Apple’s iOS 18 finally brought native call recording and transcription to iPhones. While it’s a useful feature, it doesn’t always work properly. Many users have reported that transcription is not available for some phone call recordings. If you’re dealing with the same issue, here are five tested fixes to get it working again.
5 Ways To Fix Call Transcription Not Available on iOS 18
1. Check your Language and Region
At the moment, the iOS 18 call transcription feature supports a handful of languages, including English (United States), English (Australia), Cantonese (Hong Kong), Korean (South Korea), Mandarin Chinese (China mainland), Spanish (United States), Spanish (Mexico). If you live outside these regions, the iOS 18 transcription service won’t be available to you.
Time needed: 4 minutes
If you don’t see a call recording button or transcript of a phone call, it means your iPhone doesn’t meet the minimum requirements or detect a supported language. To fix this, you must set your device language to one of these supported languages.
- Go to Settings > General.
- Scroll down and tap Language & Region.
- Next, tap Region and switch to a supported region.
- After you make a selection, your iPhone will restart.
2. Check the Duration of Call Recordings
Apple didn’t mention it, but an iPhone can’t transcribe longer call recordings of around one hour, at least not for now. I’ve noticed that when a phone call lasts a few minutes (around two to five), my iPhone quickly generates a transcript in Notes. However, call transcription doesn’t seem to work for longer phone calls, like 45 minutes or more. In addition, the feature might not work for incredibly small calls that last less than 15-20 seconds.
After your iPhone records a longer phone call, iOS 18 won’t generate a transcript, either automatically or manually. If you try to do it manually, the iPhone shows “No Transcript – Transcription will begin soon.” It may also say “Transcribing” with a spinning wheel. No matter how much time you give, it will not complete transcribing a 30-minute or longer call recording.
At the moment, it seems a half-baked addition, which Apple will hopefully fix in a future update.
3. Drop the File in Voice Memos
One of the easiest and most effective ways to get your call transcription is to take the file from the Notes app and drop it to Voice Memos. Once you do it, you should be able to get the transcription immediately.
- Open the Notes app and find the call recording file.
- Long-press the files and choose the Share Audio option.
- Swipe through the list of available apps and select Voice Memos.
- Now, open the Voice Memos app.
- Finally, find and tap the voice recording.
4. Switch your Language to the English (US)
You can also fix the issue by switching your Region to the United States. While iOS 18 call transcription supports a few languages, it reportedly works the best when you choose English (United States).
If you’ve set a different language as your preferred iPhone language, try switching to English (US) to see if that helps.
- Open Settings > General.
- Scroll down and tap Language & Region.
- Tap Add a Language.
- Choose English (US).
5. Update iOS
Finally, we recommend checking for an iOS update. To enjoy optimal performance, keeping your iPhone up to date is imperative. Apple regularly releases software updates with bug fixes, security patches, and new features. If call recording and transcription aren’t working properly on your iPhone, a software update might fix them.
- On your iPhone, go to Settings > General > Software Update.
- If an update is pending, download and install it.
If you’re on the latest iOS 18 and the issue persists, your best bet is to sit tight and wait for Apple to address it in a future update. Keep an eye on the software releases, and as soon as an update drops, be sure to install it on your iPhone.
Unlike the buggy iOS 18, we hope the upcoming iOS 19 update this 2025 sees a smoother rollout.