Guide
How to Dictate on iPhone Without Siri
You don't have to call Siri to dictate on iPhone. Dictation has its own switch under Settings, General, Keyboard, and you use it with the microphone key on the keyboard. If that isn't enough, you can add a dictation keyboard like SpeechDone next to it.
Updated
The short answer
On iPhone, dictating and talking to Siri are two different things. You speak to Siri and give it tasks. With Dictation, you tap into a text field, tap the microphone on the keyboard and talk. The text appears where your cursor is.
That isn’t a workaround. Many people think of the voice assistant first when they think of dictating, but the feature sits in the keyboard settings. Whether you use Siri or not doesn’t change the way Apple describes it.
In Apple’s guide “Dictate text on iPhone,” turning it on doesn’t involve a Siri step. All you need is the Dictation switch.
Turn on Dictation, as Apple describes it
Open Settings
On your iPhone, open Settings, tap General, then tap Keyboard.
Flip the switch
Turn on Enable Dictation. If a prompt appears, tap Enable Dictation again. Below the switch there’s “About Dictation & Privacy,” where Apple explains what happens with your data.
Dictate
Tap into a text field, tap the microphone on the onscreen keyboard and start talking. To finish, tap the icon again or say “Stop dictation.”
What built-in Dictation does
Apple says you can dictate anywhere you can type. The keyboard stays open, so you can switch between voice and touch. In supported languages, Dictation inserts commas, periods and question marks automatically.
You can say the name of punctuation marks and emoji, say “new line” or “new paragraph,” spell words, and edit with “select” or “delete.” Apple links a full list of commands in its guide.
If you add a keyboard for another language, you can dictate in that language too. How to add keyboards is covered in our guide to voice typing with a keyboard on iPhone.
Where built-in Dictation reaches its limits
It stops after silence
According to Apple, Dictation stops automatically when you stop speaking for 30 seconds. Apple’s guide doesn’t name a fixed total length.
Not available everywhere
Apple notes that Dictation may not be available in all languages or regions, and features may vary. Check Apple’s iOS and iPadOS feature availability page for your language.
Search fields
When you dictate in a search box, Apple says the dictated text may be sent to the search provider.
You talk the way you talk
The guide describes commands and automatic punctuation. It doesn’t describe removing an “um” or a “no, wait.” Tidying up stays your job.
When you want more: SpeechDone as a keyboard
SpeechDone is its own dictation keyboard for iPhone. You see the text while you speak. After you stop, the finished text is in the field right away, a median of 0 ms after stop (measured October 13, 2026).
SpeechDone cleans up as you talk. Say “Tuesday, uh, no, Wednesday” and your message says Wednesday. Your original stays in your history next to the cleaned-up version.
Unlike Apple’s dictation, SpeechDone recognizes speech on servers. Our server is hosted at Hetzner in Germany, and recognition runs only on EU servers (Deepgram and Mistral AI). Your recording isn’t stored on our server. For what goes where, read our privacy policy.
SpeechDone isn’t in the App Store yet. Join the waitlist below and we’ll email you once when it is.
Common questions
Can I dictate on iPhone without using Siri?
Yes. Turn on Enable Dictation under Settings, General, Keyboard. Then dictate with the microphone on the keyboard.
How do I stop dictating?
Tap the microphone icon or say “Stop dictation.” According to Apple, it also stops by itself after 30 seconds of silence.
How do I turn Dictation off again?
Go to Settings, General, Keyboard and turn off Enable Dictation.
Does Apple’s dictation add punctuation by itself?
In supported languages it adds commas, periods and question marks automatically. Turn that off under Settings, General, Keyboard, Auto-Punctuation.
Does SpeechDone replace Apple’s keyboard?
No, it’s an additional keyboard. You switch between keyboards whenever you like.
Does SpeechDone cost anything?
You start free with 1,500 words a week. Starter is $2.99 a month and Pro is $4.99 a month.
Sources
- 1Apple: Dictate text on iPhone (iOS 26), retrieved October 16, 2026