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How to Use Speech-to-Text on Android
Tap the microphone on your keyboard to turn on voice dictation
By Dave Johnson Updated on February 7, 2024
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Voice Dictation Tips
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What to Know
In any text field, tap the microphone icon at the top of the keyboard. Tap it again when you’re finished talking.
To block or unblock offensive words or change the default language, search Settings for Google Voice Typing.
This article explains how to type on your phone using your voice. This works on all devices that run Android regardless of the manufacturer (Google, Samsung, etc.).
How to Use Speech-to-Text on Android
Android phones come with a speech-to-text converter that lets you dictate text messages, emails, and other text you’d ordinarily type. It’s enabled by default and should work with any app that accepts text input.
Tap the text box so the keyboard shows up.
Tap the microphone icon.
On the Gboard keyboard (the default for many Android phones), it’s in the upper right corner of the keyboard. If you’re using a different keyboard, it might be elsewhere.
Speak into your phone. You should see your speech converted to text automatically.
On some keyboards, you may see a window with a microphone button while you’re dictating. Tap this to alternate between recording and pausing.
When you’re done, tap the microphone icon again to make your phone stop listening to you. You can edit the text as normal if necessary, and then send the message.
The Microphone key on the Android keyboard and Send SMS highlighted in Android Messages
Speech-to-text conversion is different from using your Android phone to read text aloud to you.
How to Customize Speech-to-Text on Android
Voice typing works out of the box and there isn’t much you need to do on the settings side of things. However, there are two options to consider if you need them. You can block or unblock offensive words and choose the language your phone should use when you’re converting speech to text. Here’s how:
Options may look slightly different depending on your version of Android, but the steps are basically the same.
Go to Settings > System > Keyboard.
On some devices, it’s Settings > System > Language and input or Settings > General management > Language and input.
Tap On-screen keyboard.
System, Language and input, and On-screen keyboard highlighted in Android Settings
Tap Google Voice Typing.
If your preferred language isn’t already selected, tap Languages to choose it. If your preferred language isn’t already installed, tap Add a Language, then download the language of your choice.
On some phones, you must turn on Offline speech recognition to dictate when there’s no internet connection available.
You can also control the way the speech-to-text engine responds to obscene language. If a potentially offensive word is dictated, by default that word will appear with asterisks. You can control this by toggling Block offensive words on or off.
Google Voice Typing, Add a language, and Block offensive words switched On in Android Settings
Tips for Getting the Most Out of Speech-to-Text
Typing with your words is a powerful way to save time and work more efficiently since you can almost certainly dictate a message quicker than you can type it. Below are some tips for getting the most out of this feature.
Speak clearly and slowly. If you talk quickly or slur words together, the speech translation will be less accurate and you’ll need to waste time editing it after it’s translated.
Speak punctuation when you talk. It might sound weird at first, but you can create polished, ready-to-send messages by speaking the punctuation as part of the message, such as, “Hello, how are you question mark I am fine period.”
Add entries to the personal dictionary. You can add specialized words you use often, as well as names of people and places Android has trouble understanding. To add to the dictionary, search the Settings app for Personal dictionary.
Avoid noisy environments. You’ll get better results by dictating in quiet spaces.
The 8 Best Voice-to-Text Apps of 2024
FAQ
How do I turn off speech-to-text on Android?
Go to Settings > System or General Management > Language and input > On-screen keyboard and tap the Google voice typing toggle to turn off speech-to-text on Android.
How do I use text-to-speech on Android?
To set up text-to-speech on Android, go to Settings > Accessibility > Select to Speak. Tap the Select to Speak toggle switch to it turn on. In any app, tap the Select to Speak icon > Play to hear the phone read text aloud.
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