Just purchased Moto E (2020) phones for two of our 90-something family members. I was able to activate them with no problems, except for setting up their voicemail. When I pressed "1" on the native dialer, it instructed me to go to Settings, then Voicemail. But when I open up the Settings page I don't see any Voicemail icon.
Is there a Voicemail app preinstalled on these phones? If so, where can I access it? And if not, what app(s) would you recommend?
What carrier are you using for the phones? Whatever you use these must have call forwarding.
What sub service you using? Redpocket? Ect.
I have two factory unlocked Moto e4 there is no voicemail app installed.
So I recommend the following Free apps
The Best known is
YOUMAIL
What I dislike is everytime after your "please leave a message". There is a small as saying this message will be transcribed by YOUMAIL" BEEP
There is Instructions on how to setup voicemail. A copy is sent to your email and one to the app. Each voicemail sent.
You are basically forwarding your voicemail calls to YOUMAIL servers.
If you set it up
DO NOT DElete YOUMAIL APP BEFORE YOU TURN OFF THE FORWARDING FIRST. Very important!!!!
I use VOXIST.
Identical to YOUMAIL but no ad at end of your "please leave a message"
Also leaves a email copy for each message left. Not sure if you can turn that off.
One thing which I think is a Moto e4 issue is that sometimes the app opens the voicemail slowly.
Anyway those are the two apps you can try for free.
If they just want to hear the VM left by the caller you may need to set/program longpress "1" to call their # & in some cases a pause & the the VM PIN (some allow you to turn PIN required off when calling from your mobile, some don't, you'd need to explore the carrier VM system options). Some MVNO may have a VM access # that they suggest using (or sometimes provisions automatically) but calling your own # has always worked for me.
Thanks very much for your reply! Unfortunately, the phones I referenced are brand new, 2020-model Moto E's (both on Tello), not the older E4 model you mentioned. (I have two E4 phones and both of them had no problems setting up voicemail when I activated them, even on several different carriers.) But I will keep your suggestions in mind if other attempts don't work.
The phones I bought for them (brand new) are just labeled "Moto E", released in 2020. They were the successors to the Moto E6, so maybe they are technically Moto E7's, but I'm not sure.
Given our relatives' age, and how tiny the notification icons are at the top of their new phones' screens (therefore nearly impossible for them to see), it would probably be a safer bet to just have them dial into their voicemail to check it. But again, thanks for the tips -- they may come in handy yet!
I very much appreciate you sharing, especially about the advantage of ad free Voxist realLexusl21 (I made a note about it when you mentioned it in the past)
BUT
I have found that some people, especially those in their 90's want it to work like in the 1990's (or 1960's for that matter).
Sometimes you can get them to open up to try & sometimes all it takes is a frustrating experience or two and they shut down - "just make it work the way it was"
One can resort to lying and saying that the way it was is not possible, has to be done this way now. I am guilty of doing this and it did become second nature in short order.
I suppose DD will have to decide what is the best approach with his family elders if both options work.
Motorola's naming convention for this generation of phones drives me nuts.
I thought they had learned a lesson from the confusion with the early Moto E phones, which resulted in such informal naming as "Moto E 2nd generation 2015".
Since then, Moto has kindly, and logically, named the moto series sequentially. The Moto E (2020) has broken that pattern, since it's officially only "Moto E", and apparently can't be reliably referred to as Moto E(7), as it appears that a named Moto E7 model will be released.
This is in important point. I'm one of the somewhat younger group that prefers that things just keep working the way I've grown to expect.
Although my experience with problematic voicemail settings was a little different, I'd suggest following redrotors suggestions about digging into the menu. I changed carrier providers on a Moto E6, and the traditional voicemail access suddenly failed. Turned out that the Moto E6 failed to update the number to call for voicemail access: a buried menu that normally doesn't need to be dealt with at all, since it's expected to update automatically (and correctly) for a new provider. Mine didn't, and I couldn't access voicemail until I found the item in the submenu, and figured out what the proper number should be. (I think I had to do a google search to find it.)
(I think in my instance, the phone continued to call for voicemail access from the old provider and old number, and I heard some type of failure message. But if this is initial setup with no previous carrier, 'no action' might be the experience.)
I tested out the steps you noted in your earlier post, and they worked perfectly on my Moto E4, so hopefully the same will be true when I get together with them again!
UPDATE: I am pleased to report that "the folks" are all set up for voicemail on their new phones. I wasn't able to get the usual "press and hold 1" to work, so I added "Voicemail" as a contact on each phone, entering their respective phone numbers, so they can speed dial and check their messages without having to remember their number(s). I might have to remove the PIN requirement for them to access their messages if they have difficulty with that, but at least they'll be able to check for messages even if they don't notice the teeny tiny notification at the top of their screens.
Many thanks to all of you who offered solutions and suggestions. I am truly amazed by, and grateful for, the incredible expertise and support that "Nth Circlers" have been willing to share on this thread and countless others. You all are the best -- thanks a million!
Hard to believe that there is no way to program a speed dial to "longpress 1", stupid if true. Moto seems to get worse with every update.
I guess you could pin the VM contact you created to their home screen if you didn't already.
There should be the ability to program a pause (or two) after their #/their VM access # then the PIN # so they have a more seamless experience. I have done this for "longpress 1" where the carrier VM system won't allow PIN disable when calling from your own phone (some VZW MVNOs).
Thanks! I'll keep tinkering with their phones to see if I can tweak anything to make their VM easier. Hadn't thought of pinning the VM contact onto their home screen. [strike]and to be embarrassingly honest, I don't know how to do that -- this "tech immigrant" is definitely still TSL (Tech as a Second Language), but I'll give that a try too[/strike][strike] if you would be so kind as to provide instructions[/strike].
***EDIT: Never mind, I looked up how to do this. Thanks again!