How to enable, use, and disable dictation on iPhone and iPad

Dictation gives you the ability to talk to your iPhone or iPad instead of typing. You can access it almost anytime your keyboard is on screen, so if you really want you never have to type a text, email, note, or even Facebook message ever again.

How to enable and disable dictation on iPhone and iPad

  1. Launch the Settings app from your Home screen.
  2. Tap General.
  3. Tap Keyboard.

  4. Tap on the On/Off switch next to Enable Dictation. Green means on, and gray means off.

    Launch the Settings app, tap General, Tap Keyboard, and then tap the on/off switch next to Enable Dictation. Green means on, and gray means off.

How to use dictation on iPhone and iPad

  1. Launch any app that uses the keyboard. I will use Messages for this example.
  2. Tap on the text field to bring up the keyboard.

  3. Tap on the Dictation button. It's the microphone between the Emoji button and Space Bar.

    Launch any app that uses the keyboard, tap on the text field, and then tap on the Dictation button.

  4. Start speaking. You should notice the words come up as you go.

  5. Tap Done when you are done speaking. Alternatively, if your microphone isn't picking up any sound for a short amount of time it will shut off itself.

    Start speaking, and then tap Done when you are finished.

Dictation isn't perfect, so make sure you are speaking loud and clear in order to get the most accurate results. It works best when your iPhone or iPad is connected to a Wi-Fi network, and it won't work if you have no reception of any kind. If you care about proper sentence structure at all, you'll need to speak any punctuation. For example, "Hi mom [exclaimation point] I'm coming by later [period] Do you want me to pick anything up from the store [question mark]"

Questions?

Anything things else you want to know about dictation on the iPhone and iPad? Let us know in the comments below!