Apple has offered Visual Voicemail since the first generation of iPhone, but to date the rollout in the Netherlands has been limited. With Visual Voicemail it is possible to listen to your incoming voicemail messages in any order directly from the iPhone itself via a separate audio fragment.
In The Netherlands be able to YouFone and KPN customers use Visual Voicemail on their iPhone for free. Also ODIDO users can use the service, but pay one per month fixed amount for. In Belgium Visual Voicemail is supported by providers Telenet, Base, Orange, Proximus and Mobile Vikings, among others.
Set up Visual Voicemail on iPhone
The first time you tap Voicemail, you’ll be asked to set a voicemail password and record your voicemail greeting. You can also adjust this afterwards.
- Open the Phone app
- Tap the three horizontal stripes (filter) at the top
- Choose Voicemail
- Tap ‘Edit’ at the top
- Select ‘Change voicemail greeting’
- Follow the steps on the screen
Have you activated the classic view or installed iOS 18 or earlier? Then you can adjust this via Phone ▸ Voicemail tab ▸ Greeting.
You can then record a greeting, you can choose a standard or custom variant. If you want to record a greeting yourself, you can do this via the ‘Record’ button. Tap Save to save the greeting and use it as voicemail.
Transfer Visual Voicemail settings
If you are setting up a new iPhone and you already had Visual Voicemail active on the old one, follow the options above for the time being. After entering the voicemail password, it will be recognized and the previous messages will be transferred. When you have forgotten the PIN code for Visual Voicemail you will need to contact your provider to reset it! You can change the voicemail code on your ‘old device’ via Settings ▸ Apps ▸ Phone ▸ Change voicemail code
Use iPhone Visual Voicemail
As soon as you receive a new voicemail message, you no longer have to call a specific number, this message is automatically added as an audio fragment to the Phone app. You can view and listen to the list of received messages via the ‘Voicemail’ tab or filter. Tap the number or name in the list and the message will immediately be played.
Some languages also support transcription and the voicemail message is converted to text; unfortunately this is not yet available in Dutch.
You can fast forward and rewind via the time bar, you can also activate the loudspeaker and call back the person who called. Tap the i button for more information and with the share button (square with up arrow) you can save the message in, for example, Files.
Finally, you can delete the message via ‘Delete’ and it will be moved to the ‘Deleted messages’ folder. You can empty this folder manually or recover accidentally deleted messages.
Change greeting afterwards
Of course, you can change your voicemail greeting afterwards. You do this via Phone ▸ three horizontal lines (filter) ▸ Voicemail ▸ Change ▸ Change voicemail greeting.
Have you activated the classic view or installed iOS 18 or earlier? Then you can adjust this via Phone ▸ Voicemail tab ▸ Greeting.