How to Use Voice Typing on Your Phone
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With the rise of AI assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Gemini, we’re all now well used to talking to our gadgets. But what you might not realize is that you can actually talk to type anywhere that a text-input box pops up.
This can come in handy in a variety of situations—perhaps you’ve got your hands full of groceries, or you’re holding onto a subway rail. Maybe your phone is out of reach, or the screen’s cracked and keyboard doesn’t work as well as it should. Or maybe being hunched over a tiny screen to compose a message is just not your idea of fun. That is where voice typing can help.
It’s not an either-or situation either: you can switch between typing and talking as you need. Here’s how to do it on Android and iOS, any time the keyboard pops up—whether it’s your email app or a web form.
Android
On Pixel phones and many other Android handsets, the default keyboard is Gboard. When it pops up on screen, tap the mic icon (far right) to enable voice typing, and you can start talking. For more screen real estate, tap the downward arrow to the left of the mic icon.
What you say next is going to depend on which app you’re in and what you’re doing. You can use “delete” to erase the last word and “clear all” to wipe the input box fully. The “next” and “previous” commands will move you between text fields, while emojis can be spoken out as well (like “thumbs up emoji”).
When your text looks good, you’ll be prompted what to say next: Keep an eye on the suggestions under the input box. If you’re in a messaging app then you’ll typically be prompted to say “send,” whereas if you’re looking through a batch of photos for something you might have to say “search.”
Voice typing in action on Android.
Courtesy of David Nield
Tap the small “i” icon on the left of the toolbar if you need more prompts about the voice commands you can use. If you want to keep on using voice typing in other input boxes and across other apps until you turn it off, double-tap the mic icon.
If voice typing doesn’t work, check that it’s enabled (it should be, by default): From Settings on Android, pick System > Keyboard > On-screen keyboard > Gboard > Voice typing. The same screen lets you enable offline access for the feature, and enable or disable automatic punctuation breaks as you talk.
The voice typing process is similar on other types of Android handset, though it might not be identical. On Galaxy phones, the Samsung Keyboard is the default, and with this keyboard the mic icon you need to tap is down in the lower left corner. To make sure voice typing is an option, from Settings choose General management > Samsung keyboard > Voice input.
iOS
Over on the iPhone, you’ve also got access to voice typing wherever you need it. The default keyboard is the one supplied by Apple, though you can also use alternatives such as Gboard if you wish. The keyboard shows up whenever text needs to be entered, and you can tap the mic button (bottom right) to start talking instead of typing.
You can use a variety of commands while you’re talking. Just name an emoji (like “heart emoji”) or say the name of a punctuation symbol (such as “exclamation mark”) to insert the character at the current cursor position.
It’s possible to split text into blocks using the “new line” and “new paragraph” commands, which is handy if you’re composing a long message. You can also say “undo” or “redo” to go backwards or forwards in terms of the words you’ve dictated.
The cursor shows a blue mic on iOS when you’re dictating.
Courtesy of David Nield
Your iPhone also lets you use commands like “select sentence” and “delete paragraph” to give you more control over the blocks of text you’re working with. Sometimes the precision isn’t as good as it could be, but you should be able to compose a large part of most of your messages through this method.
However, the iPhone doesn’t give you an easy way to submit the text you’ve entered, like Android does with the “send” or “search” commands—though in some cases searches will be automatically triggered once you stop talking. Generally, you need to stop voice dictation (by tapping the mic button or saying “stop dictation”), and then tap on the button for sending or submitting your text.
This should be set up by default with iOS, but if it’s not working, open up General > Keyboard from iOS Settings, and make sure the Enable Dictation toggle switch is turned on. The other options here, such as automatic punctuation, are applied whether you’re speaking out or typing your text.
