Aaron West's Technology Blog: QuickTime on iPhone?

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April 1, 2009

QuickTime on iPhone?

Posted On: April 1, 2009 8:30 AM by Aaron West
Related Categories: iPhone, Mobile & Devices

I'm not sure if I've discovered a hidden feature on the iPhone but as of this morning dot wav files embedded in iPhone Mail can be played. I currently use Vonage for my home phone service and anytime someone leaves a voicemail Vonage sends my wife and I an e-mail with their message embedded as a dot wave file.

We've had this set up ever since moving to Vonage over a year ago. Until today I would listen to the wav files in Apple Mail on my Macbook Pro. Always the optimist I'd click the wav file in all voicemail e-mails but would consistently be met with the message: "This audio type is not supported."

This started working today and the app that plays the wav files looks very much like QuickTime. Here are some screenshots showing the e-mails in iPhone Mail and what results when clicking on them. Anyone seen anything like this before?

Voicemail Notification E-Mail from Vonage

Listening to the WAV File Voicemail

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I've seen QuickTime load on my iPod Touch when accessing content through Safari -- http://www.apple.com/trailers/ for example. Listening to .wav files right from the phone / email is pretty nice. I wonder if v-mails you get from Google Voice would work the same way or do you need to jump over to the site?

# by Bernie Dolan | 4/1/09 9:54 AM

To answer my own question: I just did a quick test and Google Voice sends the email with a link to your voicemail (as opposed to attaching a .wav file). The link opens in Safari, and then plays back in QuickTime.

# by Bernie Dolan | 4/1/09 5:39 PM

@Bernie - After your first comment I sent myself a Google Voice voicemail so I could click the link on my iPhone. You just replied before I had a chance to. So yea, Google Voice voicemail notification e-mails work very much like Vonage. The only difference is the GV e-mails, as you said, don't actually embed the WAV file. But, the link you click does essentially queue up the WAV file and play it in what appears to be QuickTime. The experience of listening to Vonage voicemails and Google Voice voicemails are basically the same on the iPhone.

It's quite nice actually.

# by Aaron West | 4/1/09 10:58 PM

Weird cause I have the exact opposite issue - my iPhone won't play the wav file being forwarded from Vonage. I really need to figure out how to get it to get it to work. Any suggestions?

# by Finnyd | 4/15/09 2:46 PM

@Finnyd - Sorry, this feature randomly started working for me so I have no idea how to troubleshoot it not working. If you figure it out, post a new comment here in case folks run into the same problem.

# by Aaron West | 4/16/09 3:42 PM

So here's what I found out about the iPhone 3G's ability to play .wav files. It is very odd, but it does seem that the built in mail program can handle native .wav file playback without a hitch. However for people accessing thier email using the iPhone's Safari web browers the iPhone quicktime media player fails to play the exact same .wav file that the mail program played without a hitch. Not sure why that is, but it appears to be an oversight on the part of the programmers. Shouldn't make that much of a difference if the mail program initiates the request vs. a web browser. So that's all I can tell you anyone interested. Good luck.

# by FinnyD | 4/17/09 2:00 AM

@FinnyD - Very interesting, thanks for sharing. It seems so weird that QT playback would all of a sudden appear. I mean, I didn't update the iPhone OS or anything and one WAV files in the Mail app weren't working and the next day they were. I'm certainly not complaining, but Apple isn't one to silently release features.

# by Aaron West | 4/17/09 9:36 AM

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