How to type on iPhone without hands? Top Features You Might Not Know

Apple regularly improves iOS and makes iPhone more usable in different situations. Text input is one of the most important functions that we use, perhaps more often than others. Think for yourself: we regularly type messages, make notes in Notes and search for something on the Internet.

You can do this using Dictation on iPhone, but it’s important to set it up correctly and know some tricks. Today we’ll talk about why you need voice typing on the iPhone , how to type without errors and with punctuation marks.

How to turn on dictation on iPhone

Dictation is very easy to use, but you need to know some tricks

Hands-free typing in iOS can be done in two ways: using Siri, making the necessary request, or “speaking” it using Dictation located on the keyboard. When you click on it, you just need to start talking, and iOS will turn it all into text on the screen.

Dictation understands English , but copes well with some other languages, only occasionally making mistakes. Before using Dictation on iPhone , it must be enabled in Settings – in fact, you can also deactivate it there so that the button disappears from the keyboard.

• Go to Settings.
• Select General, then Keyboard.
• Activate the slider next to Enable Dictation, and then select languages.

After that, open any application where you can enter text and click on the microphone icon: on an iPhone with Face ID it is located in the lower right corner, on an iPhone with Touch ID it is to the left of the space bar. After that, you can dictate the text without hands, even without an Internet connection. If you do not use it within 30 seconds, it will automatically turn off.

How to dictate text on iPhone

Experienced users have long noticed that dictation generally copes with typing, but makes a lot of mistakes: as a result, edits take a lot of time, comparable almost to the time of manual input. There are some tips to help you improve your iPhone text dictation .

These tips will help you dictate faster on your iPhone.

• When dictation is on, try to keep your phone close to you so that the microphone picks up all the sounds.
• When driving, it is recommended that you place your iPhone in a holder and do not pick it up.
• Try to pronounce the words slowly and clearly: this is better than chattering, swallowing sounds, as a result of which Dictation is mistaken and gives nonsense in the text.
• Turn off the music and try to avoid extraneous noise so that the text is typed correctly.

Please note that the text may not display correctly, but change as you type further. This is because as words are added, iOS recognizes the context of the sentence and adjusts them to make sense.

iOS dictation commands

Here are some hacks to help you dictate text faster.

To improve the input and make it more accurate, you need to use special commands that will allow you to immediately insert punctuation marks with your voice and format the text with your voice. See what needs to be said.

• ” New line ” – the command moves the cursor to a new line.
• ” New Paragraph ” – Dictation will add a new paragraph by placing the cursor at the beginning of it.
• ” Enable all caps ” – after that, the text will be entered in capital letters until you say “Turn off all caps”.
• ” Number ” – Say this phrase so that the phrase is entered in numbers. For example, “960” instead of “nine hundred and sixty”.

Also, while dictating the text, actively use punctuation so that everything does not turn into a mess. Just say “Colon”, “Comma” or another phrase. You can also use brackets (“opening”/”closing” brackets), but be sure to indicate which one you are using – round, curly or angled.

Unfortunately, you cannot move to the right place using dictation: you will have to manually correct errors and move the cursor over the text.

What to do if dictation does not work on iPhone

Dictation on iPhone not working? Try to fix it

Sometimes users find that dictation on iPhone does not work even when pressing the button. What can be done?

• Reboot your smartphone – the method always helps when minor difficulties arise.
• Turn off and turn on dictation according to the instructions at the beginning of the article.
• Turn off Siri – sometimes the voice assistant is to blame for the failure of dictation, so it’s better to turn it off for a while.
• Try turning off Bluetooth to unpair your AirPods from your iPhone. Also unplug wired headphones if they are connected.
• Try removing the case: modern accessories sometimes interfere with the correct operation of microphones, so they should be discarded.

We hope that now you will start working with text using dictation many times faster than ever.