Google’s iPhone keyboard gets voice dictation, more languages

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gboard
Gboard just got even better.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Google’s awesome Gboard keyboard for iPhone finally supports voice dictation. The feature is powered by Google’s own voice recognition technology, and you can access it quickly by holding down the space bar.

This update also brings new emoji, Google Doodles, and support for 15 additional languages.

Gboard is my favorite third-party keyboard for iPhone. It’s as simple and as reliable as the keyboard built into iOS, but it adds additional features that make it even more powerful — like built-in Google search. Its latest update takes Gboard to the next level.

An important feature that’s been missing until now — voice dictation — has finally arrived. Users access it by holding down the space bar, and everything they say gets translated into text. It’s just like Apple’s own voice dictation feature, only it’s powered by Google.

In addition, Google has increased support for emoji, so you can now search and send all of the latest characters that were added in iOS 10. Google Doodles — the animations you see at the top of Google.com — have also arrived, honoring holidays, anniversaries, and notable people.

Finally, Google has added 15 additional languages, including Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Polish, Romanian, Swedish, Catalan, Hungarian, Malay, Russian, Latin American Spanish, and Turkish.

Gboard is completely free, and you can download it from the App Store now. We highly recommend it!

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