Voice notes and photos

Phone

1. Hold the mic in the message box to record. Slide to cancel, release to send. While you record, a visible Cancel is on screen too. With TalkBack, the record button also has the action Cancel the voice note.
2. Keep talking as long as you need, up to 10 minutes. A long voice message is sent in parts of about a minute while you keep talking, so each part reaches the chat as soon as it is ready.
3. Cancel drops only the part you are recording right now. Parts that were already sent stay in the chat.
4. A voice note that failed to send is kept so you can try again, even if you record another one after it.
5. Leave the chat with parts that didn’t go out, and they are kept: open the chat again and they are back as voice notes that weren’t sent. Tap one to send it again.
6. Play with the play button on the bubble.

iPhone

1. In the iPhone app (in private testing), hold the mic in the message box to record, slide left to cancel and let go to send. A very short touch records nothing and says Hold to record a voice note. While you record, Cancel is on screen too.
2. With VoiceOver, double tap the mic to start and again to send; Cancel the voice note is one of its actions. A voice note sends by itself after 2 minutes, and the bar says Sending in 10 seconds before that.

Watch

1. In a chat, tap Voice note, then Stop and send (or Cancel). A long voice message is sent in parts of about a minute while you keep talking, up to 10 minutes. Cancel drops only the part you are recording; parts already sent stay. A note that didn’t send can be sent again or discarded, even if you record another one after it.
2. The note keeps recording when the watch screen dims. While the screen is dim or off, or KeyUp is not on screen (for example you pressed the side button to look at something else), nothing is sent: finished parts wait. Bring KeyUp back within a minute and the waiting parts go out in order while you keep talking.
3. After a minute like that, the note stops and is kept unsent, never sent by itself. Open the chat and it says The voice note stopped while the screen was dim. Send it, or discard it. Tap Send voice note again to send all of it in order, or Discard voice note to throw away what wasn’t sent. Parts that went out before the screen dimmed stay in the chat.
4. Leaving the chat while you record works the same way: the note stops and is kept unsent. Open the chat again and tap Send voice note again.
5. More than one kept note? They are offered one after the other, oldest first. Send or discard one, and the next one shows.
6. Tap a voice note to play it.

Web app and iPhone

1. Tap the mic button (Record a voice note) in the message box, speak, then tap it again to stop. Send or Discard appear above the box. The browser asks for the microphone the first time. On iPhone, recording works only while the page is in front, and an older Safari may not record at all.
2. Play with Play voice message.

Phone

The + button in the message box › Photo. Tap a photo to open it. Photos keep their orientation: one taken upright is sent upright.

Web app and iPhone

1. The picture button (Send a photo) in the message box picks a picture to send. A photo that doesn’t go stays ready: a bar above the box offers Try again or Discard. Pictures people send show in the chat.
2. A photo upload waits as long as it is making progress, up to 5 minutes. Try again never sends a photo twice: if the first try arrived, it does not arrive a second time.