The iPhone’s Dictation feature that lets you enter text just by speaking gets even simpler in the upcoming iOS 16 by combining voice and text input.
And it won’t even be necessary to enter punctuation. The phone will handle that on its own.
The iPhone is renowned for its many accessibility features. Accessibility settings can make text on the screen bigger, buttons easier to identify, animations less jarring and sound easier to hear.
An accessibility feature that is useful for everyone is Spoken Content. You can have your phone read out loud anything you have on-screen. This feature was designed for people who have trouble reading small text, but you will find it handy even if you don’t — in lots of situations.
You can have recipes read to you while your hands are busy cooking, quickly hear how to pronounce a word you don’t know — that’s what I use it for most of all — and more. You can even hear what you’re typing as you write.
Here’s how to turn on Spoken Content.
Are you sick of Siri on Apple Watch butting into your conversations? Prevent it by customizing the way Siri works, or by disabling it altogether. It’s easy to do and it fixes one of Apple Watch’s biggest annoyances.
We’ll show you how.
Maybe you like to keep your iPhone and Apple Watch in English, but you also like to dictate notes and messages in your mother tongue. Or perhaps you want to dictate your notes in English, but send iMessages to your family in Spanish. Or maybe your Apple Watch is just screwed up, and keeps trying to take dictation in a language you don’t speak.
Whatever the reason, it is easy to change the Apple Watch dictation language. Plus, you also can specify a different language for each and every app. Let’s see how.
iOS 13.2 adds controls for Apple’s unpopular Siri data collection program. Now, users can opt in to “Siri and Dictation Analytics,” which translates to letting your iPhone or iPad upload all your Siri interactions so Cupertino can improve the virtual assistant’s accuracy.
Previously, Apple disabled this program because of its unpopularity. Now, it’s back — but under your control.
Apple came out with a new beta for its Shortcuts app that will be released to the public as part of iOS 12 and in the latest build, you can finally take advantage of iCloud syncing.
This is the fourth beta build of Shortcuts and it contains some pretty major changes that make it even more useful for iPhone and iPad users.
Google’s Gboard has been a great alternative iOS keyboard since its launch, and the latest update makes it even better. Now you can use it to dictate your messages, which will save you a load of time once you get in the habit.
In my opinion, Google has Siri licked when it comes to voice recognition, so there’s never been a better time to give Gboard a try. Here’s how to get started.
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.
Google now offers its very own keyboard for iOS, and it’s awesome. It’s packed full of useful features like glide typing and built-in search, and it has a clean and simple design that’s a pleasure to type on. It’s probably the best third-party keyboard on iPhone.
But there are 10 things you should know about Gboard before you get set up.
If you’ve called out, “Hey Siri” to your iPhone before, you know the joy of this Star Trek-style technology. You don’t even need to hold the Home button down. Sure, your iPhone needs to be plugged in, but it’s a pretty neat party trick.
Excitingly, you can do something similar on your Mac: activating dictation with a voice command. The next time you get a great idea and need to document it, you can just call to your Mac and dictate it right then. No pen, no paper, no walking all the way to your keyboard.
Here’s how.
