Dictation app

What is a dictation app?

A dictation app turns what you say into written text, so you can talk instead of typing. You speak, the words appear, and you copy the result into a note, an email or a document. A good one also sets punctuation and capital letters, so the text reads like something you wrote rather than a transcript of you thinking out loud.

Ways to dictate on your phone

Your phone gives you three ways to dictate, and the first two are already installed.

The microphone on your keyboard

On iPhone, turn on dictation in Settings > General > Keyboard > Enable Dictation, then tap the microphone key while typing. In supported languages, iPhone adds commas, periods and question marks as you talk, and many languages work without an internet connection. You can also edit by voice, for example with “new line”, or “delete” plus the words to remove. Dictation stops after 30 seconds of silence.

On Android, tap the microphone at the top of Gboard and start talking when you see “Speak now”. On a Pixel 6 or later, advanced voice typing adds punctuation for you and understands commands like “delete” and “clear”. On the Pixel 11 series, a feature called Rambler also removes filler words.

The keyboard’s big strength is that the text goes straight into the app you’re in: WhatsApp, Gmail, your notes. It’s made for a sentence or a short message at a time, though. Apart from Rambler, keyboard dictation writes what you say word for word, so if you change your mind halfway through, both versions end up on the screen. And once you’ve sent or closed the message, there’s no list of what you dictated.

Voice recorder apps

A voice recorder app records the audio first and gives you the text alongside it. Voice Memos on iPhone shows a transcript on iPhone 12 or later, the Recorder app on Pixel phones transcribes recordings, and Samsung’s Voice Recorder has a speech-to-text mode.

Their strength is the audio: you can listen to it again, which matters for interviews or anything you need to quote exactly. The text is a transcript of everything that was said, which suits an interview and leaves more cleanup for a note or an email.

Dictation apps

A dictation app is built for one job: turning what you say into text you can use. Some work as a keyboard inside other apps, some focus on longer notes, some clean up your wording. Prices range from free to a monthly subscription.

SotiTalk

SotiTalk is a dictation app for iPhone and Android, made for the moments when you have more to say than a message. Here’s what it does:

• Live text. The words appear while you’re still talking.
• Cleanup as you go. Filler words like “um” and “uh”, stutters and false starts disappear; grammar, punctuation and capitals get fixed.
• Your corrections count. Say “let’s meet at 9, no, at 10” and the text reads “let’s meet at 10”.
• Paragraphs on their own. A natural pause starts a new paragraph.
• Long recordings. Up to 90 minutes per recording.
• Saved transcripts. Every recording ends up in a list on your phone, ready to copy, share or delete.
• Free, no account. No subscription, no in-app purchases, no sign-up.

Which way to dictate fits when

The keyboard and a dictation app don’t compete, and you can use both. Here’s a rough guide:

As a rule: if it fits in one message, use the keyboard. If it’s longer than a few sentences or you want to keep it, a dictation app saves you the cleanup.

How to dictate notes with SotiTalk

From opening the app to pasting the text takes seven steps:

1. Install SotiTalk from the App Store or Google Play and open it. There’s nothing to sign up for.
2. Tap the big record button on the Home screen. The first time, allow microphone access.
3. Talk. The text appears on the screen while you speak.
4. Tap stop when you’re done. The transcript is saved automatically.
5. Open the Recordings tab and tap your recording. Add a title if you want to find it again later.
6. Tap the three dots at the top and choose Copy or Share.
7. Paste the text into your notes app, an email or a document.

You don’t need to keep the screen on. SotiTalk keeps recording when you lock your phone or switch apps. On iPhone (iOS 17 and later) you can stop from the lock screen; on Android you can pause, resume or stop from the notification.

Tips for better dictation

These tips follow the steps above:

• Before step 2, find a quiet spot. Background music is fine, but other voices end up in your text, since SotiTalk doesn’t tell speakers apart.
• During step 3, talk in whole sentences. Say it the way you’d explain it to a friend, and the text will read that way too.
• Pause between thoughts. A pause starts a new paragraph, so one idea per paragraph comes for free.
• Correct yourself out loud. “Tuesday, no, Wednesday” becomes “Wednesday”. No need to start over.
• Skip “comma” and “new line”. Punctuation and paragraphs are set for you, and SotiTalk doesn’t take voice commands.
• After step 4, read it over once. Names, numbers and technical terms deserve a second look before you send anything.
• Longer than 90 minutes: start a new recording right after the first one ends.

What you can dictate

A few examples of what works well:

• A shopping list: “Milk, eggs, the good coffee, and something for Anna’s birthday.”
• An email reply: say what you’d write, copy it into your mail app, add the greeting.
• A blog post draft: talk through the outline first, then each section as its own paragraph.
• An idea on a walk: start recording, lock the phone, put it in your pocket and keep talking.
• Lecture notes: a 90-minute lecture fits in one recording.
• A to-do list for tomorrow: one task per pause, one task per paragraph.

What SotiTalk doesn’t do

SotiTalk does one thing, and these are the edges of it:

• It needs an internet connection while recording.
• A recording can be up to 90 minutes long, with up to 5 hours per day in total.
• There are no speaker labels: everything it hears ends up in one text.
• It works live only. You can’t import audio files or voice memos.
• It doesn’t take voice commands like “new line” or “delete that”.
• It doesn’t type into other apps. You copy or share the text where you need it.

Dictation app FAQ