You ’ve been capable to dictate text to your iPhone instead of typewrite for averylong time , and over the years it has now and again gotten better . But withiOS 16 , the command features are taking a immense step forrad in usability — so much so that you might in reality start using it all the time . As long as you have an iPhone with an A12 Bionic poker chip or good ( that ’s an iPhone XS ) , you ’ll be capable to seamlessly talk and type or edit , which make the intact dictation “ workflow ” a lot smoother . Automatic punctuation can supply comma , periods , and question Gospel According to Mark . And you may add emoji via voice , too .

Here ’s how to make the most of these amazing raw bidding feature of speech to speed up your typing .

Just tap the mic

You start using dictation the same agency you would in early versions of iOS : just beg the mike icon in the broken right corner of your keyboard . You ’ll notice in Messages , the mic ikon is right in the text entry field , supervene upon the old voice memo button .

Then , simply start talking . In nigh any text entry surface area other than lookup fields , parole will get going come along as you verbalize but the keyboard will remain on screen door , with the mike button highlighted .

While you ’re speaking , you may switch to typing at any time , then just resume speaking to keep enter textual matter that way . alternating between typing and mouth freely – once you get the hang of it , it ’s quite fast . you’re able to twofold - strike words to select them , exhort and hold on the space bar to move around the cursor like a trackpad ; all the usual text entry control are always correct there , you’re able to just speak now in addition to tapping and swiping .

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You ’ll detect a minor “ stop dictating ” mike icon right next to the text pointer . Tap that , or the microphone picture at the bottom of the keyboard , to stop dictating . Dictation will also stop automatically if there ’s a long stretch of quiet .

Talking tips

Dictation works best if you harbinger clearly and mouth at a even pace . It ’s a little unlike than utter casually , but it ’s worth the effort for the improved focal ratio .

There are a emcee of control you’re able to give to arrange schoolbook or type special characters . While the new auto - punctuation mark feature ( see below ) will attempt to aright insert Polygonia comma , periods , and question marks , other punctuation mark can be append just by speaking . Here ’s a list of some of the most useful formatting commands . Just speak them as you talk , such as “ In iOS 16 comma dictation is fantastically utile exclamation head ” .

You have been able toadd a couple of different emojisin dictation for years , mostly just smiling and frown , but Io 16 greatly flesh out the number . You ’ll have to experiment a little to find which descriptions fit with the right emoji , but the samara is to say “ emoji ” after it . If you want to typewrite the Son “ shrug , ” say “ shrug . ” But if you need to type 🤷 ‍ ♂ ️ then say “ shrug emoji . ”

iOS dictation settings

Important settings

There are two authoritative place setting to know about for bidding . Open preferences > General > Keyboardand then scroll down to theDictationsection to find them . The first will twist off the dictation feature entirely . This is generally not necessary – Apple will sometimes send phonation samples back to its host to amend bid quality , but the phrases are abbreviated and anonymized , it ’s not like there ’s an open mic recording your every word . only not entering bidding mode is enough to keep it inactive .

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The other toggle turn the auto - punctuation mark feature on or off . This is a novel feature for Io 16 and it set about to put in commas , periods , and question marks intelligently by paying attention to your phrasing and tone of voice . It ’s a slight hit - and - miss in the iOS 16 beta , so if you find that whatever fourth dimension this saves you is cancel by all the corrections you make , just sprain it off .