Can you use talk to text on a flip phone?

"Flip phone" covers two different kinds of phone. A folding smartphone, such as the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, runs Android and works with the same voice typing as other Android phones. A basic flip phone, usually running the KaiOS system or a similar one, may have no talk to text at all, or only a voice assistant. A landline has no screen to type on, so talk to text does not apply to it, although two services can give you spoken words as text. Check which kind of phone you have before you look for the settings.

A folding Galaxy Z Flip is a smartphone, so the Android steps apply

If your flip phone is a smartphone with a touchscreen and the Google Play Store, the phone works like any other Android phone. Samsung lists Speech-to-text, which turns a saved recording into text, in the Notes app on the Galaxy Z Flip6 and other Galaxy phones ¹. For typing a message or email, use the same keyboard steps as any Android phone: make Gboard or Samsung Keyboard your keyboard, then tap the microphone key. The steps are in how to turn on voice typing on Android.

A basic flip phone may have a voice assistant, not talk to text

Basic flip phones with the KaiOS system have a different story. In February 2019, Google announced that Google Assistant on KaiOS feature phones would get Voice Typing, which would let users dictate text messages and web searches ². Engadget reported that the rollout would come over the coming months. That is a plan from 2019. The sources we could find do not say which flip phone models shipped with it, or whether it still works on them.

We checked one model. The HMD user guide for the Nokia 2780 Flip does not mention voice typing, dictation or an assistant in its text, so you should not count on talk to text on that phone. Other flip phones may differ, so look in your own model's manual and in its settings for a voice typing or Google Assistant option before you rely on it.

If your basic flip phone has no talk to text, you have three choices:

• Dictate the message on a smartphone or computer, then copy the text across.
• Use a voice call and type nothing on the phone.
• Replace the phone with a smartphone, which has the Android voice typing tools above.

A landline has no talk to text, but two services can give you the words

A landline has no keyboard or screen, so it cannot turn a caller's speech into text on its own. Two services fill most of the gap, depending on whether you want to read what a caller says while you talk, or read a voicemail afterwards.

Captioned telephone service shows the other person's words on a screen as they speak. In the most widely used form, a communications assistant repeats what the other party says, and voice recognition software turns the assistant's voice into text on your phone ³. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association says anyone with hearing loss of sufficient degree that compromises successful use of a conventional telephone may be eligible ⁴. Under the federal notice for these services, only registered users with hearing loss may use IP captioned telephones with the captions turned on ⁵. For the rules and how to sign up, see how to get captions on phone calls.

Voicemail transcripts turn a message into text after the call. Google Voice help says you can listen to voicemails or read their transcripts, and warns that transcripts may be incorrect or missing ⁶. That page describes voicemail left in the Google Voice mailbox. It does not describe a landline's own answering machine, so check whether your voicemail reaches a service that makes transcripts before you count on one.

What to do, in order

1. Find out whether your phone is a smartphone. If it runs Android with the Play Store, use the Android voice typing steps.
2. If it is a basic flip phone, check its manual and settings for voice typing. If nothing turns up, dictate on another device and send the text.
3. If you use a landline and hear poorly, ask about a captioned telephone service and check your eligibility first.
4. If you use a landline for messages, use a voicemail service that makes transcripts, and listen to the audio before you act on the text.

For more on talking to a phone without typing, see the guide to voice typing on Android. For the broader section on dictation, see dictation on phones and tablets.