Recording Voicemail from an iPhone to an Apple MacBook Pro 13″

This past summer I lost my Mom and shortly thereafter in the fall my Grandmother passed away.  I spoke to both of them often and on the few occasions when they were unable to reach me they always left a voicemail.  Some of their voicemails included an uplifting message, a joke, or a reminder of how much they loved me.  Although they are happy memories, sadly, they are also the last voice mail messages I will ever receive from them.  I wanted to find a way to keep them forever, however saving them isn’t as easy as I thought!

The problem is that my Apple MacBook Pro 13″ with Retina Display does not have a line-in port.  A line-in port is required to record audio from another device. Instead of a line-in port my MacBook Pro has a combination headphone/microphone port.  The Apple Support Article MacBook and MacBook Pro (13-inch): How to use the combination audio port for an audio input device suggests that it is possible to use the combination port as an input device.  However, when I plug my iPhone into the combination port with a mini-stereo plug cable, the “Use audio for: Sound Input” selection does not appear.  Why?  Because that capability was discontinued on MacBooks manufactured after 2012, the article is outdated.

Today you can find a few iPhone Apps available in the iTunes Store that can help you extract voicemail messages from your iPhone to your computer.  Unfortunately many of them appear to be expensive or complicated to use.  Reviews also indicate that some apps do not function as advertised.  Furthermore these apps are specific to saving voicemail messages and offer no other functionality.  But don’t despair….

There is a more seamless, low-cost, hardware solution that will help you save voicemail messages from your iPhone to your computer.

Here is what you will need to purchase:

• Plantronics USB Audio Adapter (PLT-USBadapter-02) available for $12.99 on eBay, or the more expensive Griffin Technology iMic USB Audio Interface available for $23.78 at B&H. (You don’t need both, just one or the other)
• 3.5mm Male/Male Stereo Audio Cable available for $1.86 online at Wal-Mart.

I chose the lower cost Plantronics USB Audio adapter which was bundled with an old headset because it was readily available to me.

The Plantronics USB Audio adapter does not require a driver or any additional software, once it arrives follow these steps:

1. Plug the Plantronics USB Audio adapter into an available USB port on your MacBook.
2. From the Apple () menu, choose System Preferences.
3. Choose Sound from the View menu.
4. Click the Input tab.
5. From the Select a device for sound input: menu, select the C-Media USB Audio Device

Next, take the 3.5mm Male/Male Stereo Audio Cable and plug one end (it doesn’t matter which end) into the headphone jack of your iPhone, and the other end into the mic input on the Plantronics USB Audio adapter.  When you are done it should look like this:

Now you are ready to record your voice mail messages!

Follow these instructions:

1. Launch it should already be installed on your computer and is located in the Applications folder.
2. Once QuickTime Player has launched, create an audio-only recording by choosing File > New Audio Recording.
   
3. Click the circular record button once to start your recording, then immediately play your voicemail from your phone.  It will take a little bit of practice to synchronize the timing of pressing the play button on the iPhone voicemail and the record button in QuickTime Player.
   
4. When your voice mail has ended, to stop recording, click the stop button in the menu bar.
5. When you close the recording window it will give you an opportunity to save it.

I hope this post has been helpful.