Dictation in iOS7.03.

By Sandy, 25 October, 2013

Forum
iOS and iPadOS
Whenever I try to dictate text in iOS7.03, all VO says is: "Thinking..." The text is never inserted. Dictation worked well in iOS7.02. Has anyone else had this problem? The devices I am using are the iPhone 4S and the iPod Touch fifth generation. I am using the internal mic. BlueTooth is off. Could this be the problem?

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Comments

By Usman on Wednesday, October 23, 2013 - 19:26

As I recall on my 4s, dictation would do this on a regular basis and it got to be quite annoying and inconvenient. Ever since I got my 5s, I haven't had any issues with dictation so I'm wondering if it is simply a device problem?

By Bahzad on Wednesday, October 23, 2013 - 19:26

Having the result of a dictated sentence appear on screen can take time, so normally I'd wait about ten, fifteen, or twenty seconds and VoiceOver would announce what I had made verbal. I'd try that and see what happens. Good luck.

By Sandy on Wednesday, October 23, 2013 - 19:26

I could understand about dictation perhaps not working well with the 4S. All I can say is: it worked in iOS7.02. But the iPod Touch shouldn't have any problems with dictation. When dictating, I wait for several minutes and VO never responds and text is never inserted. I do have a Blue Tooth keyboard, but I am trying to be more dependent on the onscreen one... and more proficient. The truth is, I had a mental block about using it, believing I couldn't do it because of my blindness. I got over that fear, and now I use the onscreen keyboard because I can. But when typing lengthy emails, that's when dictation comes in handy. I would use Siri, but I'm have some trouble with him, too. But that is for another topic.

If you are more comfortable typing on a regular keyboard or a Bluetooth keyboard, you might consider trying Fleksy. IT is free and gives a great simulation of a regular keyboard.

By Scott Davert on Wednesday, October 23, 2013 - 19:26

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team
Have you tried dictating a small amount of text at a time? I mean, try saying 2 or 3 sentences, double tap with 2 fingers to stop dictation, and see if that moves any faster?That's about the only thing I can think of that may help

By Peter Holdstock on Wednesday, October 23, 2013 - 19:26

Sounds obvious but try turning the phone off and on again as it works fine on my 4s and 5s. Restarting gadgets when playing up really does often work.

By Roland on Wednesday, October 23, 2013 - 19:26

I have absolutely no problems using dictation in iOS 7.03 on an iPhone 5S - it works just perfectly. However, I noted that I do not get any usable response if the network connection fails for some reason. In that case I get exactly the behavior you describe. Nothing is inserted but no error is reported either. Have you checked your WLAN or 3G connection? /Roland