Samsung Speech to Text: How to Use It on Galaxy Phones

Samsung speech to text is built into every Galaxy phone. To type with your voice, tap the microphone icon on the Samsung Keyboard toolbar and start talking. To turn a recording into text, open it in Voice Recorder and tap the Transcript assist icon, then Transcribe (Galaxy AI, One UI 6.1 or later).

Those two cover most jobs. There are two more tools tucked into the Accessibility menu, and the right one depends on what you're trying to do.

Dana manages three rental properties from her Galaxy S24. She spends 20 minutes a night typing tenant replies with her thumbs, then another 10 fixing typos. A week after she switches on voice input, the same replies take about 8 minutes, spoken while she walks the dog. (Dana is an illustration, not a real customer.)

This guide shows each Samsung speech to text option, step by step, using Samsung's own support pages checked on November 7, 2026. You'll see which tool fits which job, how to choose between Samsung's and Google's voice engines, what to do when the microphone key disappears, and where the built-in tools stop.

Which Samsung speech to text tool fits your job

Find what you want to do, then jump to that section.

The first row is what most people mean by "Samsung voice to text." The second and third are about recordings, and the last two are accessibility tools that show text on screen while someone talks.

How to turn on speech to text on Samsung Keyboard

Samsung's keyboard settings page lists two built-in voice engines: Samsung voice input and Google Voice Typing. Samsung voice input only works when you use the Samsung Keyboard.

Here's how to set up voice typing on Samsung:

1. Open Settings and tap General management.
2. Tap Samsung Keyboard settings (on some phones, Keyboard list and default, then Samsung Keyboard).
3. Swipe to Voice input and pick Samsung voice input or Google Voice Typing.
4. Under Offline voice input, turn on the switch for your language, or tap Install offline language pack to download it.
5. Open any app with a text box, tap the Microphone icon on the keyboard toolbar, and speak.

The first time, you may need to accept terms or allow microphone access. Menu names shift slightly between One UI versions, so if a label doesn't match, search for "Voice input" in Settings.

Samsung voice input or Google Voice Typing?

Both turn speech into text in any app. The difference is the engine behind the mic key.

• Samsung voice input supports offline language packs you choose under Offline voice input, so dictation keeps working without a signal.
• Google Voice Typing is the same engine Gboard uses. If you already like Gboard, our Gboard voice typing guide covers its commands and settings.

Accuracy reports vary by accent and phone, and Samsung doesn't publish a comparison. The honest test is to dictate the same two sentences with each and keep the one that makes fewer mistakes.

Tips for cleaner Samsung talk to text

• Speak in full sentences. Short bursts give the engine less context, so it guesses more.
• Say punctuation out loud ("comma", "period", "question mark") when the engine doesn't add it on its own, then check the result.
• Keep the phone close to your mouth and away from wind and road noise. Samsung gives the same advice for Transcript assist: speak clearly, near the microphone.
• Edit with your thumb, not your voice. Fixing one word by tapping is faster than repeating a whole sentence.

Voice input is built for messages and short notes. A 40-minute meeting is a different job, which the next sections cover. Need to capture a whole conversation, not a sentence? ParrotNotes records it and returns a transcript and summary.

How to transcribe recordings on Samsung with Transcript assist

For audio you've already recorded, Samsung speech to text comes from Transcript assist, part of Galaxy AI. Samsung's Voice Recorder page says it runs on "select phones and tablets running Android 14 with One UI 6.1 or higher."

To switch it on, go to Settings > Galaxy AI > Transcript assist, per Samsung's UK Transcript Assist page. You can download extra language packs there.

Then, to transcribe audio to text on Samsung:

1. Open Voice Recorder and tap the recording.
2. Tap the Transcript assist icon (four stars), then Transcribe.
3. Tap the same icon again for Translate or Summarize.

Samsung's US page lists 16 languages, several with regional variants, and says "Galaxy AI basic features provided by Samsung are free." It doesn't give a maximum length. Our full Samsung Voice Recorder guide covers recording modes, sharing, call transcripts and the full language list.

Speech to text in Samsung Notes

If you recorded audio inside a note, you can transcribe it there. Open the note, tap the Open Voice recording icon (a sound wave), tap Menu, then the Speech-to-text icon. The Transcript tab shows the text, and the Summary tab gives a quick overview. Samsung notes that summaries can't be generated for very short transcripts.

Marcus, a field technician, records a two-minute voice note in Samsung Notes after each service call: parts used, what the customer asked, when to come back. Transcript assist turns each one into text he pastes into the job ticket before he drives off. (Marcus is an illustration, not a real customer.) For more ways to handle these clips, see how to transcribe voice notes.

Live Transcribe and Live Caption on Samsung

Both sit in Settings > Accessibility > Hearing enhancements, according to Samsung's Live Caption and Live Transcribe page. They show text on screen while sound plays, which helps people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and anyone in a loud room.

• Live Transcribe uses the phone's microphone to transcribe a conversation around you and labels other sounds, such as music. Tap Open Live Transcribe to start, or add the shortcut. Samsung says the service is provided by Google.
• Live Caption captions audio playing on the phone: videos, podcasts, phone and video calls, and audio messages. Turn on Use Live Caption. Samsung says it only works on select devices and may not work in every media app.

Neither is a note-taker. They're built for reading along in the moment, not for building a record you'll search next week. For a wider look at captioning apps on Android and iPhone, see our roundup of live transcribe apps.

Samsung speech to text not working? Fixes to try

Run through this checklist in order. Most fixes take under a minute.

1. Check the keyboard. Samsung voice input only appears on the Samsung Keyboard. If you switched to another keyboard, the mic key changes or disappears. Go to Settings > General management > Keyboard list and default.
2. Bring back the toolbar. Hiding the keyboard toolbar also hides the voice input shortcut. Turn the toolbar back on in Samsung Keyboard settings.
3. Pick a voice engine. Under Samsung Keyboard > Voice input, make sure one is selected.
4. Download the language. If you're offline, the language needs an offline pack under Offline voice input.
5. Check microphone permission. Go to Settings > Apps, find the voice input app, and allow Microphone.
6. Update the phone. Transcript assist needs One UI 6.1 or later, and some older models don't get Galaxy AI at all.
7. Restart. It clears a stuck microphone more often than you'd expect.

If Transcript assist is missing after all that, your model may not support it. Samsung lists supported models by region, so check your country's Samsung support site.

Where Samsung's built-in speech to text stops

The built-in tools are free and good at their jobs. They run out in three places:

• Long meetings. Voice input is for sentences, not hour-long calls. Transcript assist handles recordings, but you still sort out who promised what. Our guide on how to turn speech into organized notes covers that step.
• Language mixing. Transcript assist lists 16 languages. A meeting that switches languages halfway needs a tool that handles code-switching.
• Galaxy only. Your notes stay on your Samsung. A teammate on an iPhone can't open them the same way.

Do it with an app: ParrotNotes on your Galaxy

ParrotNotes is a recording and transcription app for Android and iPhone. On a Samsung, it records a meeting, call debrief or lecture in the background (screen locked is fine), then gives you a transcript and an AI summary. On an AI-powered recording, it also pulls out action items and drafts a follow-up email.

The free plan includes 100 minutes of recording a month (up to 30 minutes per recording), an AI summary on every recording, 5 AI-powered recordings a month, unlimited typed notes, and 3 audio or video imports a month, so you can bring in a file from Samsung Voice Recorder. Pro is $19.99 a month, or $14.99 a month billed annually. It adds 3,000 minutes a month, recordings up to 3 hours, and transcription in 99+ languages with code-switching. The current details are on the pricing page.

Back to Dana. Her tenant replies are still voice input on the Samsung Keyboard. Her quarterly walk-through with the property owner, 50 minutes of repairs and budget, now goes into ParrotNotes. She gets back a summary and a list of six repairs with owners, instead of a recording she never replays.

Want your next meeting to come back as a to-do list? Download ParrotNotes free on your Galaxy and record one.

If you record conversations or calls (here's how to record phone calls on Android), check the rules first. Some US states require everyone to agree, which our guide to one-party consent states explains.

Conclusion

Samsung speech to text comes in three built-in pieces, plus an app for long recordings:

• Samsung Keyboard voice input for texts, emails and short notes. Pick Samsung's or Google's engine and download an offline language.
• Transcript assist for recordings in Voice Recorder and Samsung Notes, on One UI 6.1 or later.
• Live Transcribe and Live Caption for reading speech on screen as it happens.
• A recording app when you need a searchable record of a long meeting, with action items.

On another Android phone? Our guide to voice to text on Android covers Pixel and other makers. Comparing dictation apps? See the best voice to text apps. And when the meeting is longer than a text message, try ParrotNotes free.