Someone left you a really important message via voicemail. How do you access it? You can click on the voicemail notification to access it, but what happens if you accidentally swipe that notification away? There are three easy ways to check your voicemail on Android devices. Let’s check them out!
How to check voicemail on Android by calling in
One of the easiest and oldest ways to check your voicemail on Android devices is to call your voicemail service. Open the Phone app on your Android device, open the dial pad, and tap and hold the number 1 to automatically dial your voicemail service.
Some smartphones will have a little voicemail icon underneath the 1 to indicate that’s the number you hold to access your voicemail service. But rest assured, if you don’t see that icon, holding down the number 1 will still get you to your mailbox.
Assuming you have previously set up your voicemail service, you’ll need to enter your PIN in order to hear and manage your voicemails. If you haven’t done that yet, check out our easy how-to guide on getting your voicemail set up.
If you’re not near your phone or your phone has died and you need to check your voicemail, you can easily check it from another phone. Dial your own phone number from another phone and wait for the “Please leave a message” recording. Once you hear that start playing, tap the star symbol (*) on the dial pad. You’ll be prompted to enter your voicemail PIN and then you’ll have full access to your voicemail inbox to hear, delete, and save any voicemails.
How to check voicemail on Android using Visual Voicemail
If you have Visual Voicemail enabled on your Android device, you can check your voicemail through here. Search through your apps to find Visual Voicemail and open it. You’ll be able to see all of your most recent voicemails and easily manage them.
Because Visual Voicemail is, well, visual, it’s a lot easier to sift through your voicemails. You don’t have to wait through automated menus and go back if you make a mistake.
Related: How to use voice to text on Android
If you don’t have Visual Voicemail enabled and you want to change that, it’s super easy. On some Android devices, you can open your Phone app, tap more or the three dots in the upper right, tap Settings > Voicemail, and turn on Visual Voicemail.
On my Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, I’m not able to access Visual Voicemail through my Phone app’s settings. I have a separate Visual Voicemail app that I had to enable in order to see my voicemails listed out. Go to your phone’s Settings > Apps > Visual Voicemail and give permissions to the app to access your call logs, contacts, etc.
Check voicemail on Android with a third-party app
You can also check your voicemail on Android devices using a third-party visual voicemail app, like Voxist.
Voxist is a completely free visual voicemail app that will do just what your carrier’s visual voicemail app will do. The really cool thing about Voxist is that it can do voicemail to text. So if you don’t have the time or are not able to listen to a voicemail, you can read what someone left on your voicemail. Or, you can even have the app email you a transcription when someone leaves a voicemail.
Also read: The best free calls apps for Android
Now you know how to easily check your voicemail on any Android device three different ways. Choose whichever way works best for you and never miss an important message again!
Next: How to set up voicemail on AT&T
In our previous two lessons on Android phones, we explained how to set up a voicemail account and how to pick the perfect greeting for callers when you can't take a call. That's great and all, but you probably want to know how to retrieve your voicemail messages so that you can know what the people who called you actually wanted! Don't worry; we'll be teaching you how to do just that in this tutorial.
To listen to your voicemail messages on an Android phone:
- Turn on your phone and open the Phone app.
- Call your voicemail system.
- Enter your voicemail system passcode.
- Tap the key that allows you to check messages.
- Listen to each message and tap the corresponding key to replay it, delete it, or save it.
- Press End Call when you’re finished.
The keys you have to press for these instructions will vary based on who your telecom carrier is, so we’re going to add a little more detail below, in case our quick steps aren't enough for you to go on. We’ve also got a "cheat sheet" of voicemail commands for different carriers, so be sure to scroll down and check that out.
How to listen to your voicemail messages on Android
1. Power up your phone and open the Phone app.
Press and hold the power button for your phone to turn it on. Then, once you unlock your main screen, tap the Phone app to launch it.
2. Access the dial pad.
You'll need to bring up the Phone app's dial pad, as if you were going to call an actual person. To do this, tap the dial pad icon near the bottom of the screen.
3. Call your voicemail system.
Call your voicemail account by typing in its phone number with the keys on the dial pad, and then pressing the green Call button. Or, as a shortcut, you can just press and hold the 1 key.
4. Provide your voicemail system's password.
You will be prompted to enter the passcode to your voicemail account, if you have set one (which, hopefully, you have). Use the keys on the dial pad to type it in.
5. Check your voicemail inbox.
Once you're in your voicemail system, you may have to do things slightly differently than how they're done in this tutorial, depending on your telecom carrier and/or voicemail client. However, the general options that you'll have should be pretty similar.
Anyway, the first thing you should do is tap the key on the dial pad that lets you check your messages. In this case, it's 1.
6. After listening to each message, decide what you want to do with it.
The most recent voicemail message that you've received should start playing. When it finishes, you will be given some choices about what you want to do with the message. Usually, these will include deleting the message, saving it, finding out more information about it, and so on. Press the key on the dial pad that corresponds to what you want to do.
In this case, you can press 7 to delete the message or 9 to save it. Or, if you want further options for what you can do with the message, press 0.
Deleting or saving the message will cause the next most recent voicemail message to start playing. From there, go back to the beginning of this step.
However, if you choose to listen to more options for the current message, you will be given additional choices. These usually include replaying the message, finding out more information about the message (including when it was sent and by whom), or cancelling checking your messages and returning to your voicemail system's main menu.
Again, just press the key on the dial pad that represents the option that you want. In this case, you can press 4 to replay the message, 5 to hear more information about the message, or * to quit reviewing messages and go back to the main menu on your voicemail system. Unless you choose this last option, you will return to the beginning of this step.
7. When you're finished, hang up to exit your voicemail system.
When there are no other messages for you to check, or you're otherwise done checking your voicemail, press the red End Call button to exit your voicemail system and hang up the call.
That’s more or less how it’s done! Because the options can vary by carrier, we’ve got a cheat sheet for you below. If you use a popular cell phone carrier, these are the buttons you’ll need to press when checking your voicemail messages.
Popular telecom carrier voicemail shortcuts
| T-Mobile | Press 9 | Press 7 | Press 1 |
| Verizon | Press 9 | Press 7 | Press 4 |
| AT&T | Press 3 | Press 2 | Press 1 |
| Rogers | Press 9 | Press 7 | Enter "11" |
| Bell | Press 9 | Press 7 | Press 4 |
| Telus | Press 9 | Press 7 | Press 1 |
| Virgin Mobile | Press 3 | Press 2 | Press 1 |
Those are the basics of playing voicemails on your Android phone! Keep an eye out for our series of blog posts and articles that explain other neat tricks that you can do with your Android voicemail, such as how to set up a good voicemail greeting. Or check out the rest of our course on Android calling and voicemail to master all of the details of calling on your phone, and using its voicemail service!