Dictation on iPhone and iPad for blind and low vision users

Introduction

Typing on an iPhone or iPad 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.

To make dictation available, go to Settings / General / Keyboard / Enable Dictation and ensure that the switch is turned on. This enables dictation for the on-screen QWERTY keyboard but not for a numeric keypad which appears for entering phone numbers and other numeric items.

Dictation is very useful but 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.  Unfortunately, the current version of dictation isn't at all intelligent and isn't aware of context. Apple Intelligence hasn't yet introduced a more intelligent version of dictation but a more intelligent version of Siri is expected in spring 2026 and this may bring improvements to dictation on iPhones and iPads which support Apple Intelligence.

Starting dictation without VoiceOver

If you aren't using VoiceOver, dictation is started by tapping a microphone button. This will normally be below the on-screen keyboard. 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. Some of the microphone buttons in apps automatically end dictation when your speech pauses. 

Starting dictation with VoiceOver

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 button. 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 hints and tips

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. VoiceOver may sometimes speak the text that has been deleted. If you aren't confident about what has happened double tap with one finger to move the insertion point to the start of the text or the beginning of the current line and swipe down with two fingers to make sure that the incorrect text has been deleted. Then be sure to double tap with one finger again to move the insertion point to the end of the text before continuing with your dictation.

There is 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 / Smart Punctuation. 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 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.

Here are some other commands you may find useful during dictation. 

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. 

Apple publishes a list of available dictation commands but some of these commands are stated to be available only in US English.

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 text or even handwrite itt and then continue with dictation. It's even possible to spell words while dictating, but the word will appear in capital letters.

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