How do you turn off Voice Control on a Mac?

To turn off Voice Control, open System Settings, click Accessibility in the sidebar, click Voice Control, and switch it off. Apple gives the same route for turning the feature on ¹. Once it is off, standard Dictation works again ².

Use the Accessibility settings to switch Voice Control off

Apple's current Mac User Guide page for macOS 27 gives these steps, and we checked it on 16 October 2026. Follow these steps:

1. Click the Apple menu and choose System Settings.
2. Click Accessibility in the sidebar.
3. Click Voice Control on the right. You may need to scroll down.
4. Switch Voice Control off.

Apple's guide titled Turn Voice Control on or off covers both states on one page, and it says an icon appears in the menu bar while the feature is active. If that icon is gone after you switch it off, the change has worked.

Turning it off brings standard Dictation back

Voice Control and standard Dictation cannot run together. While Voice Control is on, you dictate through Voice Control, and standard macOS Dictation is not available ². So if you turned Voice Control on by accident and you want to type by speaking, switching it off is the fix.

After it is off, standard Dictation is controlled from the Dictation section of Keyboard settings ³. Our guide to using Dictation on a Mac explains how to start it once it is on.

Pausing with "Stop listening" is not the same as turning it off

If you only want Voice Control to stop reacting for a while, pause it instead. Say Stop listening when you do not want your words read as commands or dictation, and say Start listening to resume ⁴. The feature stays on, so nothing needs to be set up again. This is the better choice when you want to talk in the room without the Mac responding.

Pausing is a spoken command, so you need Voice Control to hear you before it can pause. If you want the feature fully stopped, use the settings route above.

Turning it back on later needs little setup

Apple describes a one-time download the first time you turn on Voice Control, which needs an internet connection. After that download, Voice Control works without an internet connection ⁵. Because the download is a first-time step, switching the feature back on later should not need it again.

Siri can turn it on, but the settings route is the one to rely on

Apple's Siri guide lists asking Siri to turn on Voice Control as an example request ⁶. We did not find Apple documentation of asking Siri to turn it off. If Siri does not switch it off for you, use the System Settings steps above.

Related questions

If you were looking for a keyboard shortcut instead, read whether there is a Voice Control shortcut on a Mac. If Voice Control is on but does not respond, read why Voice Control is not working on a Mac. For the difference between Dictation and Voice Control, see Dictation vs Voice Control. The full set of steps, with the modes and grids, is in our guide to Voice Control on a Mac, and the Mac dictation hub lists the rest of the set. For the term itself, see our definition of dictation.