How do you turn on dictation on iPhone?

Open the Settings app, tap General, then tap Keyboard, and turn on Enable Dictation. If a prompt appears, tap Enable Dictation to confirm ¹. After that, the microphone key is available on the keyboard. Dictation is built into iPhone, so there is nothing to install.

Turn on Enable Dictation in the Keyboard settings

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap General, then tap Keyboard.
3. Turn on Enable Dictation, and tap Enable Dictation if the prompt appears ¹.

These steps come from Apple's article on dictation for iPhone. The article is written for iOS 27, so check the menu names on your own screen if you run an earlier version.

To confirm it worked, open any app with a text field, such as Notes, and tap the field. The keyboard should show a microphone key. Tap it and speak. Apple's article says that on iPhone you can dictate text in any place where you can type it ².

Why the microphone key may not appear

If you turned the setting on and still see no microphone key, work through these causes.

• Enable Dictation is off. Go back to the Keyboard settings and check the switch. Apple's article also describes turning it off the same way, so the switch is the one place to check ³.
• The language is not supported. Apple says Dictation may not be available in all languages, countries or regions, and that features may vary ⁴. Dictation follows the keyboards you have added, so a keyboard in a supported language is needed ⁵.
• A restriction blocks it. Screen Time can limit built-in features. Apple's Screen Time guide gives the path to Allowed Apps, where built-in features can be turned off ⁶. We could not confirm from Apple's pages which exact toggle controls Dictation on the iOS version you have, so check the restrictions on your own phone and ask whoever set them, if it is a child's or work phone.
• The app blocks the microphone. Some apps do not allow the microphone. Apple says to go to Settings, tap Microphone, and make sure the app is enabled. That is covered in the dictation troubleshooting guide.

On iPad, Apple gives the same steps for a missing dictation key: open General, then Keyboard, and turn on Enable Dictation ⁷.

What to expect once it is on

Dictation stops after a pause. Apple's article puts the silence limit at 30 seconds ⁸, so tap the microphone key again to carry on if it stops in the middle of a sentence.

Whether speech is processed on the iPhone itself depends on the language. The guide to dictation on iPhone explains how that works across languages.

Related pages

To switch dictation off again, follow how to turn off dictation on iPhone. If you want to know what dictation does before you turn it on, read what dictation on iPhone is. For the other common tasks, see how to dictate notes on iPhone and whether a shortcut starts dictation.

For the whole topic, see dictation and voice to text on phones and tablets.