We asked, you told us: Most of you don't send voice notes on your phone

Voice notes are a popular method of communicating in messaging apps (aside from sending texts), allowing for more intimacy and saving time for the sender. Google has even launched a voice message transcription feature on the Pixel 7 series, albeit limited to Google Messages.

We were curious about the proportion of Android Authority readers who send voice notes though, so we posted a poll earlier this week to find out. Well, the results are finally in.

Do you send voice notes on your smartphone?

Results

Over 1,600 votes were cast after we posted the poll on October 31, and it turns out that almost 60% of respondents said they don’t send voice notes on mobile. Reader comments suggest that some of these voters simply don’t like receiving voice notes and so don’t send them either. A few readers also point to alternative solutions like voice-to-text functionality (as seen on Gboard).

Meanwhile, 29.39% of surveyed readers said they only send voice notes “sometimes.” At least one reader noted that they send voice notes if they’ve got something lengthy to send. Another reader said voice note functionality came in handy when they were hospitalized.

Finally, just 10.73% of respondents said they sent voice notes “all the time.” Hopefully, Google brings voice message transcription support to IM apps to make life easier for these recipients.

Comments

• Konrad Uroda-Darłak: Never. It always irritates me when I get one, I never play it.
• Commentor: Long voice messages can be tedious & also one cannot listen to them when others are around, I find it easier to voice to text, it saves typing time
• Joe Black: I do not use them and when someone actually sends them, I do not listen to them… like hell I have time to listen to it, it is incredibly inconvenient while on the move. If someone is too lazy to type, I am too lazy to listen.
• 007700: Only when the topic at hand is too much to type out or I’ll use Gboard voice to text
• Bojan Tomic: If it’s something long, of course. I don’t want to make or receive a phone call, so this is the next best thing. Also, you can speed up voice messages in most apps, so a one-minute message becomes a half-minute message. I don’t have problem with that. Voice dictation sucks with most languages other than English, so that’s not really an option for most people.
• Paul: Yes, but not often. I recently had to be rushed to the hospital and during that time my wife was watching over 3 young ones and not able to get to me. I was too out of it to make sure Gboard transcribed everything correctly so I just sent some voice notes. I also, with the permission of the doctor, recorded my conversation with him using Google Recorder to send to her. Thankfully it wasn’t life or death so these tools worked well in my circumstance.
• McStagger: I don’t send voice messages but I do voice dictation constantly.
• Serval: I hate it when I have to listen to a voice message , especially when i’m at work and can’t really do that… So I don’t ever send one !
• RovingFox: I use voice to text from gboard if I need that convenience.