Downloading voicemail to my laptop

Solution 1:

There is another way. Per this instructables an iTunes backup of the iPhone contains the voicemail files in these folders:

• ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/
  Mac
• \Documents and Settings\(username)\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\
  Windows XP
• \Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\
  Vista and Windows 7

However, the bad news is that these voicemail files are mixed in with a ton of other random files from your iPhone, and all the files have long, meaningless filenames with no extensions. To determine what the files are, use the file * command. Note that the backup must not be encrypted for this approach to work.

file * | grep audio
file * | grep GSM

(on Windows install Cygwin and use the Cygwin terminal to get the file command)

The two file contents that seem likely are

RIFF (little-endian) data, WAVE audio, Microsoft PCM, 8 bit, mono 44100 Hz
Adaptive Multi-Rate Codec (GSM telephony)  

Solution 2:

I use an app called "iExplorer" (formerly iPhone Explorer). It basically lets you reach into the phone to download, modify, replace, or add a file in any (or almost any) directory within the file structure.

http://www.macroplant.com/iexplorer/

Solution 3:

You can't do it in iTunes, and you have to be jailbroken to do it. Here's a good tutorial.

1. Jailbreak phone
2. Install OpenSSH from Cydia
3. Install CyberDuck (or another SSH program) to your computer
4. SSH into your iPhone from the computer (here's how)
5. Navigate to /private/var/mobile/Library/Voicemail/
6. Copy the desired .amr files

Solution 4:

Or use Google voice and you can get them through the browser or emailed to you.

Solution 5:

I use Phone View for this purpose and it works flawlessly. You do not have to jailbreak your phone for it to work.