How to email myself that I have a phone call?

November 21, 2015 6:21 AM

I have a habit of muting my phone, dumping it into my bag, and forgetting that the phone has been silenced. I also spend a lot of time at the computer or using a tablet, so if I could just have the phone send me email, I'd know I had a call. I have an iPhone 6 with service from Verizon.

Ideally, I'd get some email with the caller's name and phone number, an attached voicemail, and a transcript, but I'd settle for message that says: hey, A, you got a phone call. I don't want to change my phone number. TIA.

posted by AMyNameIs to Technology (15 answers total)

Best answer: If you have gmail account, Google voicemail will do this for you. The transcription isn't great, but it's good enough to sort out "Hey, what do you want for dinner?" versus "call me now, someone died." It doesn't like the name, just the phone number.

https://support.google.com/voice/answer/165656?hl=en


[edited to add]: I'm on Verizon and have an iPhone, and it works a treat.
posted by joycehealy at 6:39 AM on November 21, 2015 [11 favorites]

I use the Desktop Notifications Android app that pops my phone notifications up on my desktop screen, so that I know in real time that my phone is ringing or that I just got a text. I would assume similar apps exist for iOS.
posted by COD at 6:48 AM on November 21, 2015

If you use a Mac and have updated your OS, your iPhone's calls can just ring right on your computer and you can take the call there.
posted by bcwinters at 6:57 AM on November 21, 2015 [11 favorites]

If you're in the U.S., you should be able to do this with this IFTTT recipe.
posted by neushoorn at 6:58 AM on November 21, 2015 [5 favorites]

I was going to suggest IFTTT. Great service for this sort of stuff.
posted by deezil at 6:59 AM on November 21, 2015 [2 favorites]

I really like IFTTT for this kind of thing. I find that it provides more control over who I get notifications from (i.e., I can be selective about only receiving emails from certain callers) and the method of delivery (i.e., email, sent to a google doc, Facebook notification).
posted by scantee at 7:07 AM on November 21, 2015 [2 favorites]

I use pushbullet for this.
It's not an email, but it lets you mirror notifications to other devices, so at work my phone is silent but I get notifications pop up if I have an email or a phone call or a text and I can mostly respond on my pc.

Also useful for sending links between phone and PC.
I believe it works with iPhones and Safari but I've only used it with Android/Chrome, so I can't vouch for that side of it.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 7:22 AM on November 21, 2015 [2 favorites]

I use Vonage for my "landline" and use their "simulring" feature. So I only give out the landline number and anytime someone calls my landline it rings both my landline and cell phone at once (up to 7 phones). If I'm home i answer the landline. If I'm not home I can answer the cell. Anyway, Vonage is set to automatically email me .wav files of my voice mail. It also offers transcription of voice mail, but i prefer the .wav files.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:25 AM on November 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

My mobile phone is set to transfer unanswered calls to my Google Voice number, which then sends me exactly what you ask for: "email with the caller's name and phone number, an attached voicemail, and a transcript".

Very simple, works well.
posted by anadem at 8:43 AM on November 21, 2015

I use PhoneTag for this. You have to pay a little bit, but I find the transcriptions much more accurate than Google Voice. That's not just my perception; that's been borne out by studies.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 9:27 AM on November 21, 2015

If you have Google voice and are logged into your gmail, the ringing phone shows up on your screen (in case you want to answer it there) even before your phone rings.
posted by salvia at 9:28 AM on November 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

If you use a Mac and have updated your OS, your iPhone's calls can just ring right on your computer and you can take the call there.

This also works if you have an iPad signed in to the same iCloud account. And since the iPad speakers are really loud, it makes it like one of those phone ringers they use in car repair shops and warehouses that sounds like a siren. Both a good feature and at times an awful one.
posted by emptythought at 12:23 PM on November 21, 2015

Response by poster: I took a look at IFTTT, and it wanted permission to do just about anything to my gmail account in order to set up the recipe. I wasn't comfortable with that, so I set up Google voicemail. I'll give it a try to see how it goes. Thanks again - A
posted by AMyNameIs at 3:13 PM on November 21, 2015

If you find yourself silencing your phone at roughly the same time every day, you might also consider enabling Do Not Disturb.
posted by Aleyn at 4:45 PM on November 21, 2015

nthing IFTTT. Super amazing service. It does about 20 great things for me that I depend on.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:14 PM on November 21, 2015