Cannot scrub audio messages in Messages app on Mac

Is there a way to advance forward or backward while listening to an audio message in the Messages app on the Mac? I do it easily on my iPad or iPhone by dragging the current point with my finger, but on the Mac dragging with my mouse sure doesn't work. Using Sequoia 15.7.2.

iMac 24″, macOS 15.7

Posted on Nov 18, 2025 6:56 AM

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3 replies

Nov 21, 2025 2:47 PM in response to Frankbank

Thanks much, I don't have a touchpad but only a mouse. I was trying to replicate that action with a mouse, and I think I got it...sort of. If you double-click somewhere in the wavy lines of the message and then drag back or forth, that seems to work, sometimes. There must be some trick to the exact mouse action, but a double-click, hold, then drag seems to sometimes work. If you don't get it exactly right it just pauses playback, or often even acts as some kind of trigger that sets you up for sending your own voice text back, or starts to copy and move the entire voice text as a single object elsewhere.


I'll work with it more. Thanks for the clue.

Cannot scrub audio messages in Messages app on Mac

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