Dictation on iPhone and iPad for blind, low vision and general users

This page describes what to expect on iPhone and iPad models which fully support current dictation features. These are iPhone SE (2nd generation), iPhone XR and all later iPhone models as well as this list of iPad models. Dictation is supported on older devices but will not offer all the features described here.

Typing on the on-screen keyboard with low vision can be challenging and typing with VoiceOver can be a bit fiddly, but it can get surprisingly fast with practice for those who are familiar with the layout of a QWERTY keyboard. But there's an alternative to typing - dictation, speaking text instead of typing it, and it is available even when you don't have an internet connection. Note that dictation is available only for QWERTY keyboards.  It is not available for numeric keypads for entering items like passcodes and phone numbers. 

If your on-screen keyboard doesn't have a microphone (dictate) key to the left of the space bar then you'll need to turn on dictation in Settings/General/keyboard to make dictation available.

If you aren't using VoiceOver, dictation is started by tapping the microphone to the left of the space bar. You will hear a ping or feel a haptic buzz as the signal that you should begin speaking. Dictation is ended by tapping the microphone again. You will also find microphone buttons in various apps to let you dictate in specific areas, e.g. in the Safari address field. Some of the microphone buttons in apps automatically end dictation when your speech pauses. At the time of writing, October 2023, the location of the microphone button seems to be a little inconsistent. Sometimes  it may appear below the keyboard and sometimes, there will be a keyboard icon to use to end dictation.

VoiceOver users will first need to start editing text with a single finger double tap and then can start and stop dictation with a two finger double tap. This is much simpler than locating and using the microphone key. When you start dictation, wait to hear a ping or feel a haptic buzz before you start speaking. If you don't hear or feel anything, wait for a second and then speak your dictation anyway.

Dictation sessions can be as long as you like but will end if you pause for 30 seconds. Some dictation buttons in apps may behave differently; you will need to experiment. 

You may prefer to build a long piece of text in several dictation sessions. If you use VoiceOver and want to check what has been dictated after multiple sessions, you can double tap with one finger at the end of the final dictation to move the insertion point to the start of the full text and then swipe down with two fingers to hear the full text spoken.

Building text using multiple dictation sessions has one big advantage. If a dictation goes wrong then you can shake your iPhone or iPad to undo the last dictation and have another go. If you aren't familiar with undo, it's very simple. Shake your device and an alert should appearwith the heading undo typing, or undo whatever is relevant. Swipe right and you will find cancel and undo buttons. Undo typing works by selecting your previous typing or dictation and does not delete it. However, since this text is selected, it will be replaced with whatever you dictate or type next. If shaking your device doesn't produce the undo alert, go to Settings / accessibility / Touch / shake to undo and ensure the switch is turned on.

iOS and iPadOS 16 and later include an automatic punctuation feature in dictation. Some people find this very useful but it hasn't worked well for me and I have turned it off so that I need to speak any punctuation I want, for example:

“ Hello Jim comma newline I hope you are well full stop newline how about meeting over a coffee next week question mark”

The automatic punctuation feature can be turned on or off at Settings / General ?Keyboard . I think you will find that it is turned on by default so please experiment and see how it works for you.

When you dictate, speak clearly but don't speak excessively slowly. Natural speech seems to be best for most people.

It is now possible to dictate emojis, for example speaking "smile emoji"  will insert a slightly smiling face emoji and speaking "frown emoji" will insert a frowning face emoji. I haven't checked which emoji names work; several I tried didn't work; have fun experimenting.

Apple used to publish a list of dictation commands in the iPhone and iPad User Guides but these don't seem to be included any longer.  Commands which still work include:

All caps, to capitalise the next word, e.g. "all caps bbc";

Cap, to capitalise the first letter of the following word, e.g. "cap all cap things cap apple" to produce All Things Apple with the first letter of each word capitalised;

 Quote/ end quote, to insert quotation marks;

newline, to move to a new line with no extra space;

new paragraph, to move to a new line with space above.

On social networks, you may want to precede a word by a hash symbol to create a hashtag; to do this speak "hashtag" followed by the word. Sometimes, it is possible to create longer hashtags, for example #OneMoreThing and this will be in camel case, with the beginning of each word capitalised.  I haven't quite worked out when this does and doesn't work yet. 

If you are dictating a long piece of text it might be wise to stop just before you use any of these commands and begin a new dictation session. If the commands go wrong you can undo that short dictation session and have another go. If dictation simply can't get something right then you still have the option to type that small amount of tex or even handwrite itt and then continue with dictation.

Dictation will make occasional errors. It gets better the more you use it and it’s best with names that are in your Contacts. If you want to correct mistakes made in dictation, then VoiceOver users will need to learn how to edit using VoiceOver gestures. 

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