damaged iphone - how to recover voicemails

[jpewald]

I have an iPhone 5S and a replacement phone is being sent to me via asurion insurance, however, I'm really concerned about a voicemail on my old phone not being transferred. I've backed up my iphone several times to my computer since receiving the voicemail but I've heard only some will transfer ??? Can anyone tell me if there is a way to recover it? Do I need to SIM card from my damaged (due to water) phone ?? I'm nervous about returning the old phone until I'm sure I recover this voicemail. Please help! this voicemail is a message from my father who recently passed away and I will be devistated if I can't retrieve it some how.

[Weth]

Voicemail is on the Verizon server. As long as you are staying with an iPhone, you will see the voice mail on the new phone. I bought a iPhone 6 Plus in the fall, and have voicemail (even deleted ones) from prior to getting the new iPhone.

The problem happens when you switch between smartphone types, which have different voice mail systems. In those cases the voice mail will be erased. Just stay with iPhone and you will be fine.

This comes up regularly. If you have an important message, you should never rely on it solely in 1 spot. You should make a recording of it and save it in a file, with several backups. There are people who had the last voice of loved ones, never backed it up, and if Verizon decides to do something with the voicemail system, it is gone forever.