Siri is looking for a way to stop you ever having to listen to your voicemails again, according to a new report.
Apple is reportedly testing a new smart voicemail feature which, among other innovations, would allow Siri to answer your calls and then transcribe the voicemails as text messages.
Having messages transcribed for you would mean that voicemail becomes a more important function. Like many young(ish) people, I don’t use voicemail a whole lot. While I will listen to messages that are left, there are much faster, more foolproof ways of ensuring I get a message quickly.
By turning those messages into texts instead of audio messages, however, it would make it much quicker to find out what a particular missed call was about.
Apple’s iCloud Voicemail feature is also set to let Siri relate different pieces of information to people depending on who is calling. So if I wanted to throw a Cult of Mac party for everyone except my Friday Night Fights rival Killian, I could get Siri to pass on time and location details to Leander, Buster, and the rest of the crew when they call, while telling Killian I’m out of the country.
While this all sounds very nifty, though, don’t get too immediately excited. That’s because the feature is said to be planned for iOS 10 — which means it won’t arrive until 2016.
Given how hit-and-miss Siri’s current dictation can currently be, unless iCloud Voicemail asks every caller to speak very slowly, the company’s software engineers need all the time they can get.
Source: Business Insider
