soon be available in beta form, as reported by WABetaInfo. Some competitors already offer this feature, though it may only be available in the paid version.
Instead of relying on existing transcription apps, the WhatsApp team is developing their own solution. There were rumors that WhatsApp was testing the feature on iOS devices in September 2021. Additionally, Apple services are used for the transcription, not Facebook or Meta.
However, for unknown reasons, the feature’s development was put on hold for a while. As a result of testing procedures that occasionally fail, numerous preliminary functions do not make it into the final release.
The most recent WhatsApp iOS beta update, version 23.3.0.73, now includes voice memo transcription development. The scenarios in which the transcription will not be available will be explained on the new feature’s introduction screen, such as when the words are not recognised or are in a language other than the one that is installed in the app.
It is essential to keep in mind that the transcripts will be produced locally, on the device. Apple and WhatsApp will not receive it. To use the feature, users will need to download the required language packs. According to WABetaInfo, this feature may only be available on iOS versions that are more recent.
We will have to wait for the feature’s soon-to-be-public release in the interim. If everything goes according to plan, it will first be made available in public beta before moving on to the stable version.
