Providing visual stimuli with spatial identities can improve verbal memory—a phenomenon termed the visuospatial bootstrapping effect (VSB). It has been proposed that the T9 keypad configuration, ingrained in our long-term memory, provides a framework for encoding visually presented numbers into working memory. While there has been growing research on the mechanisms behind VSB, less is known about its efficacy in more naturalistic, multisensory settings, especially in the presence of dialing sounds. This study evaluated VSB in an audiovisual digit recall task. In a computer-based experiment, to-be-recalled number sequences were displayed using a phone keypad simulation, where some presentations were synchronized with dialing tones. We asked participants to perform immediate recall on sequences of varying lengths and compared their performances in the visual and audiovisual trials. In the audiovisual trials, dialing tones significantly impaired digit recall performance, with poorer average recall accuracy for longer sequences. Analyses of the post-study survey suggested minimal contribution of individual memory strategies on recall performance. These findings demonstrate limitations to the benefits of bootstrapping under multisensory conditions, underlining its dependence on attentional resources. Lastly, we propose the need to scrutinize VSB in the context of multimodal encoding to forward understanding of its cognitive machinery.