What is the Bixby dictation app?

Bixby is not a separate dictation app. It is the voice assistant built into Samsung Galaxy phones, and it includes a dictation function that starts from the keyboard. Samsung's India support page says that with the keyboard open, you press and hold the Bixby key to start dictation ¹. Samsung's newer pages describe Bixby mainly as a tool for commands, so test the dictation step on your own phone before you rely on it.

Bixby is Samsung's assistant, and dictation is one of its functions

Samsung describes Bixby as its AI assistant. Its Australian support page says Bixby is built into Samsung phones and smart watches, and that you can command it by voice, text or tapping gestures ². The US support article says the same thing from another angle: on Galaxy phones you can speak commands to Bixby or give them through text ³.

An assistant takes a request and carries it out, such as sending pictures to a contact or setting a reminder. Dictation does a different job: it writes what you say into the text box you are typing in. Bixby can do the second job, but it is one feature among many. That is why a search for "Bixby dictation app" usually leads to a setting on the phone, not an app to install from a store.

How to start Bixby dictation on a Galaxy phone

The only Samsung page we could open that names the dictation step is the India page. It lists a Bixby dictation item among the Bixby settings, and the steps are short:

1. Open the keyboard in a message, note or email, so the cursor sits in a field you can type in.
2. Press and hold the Bixby key, then speak.

The Bixby key is not the same on every phone. Samsung's US article says you can wake Bixby by pressing and holding the Bixby button or the Side button ⁴, so on some models the key is the Side button. The India page is from 2024 ¹ and does not say how to stop dictation. We could not find a 2026 Samsung page that repeats the dictation steps. Check the side key settings in your phone's Settings menu, and test the steps in a message before you depend on them.

The Bixby commands and key settings depend on the phone's version

Samsung warns that the commands available in Bixby may differ depending on the version of Bixby ⁵. A dictation step that works on one Galaxy phone may be missing, moved or named differently on another. The safest test is on the phone you own, not on a list copied from a support page, including this one.

Bixby is not the only voice-to-text tool on a Galaxy phone. Samsung says its phones and tablets have two built-in voice-to-text apps, Samsung voice input and Google Voice Typing ⁶. Google Voice Typing is turned on with a switch in the keyboard settings ⁷, and the Samsung talk-to-text guide walks through both tools.

Samsung's policy keeps voice-command recordings on its servers

Privacy is the other difference to check. Samsung's US privacy policy says it collects and keeps recordings of your voice on its servers when you turn on the voice command feature and use it ⁸. That statement covers voice commands. The policy does not say where dictated text goes, so we did not confirm the path for the dictation function. If that matters for private messages, read the policy and your phone's voice settings before you use it. For the wider question of where speech goes, see speech to text privacy.

What to do

1. Find the Bixby key setting. Open Settings on your phone, look for the Bixby or Side key options, and confirm the key starts Bixby.
2. Test dictation in an ordinary message field. Open the keyboard in a note or message, press and hold the key, and speak one sentence. If nothing happens, the step is not on your phone.
3. Use another tool if the step is missing. Samsung voice input or Google Voice Typing will do the same job. The question on Samsung voice input or Google Voice Typing compares the two, and the question on talk to text not working on Samsung covers common faults.
4. Use Bixby for commands, not for transcripts. To turn a saved recording into text, use the steps in how to turn a voice recording into text on Samsung. If you want a voice tool that controls the whole phone, read how to control an Android phone by voice.

For the free options on Mac, Windows and phones, see the guide to free dictation software. For the wider subject, see dictation software.