Why is dictation not working in Apple Notes, Messages and Pages?

When dictation fails in Apple Notes, Messages and Pages all at once, the cause is most likely a device-level setting that affects every app, such as the feature being off, the microphone being blocked or the language being wrong. Test a second app before you change anything. If dictation works in one and not the others, the fault is in that app or field, not in the feature. In Safari, a microphone button on a web page uses a different speech system, which depends on Siri being on.

Test a second app to see whether the fault is general

Start with the test that separates the cause. Dictate a short sentence into Notes, then into Messages, then into Pages. If all three fail, the problem sits in the device settings: dictation is off, the app has no microphone permission, or the language does not match your speech. The guide to dictation that is not working covers those checks in order, and they apply to these apps as much as to any other.

If only one app fails, the cause is in that app or in the field you are typing into. The rest of this page covers the cases where the app itself is the reason.

Messages and Notes are Apple's examples of general text dictation

Apple gives composing messages and notes as its examples of general text Dictation on a Mac, and says dictating in a search box is not part of that example ¹. So Messages and Notes are the places where dictation is expected to work, and a search field is the place where it may not. If dictation fails in a search box inside an app, that is not necessarily a fault in the app. Dictate into the message body or the note body instead.

For the message itself, the same device checks apply. If a voice message or dictated reply does not appear, confirm that dictation is on and that the app has microphone permission. The question on dictation on an iPad walks through the iPad version of these checks.

Pages on a Mac has its own menu route

In Pages on a Mac, you can start dictation from the menu bar rather than a keyboard key. Apple's Pages guide says to choose Edit > Start Dictation, and that if you haven't used dictation before, follow the guided setup instructions that appear ². If Pages does not dictate, try the menu route, and check whether the guided setup has been completed.

If the Edit menu does not show a dictation command, check the device-level setting first, then the language. The Pages guide does not list every failure, so for a fault that remains, compare with Notes and Messages to see whether the fault is in Pages alone.

Safari uses the speech feature of the web page

Dictation in Safari is often a different thing. A microphone button on a website uses the browser's speech recognition, not Apple's keyboard dictation. WebKit, the engine behind Safari, says that Safari supports speech recognition through the Web Speech API, powered by the same speech engine as Siri ³. The browser's speech feature depends on Siri, so WebKit notes that users will need Siri enabled in System Preferences on macOS or Settings on iOS or iPadOS for the API to be used ⁴.

So if a website's microphone does nothing in Safari, turn on Siri first. If Siri is on and the website still fails, the page may not support the feature. The glossary entry on the Web Speech API explains what a website can and cannot do with it. Test the same site in another browser to see whether the fault is the site or Safari.

Use the keyboard dictation key in the app you are typing in

When you want dictation in an app, use the keyboard's dictation control in that app, not a website's button. The two systems are separate, and a fault in one does not show in the other. A Notes or Messages fault is a keyboard dictation fault, and a Safari website fault is a Web Speech fault that depends on Siri. Knowing which one you are using tells you which check to run.

Once you have identified the system, the fix follows from it. Keyboard dictation needs the device switch, the microphone permission and the right language. Web Speech in Safari needs Siri on and a site that supports it.

What to do, in order

1. Dictate into Notes, Messages and Pages to see which apps fail.
2. If all fail, check that dictation is on, that the app has microphone permission, and that the language matches your speech.
3. If one app fails, check whether you are typing in a search box, which Apple does not treat as general text dictation ¹.
4. In Pages on a Mac, use Edit > Start Dictation, and complete the guided setup if it appears.
5. In Safari, turn on Siri, then test the website's microphone. Test another browser if the site still fails.

Other questions in this series cover AirPods, Apple TV and CarPlay. For the Mac steps and fixes, see the Mac dictation fix page. The Siri glossary entry explains how Siri relates to dictation, and the dictation overview lists the rest of the series.