WhatsApp to roll out 'Voice Transcription' feature that converts voice notes to text

WhatsApp is reportedly working on a new feature called Voice Transcription. The feature will allow users to convert the audio content of voice messages into readable text. The feature might be available on WhatsApp on iOS, as there is no information about the same on Android. 

According to a report by WAbetaInfo, the voice recording would not be sent to Facebook or WhatsApp for transcription, but Apple will provide it locally on devices. Additionally, the report also states that the messages recorded while providing transcription will help Apple to improve its speech recognition technology. The transcription or conversion of audio to text will occur in a separate section that will be titled 'Transcript' and users will also be able to jump to a specific timestamp. 

WhatsApp Audio Transcription in works will send data to Apple

When a message will be transcribed for the first time, it will be saved locally in WhatsApp's database and users will also be able to access the transcriptions later. The WhatsApp Voice Transcription feature will be an optional feature. Those interested in using the feature will have to opt-in by providing special permission. As seen in the screenshot shared by the portal, the permission dialogue box is titled "WhatsApp would like to access speech recognition." Further, it reads that the data will be sent to Apple for processing. 

Since WhatsApp brings a feature to both Android and iOS platforms, it is highly likely that the Voice Transcription feature will come to Android devices in the future. With the latest Android update and Pixel devices, users can transcribe and translate voice inputs in real-time, and hence it should not be a problem to implement the same feature within WhatsApp. 

WhatsApp recently launched encrypted backups

Most recently, WhatsApp has launched the encrypted backups feature for both Android and iOS devices. The feature will allow users to safely store their backup on cloud storage services such as Google Drive and iCloud by encrypting them. The encrypted backups will be protected by a 64 digit unique key and a password. The feature will increase the security of chat backups that contain both media files and text messages.