Apple to overhaul voicemail with Siri transcription

Voicemail is a pain to work with, so the promise that your phone could automate the process of retrieving it and then read it back to you sounds great. That, according to sources speaking to Business Insider, is what Apple is currently testing internally with plans to roll out the service to iPhone users next year.

This is how the system will work: "When someone using iCloud Voicemail is unable to take a call, Siri will answer instead of letting the call go to a standard digital audio recorder. iCloud Voicemail can relay information about where you are and why you can't pick up the phone to certain people. But the coolest feature of the service is that Siri will transcribe any incoming voicemails, just like it does with anything else you say to it."

iCloud Voicemail is a new service which promises to allow users set different voicemail responses depending on time of day, location, calendar settings, and more. Voicemail is a typically tedious process for those receiving the message, but is much easier for those making the call to leave - instead of typing out a message. Apple's solution would make it closer to a seamless process for listening to answering messages.

Apple's latest iOS update offers much deeper integration of Siri, as the company looks to boost what is currently a very limited set of features on its voice-activated digital assistant as it comes under increased pressure from Google Now, and Microsoft's Cortana which recently launched on Windows 10 and the company's new Edge browser.

The report claims multiple Apple employees are currently testing the system, but it will only roll out to the public if it proves reliable enough, and that is not going to be before 2016.