How?: prerecorded voicemail message to iPhone

[bobdobalina]

How can I use/upload/record a prerecorded (mp3) voicemail greeting? I can not find a solution. I feel like this should be simple, but no. I tried playing the mp3 file on my laptop and running a 1/8" to 1/8" cable from the headphone jack to my iPhone. That doesn't work. The iPhone still records from the built-in mic. Maybe I need a special cable?

Is there, perhaps, an app that will allow me to play the mp3 on the phone itself while simultaneously recording a voicemail greeting?

Ideas?

 

[bufffilm]

Its right there under the Phone app.

And Google shows how too.

???

 

[Applejuiced]

The voicemail greeting you mean?
I dont think you can upload an audio file and save it for a greeting.
You will have to play it on your computer speakers probably and then stick the phone near the speaker to record it on the iphone.

 

[BrianBaughn]

A standard 1/8" cable in the jack would only be output...not input. A special cable is exactly what you need.

Search for "iPhone microphone cable".

 

[Applejuiced]

A standard 1/8" cable in the jack would only be output...not input. A special cable is exactly what you need.

Search for "iPhone microphone cable".

The question is though will the iPhone record using a "special cable" with a microphone or only record by using the outside mic?
And again there is no option to upload an mp3 like the OP is asking.

 

[bobdobalina]

The voicemail greeting you mean?
I dont think you can upload an audio file and save it for a greeting.
You will have to play it on your computer speakers probably and then stick the phone near the speaker to record it on the iphone.

I'm sorry to admit that I actually tried that. The resulting sound quality is worse than... the audio quality from a Speak & Spell
[doublepost=1497599668][/doublepost]

Its right there under the Phone app.

And Google shows how too.

???

Yes, Google also shows results for "reading comprehesion."

[doublepost=1497600690][/doublepost]

A standard 1/8" cable in the jack would only be output...not input. A special cable is exactly what you need.

Search for "iPhone microphone cable".

Thanks. I think I need a four contact 1/8" cable. I have a four contact 1/8" adapter: that silences the mic on the phone, but doesn't seem to pass audio from the computer.

Really, in attempting to accomplish this, I feel as though I've tapped into a dark corner of early 1990s era technological backwardness. It's 2017, and we still have to talk into $3 microphones to record out voices over a wireless connection? Isn't R2D2 supposed to pop-up and record out voices with fidelity using an ambisonic mic, powered by dilithium pre-amps, losslessly recorded and preserved for posterity at 24 bit 196khz?

 

[Applejuiced]

I'm sorry to admit that I actually tried that. The resulting sound quality is worse than... the audio quality from a Speak & Spell
[doublepost=1497599668][/doublepost]

I hear you, the quality will never be the same as uploading an actual audio file.
Back in the day the way they recorded voicemail greetings was by having the music blasting in the background of a new and popular hit song and then the person would come in as the music faded lower and say hello you reached so and so leave me a message etc...
The struggle was real back in the day

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

You can do it if you jailbreak.

 

[nostresshere]

Y'all are missing the obvious. The greeting has nothing to do with the iphone. The greeting is on the carriers servers. It does not exist on the phone itself. The phone is the input device/microphone.

Again, the recording is NOT on your phone.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

The .amr file I just found on my phone says different.

Y'all are missing the obvious. The greeting has nothing to do with the iphone. The greeting is on the carriers servers. It does not exist on the phone itself. The phone is the input device/microphone.

Again, the recording is NOT on your phone.

 

[bobdobalina]

Y'all are missing the obvious. The greeting has nothing to do with the iphone. The greeting is on the carriers servers. It does not exist on the phone itself. The phone is the input device/microphone.

Again, the recording is NOT on your phone.

I personally don't care where the recording resides. But the already recorded message (mp3) I already have needs to be transferred - be they photons, electrons, or sound waves - from my file to wherever the live voicemail greeting lives. That's my conundrum.

 

[bufffilm]

If you were jailbroke, you can.

Since you're not, good luck with the mic cable and the ad-hoc quality.

 

[eyoungren]

You can work around not having a jailbreak.
Note, the below link is to an app, but the procedure from step 2 on is pretty straight forward and unrelated to the app.

https://appadvice.com/appnn/2009/12/how-to-import-a-custom-voicemail-greeting-to-your-iphone

• On your iPhone, launch your voicemail, tap greeting and record a custom greeting for a few seconds then tap stop. Do not hit save yet as we will be navigating to the voicemail file and replacing it first.

• Using iFuntastic or SFTP, navigate to thru your iPhones files to /var/root/Library/Voicemail or sometimes it will be in var/mobile/Library/Voicemail depending on your iPhones setup. There is a file in there called "greeting.amr" this is the voice recording you just made.
***Note, that these instructions are old and reference old apps. You may want to try searching for a more modern iPhone file browser (they are out there).***

• Delete the "greeting.amr" file and replace it with the .amr file you created earlier. Rename this file to "greeting.amr"
• Tap save on your iPhone and you should be set! You may also want to tap play on your iPhone to verify that is the right file and then tap save.

All of the above is how I got Samuel L. Jackson as my wife's voicemail greeting. Except her iPhone and mine are jailbroken so it's easier.

 

[bufffilm]

You can work around not having a jailbreak.
Note, the below link is to an app, but the procedure from step 2 on is pretty straight forward and unrelated to the app.

https://appadvice.com/appnn/2009/12/how-to-import-a-custom-voicemail-greeting-to-your-iphone

• On your iPhone, launch your voicemail, tap greeting and record a custom greeting for a few seconds then tap stop. Do not hit save yet as we will be navigating to the voicemail file and replacing it first.

• Using iFuntastic or SFTP, navigate to thru your iPhones files to /var/root/Library/Voicemail or sometimes it will be in var/mobile/Library/Voicemail depending on your iPhones setup. There is a file in there called "greeting.amr" this is the voice recording you just made.
***Note, that these instructions are old and reference old apps. You may want to try searching for a more modern iPhone file browser (they are out there).***

• Delete the "greeting.amr" file and replace it with the .amr file you created earlier. Rename this file to "greeting.amr"
• Tap save on your iPhone and you should be set! You may also want to tap play on your iPhone to verify that is the right file and then tap save.

All of the above is how I got Samuel L. Jackson as my wife's voicemail greeting. Except her iPhone and mine are jailbroken so it's easier.

Don't you need to be JB to access that directory?

 

[eyoungren]

Well, if you use one of these computer based file browsers you may be able to access it.

I'm not positive though, which is why I tried to heavily qualify my post.

 

[bobdobalina]

You can work around not having a jailbreak.
Note, the below link is to an app, but the procedure from step 2 on is pretty straight forward and unrelated to the app.

https://appadvice.com/appnn/2009/12/how-to-import-a-custom-voicemail-greeting-to-your-iphone

• On your iPhone, launch your voicemail, tap greeting and record a custom greeting for a few seconds then tap stop. Do not hit save yet as we will be navigating to the voicemail file and replacing it first.

• Using iFuntastic or SFTP, navigate to thru your iPhones files to /var/root/Library/Voicemail or sometimes it will be in var/mobile/Library/Voicemail depending on your iPhones setup. There is a file in there called "greeting.amr" this is the voice recording you just made.
***Note, that these instructions are old and reference old apps. You may want to try searching for a more modern iPhone file browser (they are out there).***

• Delete the "greeting.amr" file and replace it with the .amr file you created earlier. Rename this file to "greeting.amr"
• Tap save on your iPhone and you should be set! You may also want to tap play on your iPhone to verify that is the right file and then tap save.

All of the above is how I got Samuel L. Jackson as my wife's voicemail greeting. Except her iPhone and mine are jailbroken so it's easier.

Awesome. I will attempt this. Thanks!


...but I too was wondering if those files are accessible to phones that are not jail-broken.

 

[eyoungren]

Awesome. I will attempt this. Thanks!


...but I too was wondering if those files are accessible to phones that are not jail-broken.

See my post above yours.

 

[Applejuiced]

Y'all are missing the obvious. The greeting has nothing to do with the iphone. The greeting is on the carriers servers. It does not exist on the phone itself. The phone is the input device/microphone.

Again, the recording is NOT on your phone.

Yep pretty much what he said.

 

[bufffilm]

Yep pretty much what he said.

Actually, the truth is (as I understand it)...this is both right and wrong.

A copy of the recording is on their server, but a copy is also on the iPhone.

 

[Applejuiced]

Actually, the truth is (as I understand it)...this is both right and wrong.

A copy of the recording is on their server, but a copy is also on the iPhone.

Interesting.
So it saves a copy of the recorded audio on the device also.
But again on a stock iPhone I don't see a way to upload a premade audio file.

 

[bufffilm]

Interesting.
So it saves a copy of the recorded audio on the device also.
But again on a stock iPhone I don't see a way to upload a premade audio file.

I believe you must be jail-broken to access it.

If the OP can try eyoungren' post with the steps, we should know then.

 

[Applejuiced]

I believe you must be jail-broken to access it.

If the OP can try eyoungren' post with the steps, we should know then.

Yes it's an interesting situation.
I wonder if it will work.

 

[bobdobalina]

iFuntastic isn't working for me. I'm not sure that it's being updated any longer. It also gives a warning that my iPhone is "shackled", so that's discouraging. Cool app though. Didn't try the SSH route, as what I've read indicates I need to jailbreak to do so. The answer really seems t be that jail-braking is required.

I read one account where someone indicated they used an app called ibackupbot to replace the Greeting.amr with their .amr of choice in the backup, and then restored from that, but even with the new file in place, the message didn't 'take'.

I ran out and bought this kind of silly "iRig2" that did allow me to pass the analog signal from my laptop and record from that. The sound quality is better than recording the sound played from a speaker, but it's not a lot better. The original file is crisp and professional sounding, but not once passed through the iPhones A/D converter. This is as far as I've gotten so far.

Oh - if anyone is still curious: I recorded the greeting via the phones custom greeting function, then called to listen to it from another phone, then turned off the phone and called again. Same message. I had wondered if just maybe the phone played the message when on, and the carrier played the message when the phone was unreachable. Silly, but it's nice to clarify: yes, the voicemail greeting does appear to function purely at the carrier level, and is only recorded *via* the phone, as stated above.

Thanks for all the help. If I find a better solution I'll post it here at that time.

This whole thing feels very 1990's.

 

[eyoungren]

iFuntastic isn't working for me. I'm not sure that it's being updated any longer. It also gives a warning that my iPhone is "shackled", so that's discouraging. Cool app though. Didn't try the SSH route, as what I've read indicates I need to jailbreak to do so. The answer really seems t be that jail-braking is required.

I read one account where someone indicated they used an app called ibackupbot to replace the Greeting.amr with their .amr of choice in the backup, and then restored from that, but even with the new file in place, the message didn't 'take'.

I ran out and bought this kind of silly "iRig2" that did allow me to pass the analog signal from my laptop and record from that. The sound quality is better than recording the sound played from a speaker, but it's not a lot better. The original file is crisp and professional sounding, but not once passed through the iPhones A/D converter. This is as far as I've gotten so far.

Oh - if anyone is still curious: I recorded the greeting via the phones custom greeting function, then called to listen to it from another phone, then turned off the phone and called again. Same message. I had wondered if just maybe the phone played the message when on, and the carrier played the message when the phone was unreachable. Silly, but it's nice to clarify: yes, the voicemail greeting does appear to function purely at the carrier level, and is only recorded *via* the phone, as stated above.

Thanks for all the help. If I find a better solution I'll post it here at that time.

This whole thing feels very 1990's.

Sorry man.

I tried using Phone View by ecamm, but it appears that my non-jailbroken devices are running firmware too new for the Macs the app runs on (PowerMac G5 and a 17" MBP running Snow Leopard (32-bit)).

I'll try again on Monday when I have access to my work MacPro running Yosemite.

 

[nostresshere]

....Oh - if anyone is still curious: I recorded the greeting via the phones custom greeting function, then called to listen to it from another phone, then turned off the phone and called again. Same message. I had wondered if just maybe the phone played the message when on, and the carrier played the message when the phone was unreachable. Silly, but it's nice to clarify: yes, the voicemail greeting does appear to function purely at the carrier level, and is only recorded *via* the phone, as stated above....

So, if the recording sits at the carrier level and not on the phone, how does jailbreaking help?