Why is dictation not working in Gemini, Grok or Codex?

When dictation fails in an AI app, the app is rarely the only cause. The microphone has to be allowed for that app or browser, the right input has to be selected, and the speech has to reach a service that can transcribe it. Those three checks cover Gemini, Grok and Codex, but the exact menus differ, and for Grok and Codex the official documentation is thin. Start with the checks that apply to every app, then test the system's dictation to see whether the problem is the app or the device.

What the official pages do and do not say

I checked what I could reach on 2026-10-17, and I want to be exact about it.

• Gemini. Google's help page "What you can do with your Gemini mobile app" does not mention a microphone, voice input or dictation. Third-party guides describe a microphone icon in the chat box and list permission fixes, but I could not confirm those steps in Google's documentation.
• Grok. The official help site did not resolve when I tried to open it, and the search results held only third-party guides. Those guides describe a microphone icon in the chat input and an Android dictation feature, but I could not verify either against xAI.
• Codex. The Codex CLI documentation I opened does not describe voice input or dictation in its text. Third-party posts disagree on whether a terminal dictation feature exists, so do not rely on any of them until OpenAI's release notes confirm it.

Because the official answer is incomplete, the checks below rely on the rules that apply to any app. The ChatGPT dictation pages are the closest documented case, and they show how a chat app's microphone works.

Permission applies to the app or the browser, not the chat

A chat app's microphone is a microphone like any other, so it needs permission. In a browser, Chrome on a computer asks you to choose Allow while visiting the site, Allow this time, or Never allow ¹. If you chose Never allow, the microphone button can appear and still record nothing. Change that in the site settings for the page.

On an iPhone, the same rule applies to the app: if the microphone does not work in an app, go to Settings, tap Microphone, and make sure the app is enabled ². On a Mac, the app or the terminal you run it in needs the microphone switch under Privacy & Security, as the microphone question explains.

The ChatGPT app is a useful example of how a chat app's dictation is meant to work. OpenAI Academy says that in the ChatGPT app you start dictation by tapping the microphone icon in the text box, and your words then appear as text ³. OpenAI's FAQ adds that the recorded audio is sent to its models to be transcribed, and that you can edit the returned text before you send it ⁴. Because the audio goes to a service before any text comes back, a failure on that side can look exactly like no text at all.

Reports of this pattern exist for ChatGPT. In an April 2025 OpenAI community post, a user reported that dictation registered nothing in Chrome and, in the Android app, heard the voice but delivered no text ⁵. That is one user's report, not a documented fault, but it shows the two places a failure can sit: the browser and the app.

Codex in a terminal has its own rules

A command-line tool such as Codex in a terminal depends on the terminal's microphone permission. Claude Code's voice dictation, which is a terminal tool with the same kind of problem, shows the rule. On a Mac, turning on its voice dictation triggers the macOS microphone prompt for your terminal, if that permission has never been granted ⁶. Terminal tools also need a local microphone: Claude Code's voice dictation does not work in cloud sessions or SSH sessions ⁷.

So if you run Codex over SSH, in a remote container or in a cloud session, the microphone is on the wrong machine, and no setting on your laptop will fix it. Run the tool locally, with the terminal allowed to use the microphone, before you test anything else. The Claude Code page walks through the same checks for that tool.

It depends on where you run the app

• Browser version: check the browser's site permission first, then reload the page.
• Phone app: check the app's microphone switch in system settings, then update the app.
• Desktop app: check the operating system's microphone permission for that app.
• Terminal tool: check the terminal's permission, and confirm you are on a local machine rather than SSH.
• Any app: if the same text box dictates fine with the system's dictation, the app is the cause, not your microphone.

For ChatGPT and Claude, the dedicated questions cover their own menus: why ChatGPT dictation is not working and why Claude dictation is not working. The guide to dictation in AI chat apps compares them.

What to do

1. Test the system's own dictation in a plain text box, such as a note. On Windows, press Windows key + H. On a Mac, use the keyboard's dictation key. On an iPhone or Android phone, use the keyboard's microphone.
2. If the system dictation works, the problem is inside the AI app. Check its microphone permission, then update the app and restart it.
3. If the system dictation also fails, fix the microphone first, using the dictation fix guide.
4. If you use a browser, reset the site's microphone permission to Allow, then reload the page.
5. If you run a terminal tool, confirm it runs locally and the terminal has the microphone permission.
6. If none of this works, use the system dictation to write the prompt and paste it in. That keeps you working while the app's own microphone is unavailable.

The test in step 1 separates the app from the device. Yap, which we make, is a dictation app for Mac and Windows, and if the built-in options fail on your computer, the download page lists current versions and what each supports.