How to Use Speech to Text on iPhone

Speech to text on iPhone is built in, and Apple calls it Dictation. To turn it on, open Settings > General > Keyboard and switch on Enable Dictation. Then tap the microphone key on the keyboard in any app and start talking.

That's the whole setup. What trips people up comes after: the mic switching itself off, the wrong language, punctuation they didn't ask for, or a setting they can't find to turn it off again.

Priya runs a small cleaning business from her iPhone 15. Every evening she types about a dozen client texts: arrival times, key codes, invoices. With her thumbs, that takes around 25 minutes.

Spoken into the keyboard mic while she loads the van, the same texts take under 10, with a quick check before she taps send. (Priya is an illustration, not a real customer.)

This guide covers how to use speech to text on iPhone from start to finish, using Apple's iOS 27 iPhone User Guide, checked on November 8, 2026. You'll get the setup steps, how to dictate in any language, which of the four built-in speech tools fits which job, how to turn each one off, and what to do when you need to capture more than a few sentences. If your talking usually ends up as meeting notes, you can try ParrotNotes free while you read.

How to turn on speech to text on iPhone

Here are the steps from Apple's Dictate text guide:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap General, then Keyboard.
3. Turn on Enable Dictation. If a prompt appears, tap Enable Dictation again.

That's it. The microphone key now shows on the Apple keyboard, and in some apps right in the text field too. In the same Keyboard screen you'll also find Auto-Punctuation and your list of keyboards, which come up again below.

Turned it on but still don't see the mic? Usually another keyboard (like Gboard) is active, or Voice Control is on. Our iPhone dictation not working guide walks through every fix.

How to use speech to text on iPhone

Once Dictation is on, using it takes three steps:

1. Tap in any text field, such as a message, an email, a note or a search bar, where you want the words to go.
2. Tap the microphone key and start talking. The keyboard stays open, so you can switch between voice and typing.
3. Stop by tapping the mic, saying "Stop dictation", or staying quiet. Apple says Dictation stops on its own after 30 seconds of silence.

It works anywhere you can type, in Apple's apps and in apps like WhatsApp, Gmail or Slack. For sending texts hands-free with Siri, and the Android side, see our guide to the best talk to text app.

Speak in full sentences at a normal pace. The iPhone guesses better with context, and you'll fix fewer words afterwards.

Punctuation, new lines and emoji

In supported languages, iPhone speech to text adds commas, periods and question marks for you. You can also say them. A few that cover most messages:

• "exclamation point" or "question mark" adds the mark.
• "new line" or "new paragraph" breaks the text.
• "heart emoji" or "smiley face emoji" adds the emoji.

You can spell a name ("invite Steven S-T-E-P-H-E-N"), fix a word ("change tea to T-E-E"), and say "undo." The full list, with formatting and editing commands and a printable cheat sheet, is in our guide to iPhone dictation commands.

On newer phones it gets better. Apple says that with Apple Intelligence in iOS 27, Dictation uses an on-device model to improve spelling, punctuation and capitalization, in English on iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, iPhone Air or later.

Speech to text in another language

Dictation listens in the language of the keyboard you have open. To dictate in Spanish, French or any other supported language, add that keyboard first:

1. Go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards.
2. Tap Add New Keyboard and pick the language.
3. While typing, touch and hold the globe (or emoji) key and switch to that keyboard, then tap the mic.

For some pairs, such as English (U.S.) and Spanish (Latin America), Apple offers a bilingual keyboard: tap Add New Keyboard, then Add to [language] Keyboard. Apple doesn't promise every language works with Dictation in every country, so check its feature availability page if yours is missing.

Does iPhone speech to text work offline?

Often, yes. Apple says, "Dictation is processed on your iPhone in many languages, and no internet connection is required."

Two catches: text you dictate into a search field may be sent to the search engine, and Apple notes cellular data charges may apply. If you're on a plane and nothing types, the language you're using may need a connection.

Using your voice for more than texts? ParrotNotes records a whole conversation on your iPhone and gives you back a transcript and summary.

Which iPhone speech to text feature fits your job

The keyboard mic is one of four built-in ways to turn speech into text on an iPhone. Each solves a different problem, and the right one depends on how long you talk and what you need at the end. All details below come from Apple's iOS 27 iPhone User Guide, checked November 8, 2026.

A few notes on the three you may not have tried:

• Voice Control needs a one-time download over Wi-Fi, then works with no internet connection. Its Vocabulary setting lets you teach it names and jargon. But while it's on, the normal keyboard mic isn't available, which confuses a lot of people.
• Voice Memos transcription works in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Japanese, Korean and Chinese (Simplified and Traditional). You can watch the text appear while you record, then tap Copy Transcript. Our walkthrough of how to transcribe a voice memo covers it step by step.
• Live Captions can caption a conversation around you (tap Microphone) or audio playing on the phone (tap iPhone Audio). Apple says its accuracy "shouldn't be relied upon in high-risk or emergency situations." For other captioning apps, see our list of live transcribe apps.

How to turn off speech to text on iPhone

People searching "turn off speech to text iPhone" usually mean one of four things. Find yours:

The last row isn't speech to text at all. It's text to speech, the reverse.

In iOS 27, Apple's Read & Speak settings hold Speak Screen, Speak Selection and Accessibility Reader. Older guides call this menu Spoken Content, so if you're on an earlier iOS, look for that name.

If the phone is still taking voice commands after all this, check whether Voice Control is on: Apple shows its icon in the status bar. Turn it off in Settings > Accessibility > Voice Control, or ask Siri, "Turn off Voice Control."

When keyboard dictation stops: long recordings on iPhone

The keyboard mic is built for messages. It isn't built for a 40-minute meeting, a lecture or a site walk-through. Three things get in the way:

• It stops on silence. Pause for 30 seconds to think or listen, and Dictation switches off. Anything said after that is lost.
• It types into a text box. You need the phone in your hand with the app open. Lock the screen and you're done.
• You get raw text. Nothing sorts out who said what, what was decided, or what you promised to send.

For a recording you'll read later, Voice Memos is the free built-in answer: it keeps going through pauses and transcribes in 10 languages on iPhone 12 or later. You still get a long block of text, though, and turning it into notes is up to you.

Do it with an app: ParrotNotes on your iPhone

ParrotNotes is a recording and transcription app for iPhone and Android. It records in the background with the screen locked, so the phone can sit in your pocket or on the table. When you stop, you get a transcript and an AI summary. On AI-powered recordings, it also lists action items and drafts a follow-up email.

As of November 2026, 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 Voice Memos. 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. Current details are on the pricing page.

Tom, a property inspector, used to dictate his findings into the Notes app between rooms. The mic kept cutting out while he measured, and he'd lose half a sentence each time.

Now he starts one ParrotNotes recording at the front door and talks through the whole 35-minute inspection. Back in the car, he has a transcript and a list of seven repairs to put in his report. (Tom is an illustration, not a real customer.)

If you're recording other people, ask them first. Rules differ by place, and our guide to one-party consent states explains the US basics (general information, not legal advice). For more ways to capture a meeting, see how to record a meeting on iPhone, or compare tools in our roundup of the dictation app for iPhone options beyond the keyboard mic.

Want your next long conversation back as notes, not a wall of text? Download ParrotNotes free and record one.

Conclusion

Speech to text on iPhone takes one switch and covers most everyday typing:

• Turn it on in Settings > General > Keyboard > Enable Dictation, then tap the mic in any app.
• Add a keyboard to dictate in another language, and let Auto-Punctuation handle commas, or switch it off.
• Pick the right built-in tool: Dictation for messages, Voice Control for long hands-free drafts, Voice Memos for recordings, Live Captions for following speech live.
• Turn off the right setting: the keyboard mic, Auto-Punctuation, Live Captions, or Read & Speak if your phone is reading aloud.
• Use an app for long recordings, where dictation's 30-second silence stop gets in the way.

On a Galaxy phone instead? Our guide to Samsung speech to text covers it. And when the conversation runs longer than a text message, try ParrotNotes free.