Apple is testing a new voicemail service that will use its digital assistant Siri to answer your calls and then transcribe the messages and text their content to you, eliminating the need to actually listen to them.

According to Business Insider, the service is being prepared for a launch in 2016, and will employ Apples iCloud Voicemail service at its core, sending those calling people making use of the service to Siri instead of a standard digital audio recorder.

The feature aims to bridge the generation gap between older users (who often make use of voicemail) and younger people (who rarely do), as well as eliminating the pain point in the voicemail flow – people enjoy leaving voice messages, which are usually quicker to relay than typing out a message, but dont like receiving them, as the process of reaching and listening to them is much slower than simply reading a SMS.

The Siri-based voicemail will also be able to take advantage of other features the digital assistant has access to, for example letting callers know that you are in a meeting based on your calendar, or that you are in a poor signal area based on your location.

The feature is currently being tested internally and if it proves to be successful, will likely be rolled out as part of iOS 10 next year. However, given the recent stories of voicemails being hacked into by UK newspapers, one has to wonder if introducing another ecosystem into the chain could make private data even more vulnerable to intrusion.