- More than nine billion voice notes are now sent every day, meaning they’ve become a new global symbol of digital distraction
- They’re getting longer, more one sided, and killing the art of conversation – some 76% of people globally says voice notes tend to be self-involved and over half even feel that they are replacing IRL connections
- In a new tech pilot, Heineken® has created a WhatsApp bot in a bid to transform long voice note monologues into real-life chats
- App users who receive voice notes lasting three minutes or longer can exchange them for a free beer – and it comes with a recommendation of local bars to try too
DECEMBER 2025: We’ve all been sent voice notes that – instead of offering a quick update – turn into miniature podcasts lasting what seems like forever.
In the increasingly digital world we live in, voice notes are turning into yet another distraction that encourages us to bury our heads in our smartphones rather than making real life connections. Now Heineken®, the champion of IRL socialising, has launched new WhatsApp technology that offers an ingenious incentive to those who’d prefer to meet up and connect face-to-face, bringing back the art of in person conversation.
The technology has been launched as a pilot in Brazil, where official data from META shows that Brazilians send four times as many voice notes than people in any other country.
The tech was devised after global research polling 14,000 respondents showed that in just one year, the average person spends almost 150 hours a year sending and receiving voice notes.
Not only are people spending a significant amount of time listening to voice notes, but they are impacting real-life social interactions too. Over half (52%) of those polled feel voice notes are replacing IRL interactions, rising to 60% amongst Gen Z. Nearly half (49%), meanwhile, admit to spending entire evenings sending voice notes to a friend instead of meeting in-person, even though 54% say they have their most fulfilling conversations face-to-face.
Global data and business intelligence platform Statista reported, in groundbreaking new data, that 9.4 billion WhatsApp voice notes are now sent every day (equivalent to about 3.4 trillion over the full year). When compared to 2024, their frequency has increased by 7%, and in length by 8%.
Stacy Jo Dixon, Social Media and Society Expert at Statista, said: “Our data suggests that voice notes are not just growing in frequency but also length. With nearly 9.5 billion voice notes sent daily on WhatsApp alone (compared to 7 billion in 2022), it’s evident that voice messaging is reshaping the way we communicate across the globe and taking on a more prominent role alongside traditional in-person interactions.”
While many use voice notes as a ‘catch up shortcut’, people are barely engaged with them. Over half (55%) admit they often forget to listen to them, and even when they do listen, attention is low: 88% forget what was actually said in the message.
Nabil Nasser, Global Head of HeinekenⓇ, said: “Just like we all know meetings that ‘could have been an email’, we’re now seeing voice notes that ‘Could have been a Heineken’.
“Voice notes can feel more personal than reading a message, but what our research shows is that we need to make sure they don’t turn into mini-podcasts, and that we’re having two-way conversations rather than an extended monologue.
“At Heineken, we want to make it easier for people to share moments of socialisation in real life. That’s why we have launched the ‘Could have been a Heineken’ WhatsApp bot, incentivising people to swap long voice notes for a refreshing in-person catch up over a beer of course.”
The ‘Could have been a Heineken’ WhatsApp technology is currently being tested in Brazil, with further global markets set to follow.
To redeem the offer, WhatsApp users over 18 must forward a voice note that they have received, which is longer than three minutes, to a private, encrypted bot. The user will then receive a message saying it ‘Could have been a Heineken’, alongside a voucher for a free beer and a recommendation of local bars to meet up with the friend in real life.
