Sometimes, listening to an entire audio message in the Messages app on our iPhone can feel like a bit much. Fortunately, besides using transcripts to read the message instead of listening to it, we can also change its playback speed. It’s a feature that isn’t directly visible in the interface, and one we’ll definitely be glad to know about the next time we receive a longer message.
How to change the playback speed of voice messages in the Messages app
Since its launch, the Messages app has evolved into our iPhone’s main communication tool. For years now, it has allowed us to adjust the speed of audio messages, although it’s not a particularly well-known feature. Here are the steps:
- We open a conversation in the Messages app.
- We locate the audio message we want to listen to.
- We tap and hold the message’s play button.
- From the menu with the different playback speeds, we choose the one that feels most comfortable.
It’s important to note that we need to press the play button itself, because if we press and hold the message instead, we’ll see the other message options, but not the speed control.
This works, of course, on iPad as well as on Mac, where the gesture for opening the selector is a secondary click on the play button.
The option to adjust the playback speed of audio messages is genuinely useful. While other apps make it more visible, in Messages it’s less well known. Fortunately, once we know it’s there, accessing it is very easy, and it quickly becomes second nature when messages come in and we don’t have much time to listen to them.
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