Need to forward a voicemail from your phone or laptop to another device? You can use voicemail forwarding to prioritize incoming messages when you’re busy or temporarily don’t have access to phone reception.
Some cell phone providers delete voicemails once accessed after a set amount of time. If you use a VoIP phone system, you can send voicemail messages to Gmail or another email service provider to save messages that contain important or sensitive information.
Here’s everything you should know about forwarding a voicemail, including how to forward voicemails on your phone, laptop, or Microsoft Teams account.
How to forward a voicemail on iPhone
Here’s how you can forward voicemails from an iPhone or your iPad:
1. Tap the iPhone voicemail you wish to forward.
2. Tap the Share button on the right. This will bring up a menu with options to share your voicemail.
3. Choose a place to forward your voicemail. This could be via text message or email, depending on your preferred method of communication. If you want to share your voicemail with another Apple device, you can also Airdrop it.
Keep in mind the voicemail to text feature for iPhone and other iOS devices transcribes the first 45 seconds of any voicemail recording.
Once forwarded, you can listen to or play a forwarded voicemail message in your voicemail inbox on your phone or computer.
However, when you forward a voicemail from the cell number on your iPhone, it will only send along the audio file. The transcript isn’t included.
How to forward a voicemail message on Android
Here’s how to forward voicemail messages using an Android device:
1. On your Android phone, open your voicemail box.
2. Select the voicemail you want to forward.
3. Tap the three dots in the top right corner. Select Share.
4. Choose where to forward your voicemail. Common options include Messenger, your default texting app, Gmail, Slack, and more.
Keep in mind you can’t forward voicemail transcripts using your Android device. However, you can select Copy Message Text and paste it into a text or email draft.
How to forward a voicemail on Samsung
It takes three steps to forward a voicemail using your Samsung device:
1. On your phone, open the Voicemail app.
2. Tap the voicemail you wish to forward.
3. Select an app to send your voicemail. This could be Messenger, Gmail, Outlook, or your default texting app.
Just keep in mind you can’t forward voicemail transcripts on a Samsung phone. If this is a must or you want that voicemail to be more easily accessible on multiple devices, you should use a VoIP app.
How to forward a voicemail using a VoIP app
VoIP apps like OpenPhone can help you easily access voicemails. Using OpenPhone, you can review voicemail from another device, as you can launch OpenPhone from your computer or smartphone. And if a colleague needs to review the message, you can easily share a business phone number with your entire team. Then tag them in a specific conversation if you want to quickly get their eyes on that message. If you need to get a business number, simply sign up for as many toll-free, local US, or Canadian phone numbers as you need.
If you still wish to forward a voicemail, though, here’s how you can by using our VoIP app:
1. Press and hold the voicemail you want to forward.
2. Tap Share.
3. Choose where to send your voicemail.
You should know OpenPhone is much more than an easy way to forward voicemails. We offer an inbox for all your calls, texts, and voice messages, along with a variety of ways to streamline communication workflows:
- Easily access your phone system from any computer or mobile device using our iPhone, Android, web, or desktop apps
- Get voicemail transcriptions on your incoming messages
- Text, voice, and call forwarding options to automatically send voicemails to any email inbox or Slack channel
- Call routing via an auto-attendant (IVR)
- Save time texting with auto-replies and snippets
- Set expectations on your team’s availability with business hours
- Automatically log your conversations with contacts using our HubSpot integration
- Save time on repeat communication tasks with the OpenPhone Zapier integration
You can start forwarding voicemails with OpenPhone today when you sign up for our seven-day free trial.
How to forward a voicemail from a computer
If your business communication platform lets you call and text from a computer, you may need to forward a voicemail to a separate device. This includes VoIP platforms like OpenPhone, which automatically forward voicemail notifications so you can keep tabs on incoming calls.
If you’re using OpenPhone, here’s how to set up automatic voicemail notifications to your email inbox:
1. In the web or desktop app, select Settings from the left-hand menu.
2. Click Phone Numbers under Workspace.
3. Choose the OpenPhone number you wish to set up automatic voicemail forwarding for.
4. Scroll down to Integrations in your phone number’s settings and click Connect to your email.
5. Notifications are sent to the email address associated with your OpenPhone account by default. To update the email address, click “…” and add as many email addresses as you want (comma separated).
6. Select the events you should receive email notifications for. By default, you’ll receive notifications for all incoming voicemails, text messages (SMS and MMS), and missed calls.
All new voicemail messages will go directly to the email addresses you’ve specified. Each notification includes:
- Visual voicemail transcription
- Link to play back the recording
- Date and time the caller left a message
- Caller’s phone number so you can return the call
Learn more about how to connect OpenPhone to your email.
How to forward a voicemail message in Teams
If you manage calls on Microsoft Teams, you can use these six steps to forward a voicemail:
1. In your Microsoft Teams dashboard, tap Calls from the left-hand vertical panel.
2. Select the Voicemail tab on the top right menu.
3. Click the voicemail you want to forward.
4. Click the option to share or forward the voicemail.
5. When prompted, enter the recipient’s name or email address. Otherwise, you can choose someone from your contact list.
6. You may need to click Confirm if your organization requires it.
Teams includes an option to forward all calls to voicemail. This may be helpful if you’re away from your desk — although you won’t have many options to set up auto-replies.
With OpenPhone, you can easily create auto-replies for any situation and set clear expectations for customers.
When should you send voicemail messages elsewhere?
Voicemail can be useful in a variety of situations, especially if you’re in sales or customer service or run your own company. Here are a few key scenarios:
- When you don’t want to manually transcribe the voicemail.
- When you receive a voicemail that’s more relevant to another coworker.
- When you get a voicemail with positive feedback and want to share news with everyone.
- When you’d like to delegate a task or project to someone else. In OpenPhone, you can assign tasks to teammates using mentions.
Send voicemails with the help of OpenPhone today
If you’re looking for an easy way to filter and organize voicemails you receive from customers or clients, a cloud phone system platform can help you stay on top of all your phone communication.
With OpenPhone, you get even more time-saving features and flexibility to easily scale your company’s communications.
Sign up for a free trial of OpenPhone today and start forwarding voicemails to any device.
Voicemail forwarding FAQ
Yes, you can share a voicemail to another phone number from the iPhone’s default app. However, a VoIP app offers more forwarding options. With OpenPhone, you can share a voice message with any of your phone contacts. Plus, you can automatically forward incoming voice messages to any email inbox or Slack channel.
Phone apps often include voicemail forwarding features, which allow you to receive a voicemail on one device and then send it somewhere else.
Consider it similar to call forwarding or text forwarding, but instead of text-based communication, you’re forwarding a voice message.
Yes, you can forward voicemails from your phone to another person. You can send the audio files via text message or email. With OpenPhone, you can include the voicemail transcription when you automatically forward a voice message to any Slack channel or email address.
Your phone automatically saves voicemail messages unless your voicemail inbox is full. Just open your voicemail app and select a saved message. Then, you can forward it through text, email, or a communication tool like Slack.
You can use any phone or laptop to manually forward voicemails to your email. With a VoIP app like OpenPhone, you can integrate with your email provider and automatically push voicemails to your email inbox.
