Help with problems with “Live Voicemail”

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Problems with Apple’s “Live Voicemail”

With iOS 18, Apple enabled “Live Voicemail” by default in Germany, so that unanswered or declined calls are handled and transcribed directly on the iPhone.

In the process, the personal greeting stored with the provider is not synchronised to the device, not always synchronised, or synchronised with a delay. With “Live Voicemail” enabled, this can result in the wrong greeting, or a default Apple greeting, being played on the device.

If the device is not registered on the network and the network call forwarding takes effect, the call is answered correctly by the provider’s voicemail and the right greeting is played.

The problem affects not only our professional greetings but also all “ordinary” recorded greetings and the provider’s default greeting. It is a general iOS voicemail problem.

We are also in contact with the German providers, who were likewise presented with a fait accompli by Apple and are currently trying to understand and resolve the problem.

We have no technical way of solving this on our side, because we only configure the provider’s voicemail, and with Live Voicemail callers never reach it.

Solution: switching off “Live Voicemail”

We currently recommend switching off Live Voicemail. To do so, proceed as follows:

1. Open the Settings app and tap “Apps”
2. Tap “Phone”
3. Tap “Live Voicemail”
4. Switch off “Live Voicemail”

You can find more information here: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/105066