How to Share a Voice Message on WhatsApp for Android and iPhone

Sharing status updates was one of the most famous features that WhatsApp had since it was first introduced in 2017. The app developers have made several improvements to the Status feature over the past few years to make statuses more lively, interactive, and attention-grabbing than just silent letters and words. Until recently, users could share text, images, videos, or GIFs as status updates on WhatsApp accounts. However, WhatsApp allowed in February last year the addition of voice recordings and setting them as statuses on the app for only 24 hours. In this article, we provide a brief guide on how to add voice statuses in WhatsApp.

WhatsApp introduced a new feature in February 2023 that allows users to record a short voice clip no longer than 30 seconds and share it with friends and contacts on the app as a status for only 24 hours. The voice status feature is available on both Android and iPhone versions of the app, making it especially suitable for users who prefer expressing themselves through spoken phrases rather than text or images.

This new feature came a few months after a major update introduced by Meta to enhance the voice messaging feature in chats, which was widely accepted and welcomed by users. In fact, WhatsApp recently revealed that its users send up to 7 billion voice messages daily.

WhatsApp is not the first social messaging app to offer voice status feature. The Cappuccino app introduced a similar feature that allows users to share short audio stories with friends. This feature also bears a resemblance to the story and short video sharing feature in Facebook and Instagram, where users can share images or short videos that last up to 90 seconds with friends for 24 hours before automatically disappearing.

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Before recording and setting a voice clip as a status on WhatsApp, it is important to update the app on your phone to ensure you have the latest version installed. Then, open WhatsApp and go to the “Status” section from the bar at the bottom or top if you are using an Android device. Press the “My Status” option next to your profile picture to add a new status, and then click on the pen icon next to the camera icon directly.

Long-press the microphone icon that appears on the screen below the text typing field to start recording the audio clip you want to set as a WhatsApp status for a maximum of 30 seconds. To pause the recording, drag the microphone icon to the right, and to stop the clip, simply lift your finger off the microphone button to end the recording process.

You can also control the privacy of the voice status by selecting specific contacts to share the audio recording with while hiding it from other contacts. After finishing the recording, before pressing “Send,” go to the privacy button at the bottom of the app screen, then choose who can view the new statuses from a list that includes three options: share new statuses with all contacts, with contacts except for, or only share with (…).

After selecting the appropriate option and adding designated or excluded contacts for the second and third options, click on the “Done” button, then press the arrow, and then “Send” to share the voice status with the selected contacts. Users can also change the background color of the recording for the voice status by clicking on the color palette icon in the top-left corner of the status writing box.

It is worth noting that voice statuses, like regular statuses, are encrypted between parties, meaning no external app, intermediary app, or even WhatsApp itself can access the content of shared voice recordings except for the account owner and the contacts the recordings are shared with. However, users can still report inappropriate voice status updates, and WhatsApp will review them and take appropriate action as needed.