Suggestions for taking phone messages using VO

By peter, 12 January, 2020

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

I am curious what techniques or suggestions people have for taking notes when talking on the phone if one is using VoiceOver.

Unfortunately Apple doesn't let apps record the audio from phone calls so that one can transcribe the mesage at a later time. Using VoiceOver to dictate a note while talking on the phone also seems a bit awkward.

I'm thinking of situations where one is talking on the phone and the person on the other end wants to leave you some information like a phone number and address, etc. What is the best way to grab this in a note while talking on the phone if one can't record the itneraction?

I'm curious to see what solutions people have come up with.

Thanks.

--Pete

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Comments

By Lysette Chaproniere on Wednesday, February 5, 2020 - 16:24

I use a bluetooth headset when I’m on the phone so I’m free to use other apps without VO coming through the speaker, but any pair of headphones would work. To take notes, I use drafts. You could use any note taking app, but the advantages of drafts are that it launches very quickly to a new note, and its link mode, which means that after your call, you can tap on a phone number you’ve just been given to call it instantly. A bluetooth keyboard speeds up the note taking, although you could of course use other input methods such as Braille screen input.

By Justin Philips on Wednesday, February 5, 2020 - 16:24

I try to note it on the desktop. I also have an abacus to quickly note any phone number. Also, I have a voice memo recorder from IndependentLiving.com which I can use.

By peter on Wednesday, February 5, 2020 - 16:24

Unfortunately the last time I wanted to take a mesage while on a phone call I didn't have my Airpods with me and I was traveling as a passenger in a car using the phone on speaker. So many of the suggestions given above wouldn't have been helpful, but good thoughts anyway for other circumstances.

Would be nice to be able to actually record small segments of phone calls that could be transcribed later on. At least my sighted wife has no problem taking messages while on a call, but not so easy using VoiceOver. Oh well.

Thanks.

--Pete