A round video message is the most demanding thing anybody can send you. It needs your eyes, your ears and a place where both are available, and it arrives without warning about how long it is.
There are four ways out of that, and transcription is only the newest of them.
What you will be able to do
- check_circle Read a round video message instead of watching it.
- check_circle Listen to one without looking at it.
- check_circle Deal with one when you can do neither.
- check_circle Send one that is easier to receive.
The transcribe control sits on the bubble, the same as it does for a voice message.
record_voice_over Harder to receive than voice
A voice message can be listened to with headphones while doing something else. A round video asks you to look at a moving circle as well, and its whole appeal — that it is a face rather than a file — is exactly what makes it impossible to consume discreetly.
Transcription removes that entirely. The words appear under the bubble and you read them in a meeting, on a train, or in the two minutes you actually have.
The audio also continues with the screen off, which is the free version of the same relief: a round video is a voice message you are not obliged to watch.
Three ways to receive one
In order of how little they ask of you. The fourth column is the one to read if you are the person sending them.
| What it costs you | How to do it | Where it falls down | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Read it instead | Ten seconds and no sound at all | Tap the control on the bubble and read. It works on a round video exactly as it does on a voice message, and skimming is the point — most long ones contain one sentence that needed sending. | Names and numbers come out wrong in plausible ways rather than obvious ones, so play that part rather than trusting the text for anything precise. |
| Listen with the screen off | Its full length, but none of your attention | Start it and lock the phone; the sound carries on, and the circle was not carrying the meaning anyway. The bubble also floats out of the chat while it plays, so you can keep scrolling. | It is still real time. Combining it with the speed control is the cheapest improvement available and almost nobody does. |
| Deal with it later | Nothing now, and no false signal | Forward it to Saved Messages and handle it there, or mark the chat unread and come back. A line saying you will watch it later is usually all the sender wanted. | Playing it tells them you watched it, so starting one you cannot finish is worse than not starting. There is no way to unsee it from their side. |
| Sending one | Almost nothing, which is the problem | Short, with the point at the start — the recipient decides in the first ten seconds. Put a sentence of text beside it, which reaches everybody who will not watch. | Type anything containing a number, an address or a name. Those are exactly what does not survive being spoken, in transcription or in memory. |
Read it, or listen with the screen off. And send yours with a line of text beside it.
settings Handling them
- Try the speed control first It costs nothing and usually suffices.
- Tap transcribe for anything long The text appears under the bubble.
- Check names and numbers by listening To that part only.
- Lock the screen to listen When you cannot watch.
- Forward it to Saved Messages Rather than starting one you cannot finish.
- Put the point first in your own And type the details.
This page is receiving a format with no choices in it. The curriculum step is the opposite side: choosing a shape, trimming before sending, and the framing decisions that exist when the format is not fixed for you.
At a glance
- 1Transcribe round videos
Read the speech instead of watching.
- 2Listen only
Play it with the screen off.
- 3Later
Forward it to Saved Messages instead of opening it.
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