Learn to use dictation

iOS and iPadOS have improved the way dictation works. Here's how...

- Kenny Hemphill

IT WILL TAKE

20 minutes

YOU WILL LEARN

How to use the new dictation features on iPhone and iPad

YOU’LL NEED

iOS/iPadOS 16

We’ve long been able to dictate text in iOS, whether it’s in Messages, Mail, or any other app where we would normally type. However, in iOS 16, dictation has been significantly improved. It now punctuates automatically, using the context of what you’re typing and the pauses in your speech to determine whether to add a comma, full stop or other punctuation marks. You can, however, still manually punctuate by dictating the name of the punctuation you want to add.

Swapping between dictation and typing and back again is easy and makes for a fluid writing experience, and you even add emoji using dictation. You will, though, need to know the official unicode name for the emoji you want, so it’s worth brushing up on those if you plan to dictate emoji a lot. To make composing text even faster, you can also insert QuickType suggestions using dictation. If you haven’t tried dictation on iPhone or iPad for a while because you found it clunky or inaccurate, it’s well worth giving it another go.

Genius tip! 

As well as tapping the microphone in the text box in Messages, you can tap the microphone next to the keyboard to start dictating.