How to Change Your Voicemail Greeting on iPhone and Android

Your phone rings, you miss it, and the caller hears a greeting recorded years ago — maybe a robotic carrier message, maybe your voice from three phones ago. The greeting is the first thing callers hear when you cannot pick up, and changing it takes about a minute once you know where the setting hides. The catch is that the setting lives in a different place on every phone, and on some carriers it is not on the phone at all.

Default greeting vs custom greeting

Every mailbox starts with one of two greetings, and knowing which one is playing tells you what to change:

A custom greeting is worth recording for one reason: callers know immediately that they reached the right person. A default greeting that only reads out a number leaves callers guessing, and some hang up instead of leaving a message.

Change your voicemail greeting on iPhone

Apple documents two Phone app layouts, and the greeting sits in a different place in each. Work out which layout you have first: if the bottom bar of your Phone app shows Calls, the Unified layout is active; if it shows a Voicemail tab, you are on the Classic layout.

Unified layout (iOS 26 and later)

1. Open the Phone app and tap Calls at the bottom.
2. Tap Edit at the top of the screen.
3. Tap Edit Voicemail Greeting.
4. Tap Custom, then tap Record.
5. Speak your greeting clearly, then tap Save (or Stop, then Save, depending on your version).

Classic layout (iOS 18 and earlier, or Classic chosen in iOS 26)

1. Open the Phone app and tap Voicemail at the bottom.
2. Tap Greeting in the top corner.
3. Tap Custom, then tap Record.
4. Speak your greeting, then tap Save.

Apple notes that recording a custom greeting is not supported by all carriers or in all countries and regions. If Custom or Record does not appear, your carrier handles greetings through its own phone menu instead — use the dial-in method below.

Change your voicemail greeting on Android

Android has no single voicemail screen, because the greeting can live in the Google Phone app, in a Samsung or carrier visual voicemail app, or in the carrier's phone menu. Try these in order.

Pixel and other phones using the Google Phone app

1. Open the Phone app.
2. Tap the three-dot menu in the top-right corner, then tap Settings.
3. Tap Voicemail, then tap Greeting.
4. Choose Custom greeting, then tap Record.
5. Speak your greeting, then tap Save or Set as greeting.

If there is no Greeting option, first check that visual voicemail is switched on in the same Voicemail settings screen — the greeting option only appears once visual voicemail is active. Some carriers do not support visual voicemail in the Google Phone app at all, in which case the dial-in method below is the route.

Samsung Galaxy and carrier visual voicemail apps

Many Samsung phones and carrier-branded phones ship with a separate Visual Voicemail app, or a Voicemail tab inside the Phone app. Open the app, tap the menu (usually three dots), open Settings, and look for a Greeting option there. The recording flow is the same: choose Custom, record, save. If the app has no greeting setting, your carrier's menu is the fallback — dial in.

Change your greeting by calling your voicemail

This is the universal route, and the one to use when no on-screen option exists. It works on iPhone and Android alike, because you are talking to the carrier's system directly.

1. Open the Phone app and go to the keypad.
2. Touch and hold 1 — this dials your voicemail. If holding 1 does nothing, dial your own number from another phone, or use your carrier's voicemail number.
3. Enter your voicemail PIN or password when asked.
4. Follow the voice prompts to the greeting or personal options menu, then record your new greeting and save it.

The exact menu numbers differ by carrier, so listen to the prompts rather than pressing keys from memory. If you have never set up voicemail, the first call walks you through creating a PIN and recording your first greeting instead.

Change your Google Voice greeting

Google Voice is a separate case: if your number runs through Google Voice, the greeting lives in the Voice app, not in your carrier's mailbox. Google's own help page documents this route:

1. Open the Google Voice app.
2. Tap the menu, then Settings.
3. Under Voicemail, tap Voicemail greeting.
4. Tap Record a greeting, speak your message, then tap Stop and Save.
5. Give the greeting a name and save it again, then tap More next to it and choose Set as active.

You can keep up to ten greetings in Google Voice and switch between them without re-recording — handy for a work greeting and a personal one, or a temporary holiday message. Recordings can be up to three minutes long in the app.

What to say in your greeting

A good greeting is short: your name, a note that you cannot answer, and what the caller should leave. Aim for 10 to 20 seconds — long enough to be useful, short enough that callers do not hang up mid-message.

• Personal: "Hi, you've reached [name]. I can't take your call right now — please leave your name and number and I'll call you back."
• Work: "Hello, you've reached [name] at [company]. I'm unavailable at the moment. Please leave your name, number and a brief message, and I'll return your call as soon as possible."
• Temporary or away: "Hi, this is [name]. I'm away until [date] and won't be checking messages regularly. For anything urgent, please contact [alternative]. Otherwise, leave a message and I'll get back to you."

Say your name slowly and clearly — it is the one word callers listen for to confirm they dialled the right number. Record in a quiet room, hold the phone at a normal distance, and play the greeting back once before saving; a recording made in a noisy street is worse than the default.

Go back to the default greeting

Changed your mind, or leaving a job and want the standard message back? Open the same greeting screen where you recorded your custom greeting and choose Default instead of Custom. The carrier's standard message replaces your recording immediately, and your saved voicemail messages are not affected.

On Android, the same screen is Phone app, then Settings, then Voicemail, then Greeting, then Default greeting. If you dialled in to record, dial in again and choose the default option from the voice menu.

If the greeting option is missing or will not save

Work through these before assuming the feature is broken:

1. No Greeting button on iPhone. Check which Phone app layout you have — the Unified layout hides the greeting under Calls, then Edit. If you still cannot find it, your carrier may not support on-screen greeting recording; dial in instead.
2. No Greeting option on Android. Turn on visual voicemail first (Phone app, then Settings, then Voicemail, then Visual voicemail). If the switch is missing, your carrier does not support it in the Google Phone app — use the carrier's Visual Voicemail app or dial in.
3. Record is greyed out or nothing saves. The greeting is saved to your carrier, so the phone needs a working connection to the carrier's network at that moment. Move somewhere with signal, or switch off Wi-Fi calling and try again on mobile data.
4. Callers still hear the old greeting. The new greeting replaces the old one for all callers, but a cached or in-progress call can still play the previous recording. Call your own number from another phone to check what callers actually hear.
5. The greeting plays on one SIM but not the other. Each line has its own mailbox and its own greeting. Change the greeting separately for each number, choosing the line when the phone asks.

While you are sorting out calls, our guide to making your phone ring longer before voicemail gives you more time to answer before the greeting ever plays, and our guide to recording phone calls on iPhone and Android covers the other side of the call — keeping what was said after the greeting.

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