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Dictate on your phone

Turn your phone into a dictation device: enable the InkSpoke keyboard once, then talk into any app — a text message, a note, an email, a search box — and let InkSpoke type it for you.

What you'll learn​

  • How to enable the InkSpoke keyboard on iOS (add the keyboard + grant Full Access).
  • How to enable the InkSpoke voice keyboard on Android (turn on the input method).
  • How to dictate into any app and get clean, refined text at your cursor.
  • The honest platform differences between the two — they work in noticeably different ways.

Prerequisites​

  • InkSpoke installed on your phone. If you haven't yet, run through Set up InkSpoke on iOS or Set up InkSpoke on Android first — both walk you through the app's short first-launch onboarding.
  • Microphone permission granted to the InkSpoke app (onboarding asks for this; you can also grant it on your first recording).
  • No account required. A new install runs anonymously with a Pro trial, so you can start immediately.

Time estimate​

About 10 minutes — and most of that is the one-time keyboard setup. Once the keyboard is enabled, dictating takes seconds.

How mobile dictation works (and why the two platforms differ)​

Both apps give you a keyboard you switch to inside any other app. What happens when you tap to speak is where they diverge, so it's worth knowing up front:

  • iOS — A keyboard extension isn't allowed to record audio on its own. So when you tap Start, InkSpoke briefly opens its main app to capture your voice, then injects the finished text back where your cursor was.
  • Android — The voice keyboard records in place. You tap the mic, speak, and watch partial text appear right in the toolbar before the final text drops into your field.
iOSAndroid
What you turn onInkSpoke keyboard + Full AccessInkSpoke voice keyboard (input method)
How it recordsHands off to the InkSpoke app, then injects backRecords inline in the keyboard toolbar
Live text as you speakNot shown on the keyboardShown in the toolbar
Keyboard typeFull keyboard (QWERTY and a voice button)Voice-only toolbar
Choosing a workspacePick it manually from the toolbarAuto-matches the app you're in
Switching languageLanguage button cycles your enabled languagesShown in the toolbar; changing it is coming soon

Pick your platform below.

On iOS​

Step 1 — Add the InkSpoke keyboard​

  1. Open the Settings app → General → Keyboard → Keyboards → Add New Keyboard…
  2. Choose InkSpoke from the list.
Shortcut from the app

InkSpoke's onboarding and its Settings → Keyboard screen include an Open Keyboard Settings button that jumps you straight here.

Step 2 — Turn on Full Access​

Back on the Keyboards list, tap InkSpoke and switch on Allow Full Access. iOS shows a standard warning — this is expected. InkSpoke needs Full Access so the keyboard can talk to the main app and inject your dictated text back at the cursor.

Full Access is required

Without Allow Full Access, the voice round-trip can't complete and the Start button won't return any text. This is the single most common reason mobile dictation "does nothing."

Step 3 — Switch to the InkSpoke keyboard​

Open any app with a text field — Messages, Notes, Mail, a search bar. Tap into the field so the keyboard appears, then use the globe / keyboard-switch key to switch to InkSpoke. The toolbar looks roughly like this, above a normal QWERTY keyboard:

┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  [ Workspace ▾ ]   [ EN ▾ ]            ⚙   😊     │
│                                                   │
│                (   ●  Start   )                   │
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│   q  w  e  r  t  y  u  i  o  p                    │
│    a  s  d  f  g  h  j  k  l                      │
│   ⇧   z  x  c  v  b  n  m   ⌫                     │
│  123    🌐         space          return          │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
  • Workspace ▾ — the active workspace. On iOS you choose this manually (automatic app-matching is turned off on current iOS versions). Your choice sticks until you change it.
  • EN ▾ — the dictation language. Tapping it cycles through the keyboard languages you've enabled.
  • ⚙ / 😊 — quick access to settings and the emoji picker.

Step 4 — Dictate​

  1. Tap Start on the toolbar. InkSpoke's main app opens and begins recording. An on-screen hint tells you to swipe back to your app along the bottom bar — do that; recording keeps going.
  2. Speak your sentence.
  3. Tap Done on the toolbar to finish (a red cancel is available if you change your mind). The button briefly shows an hourglass while InkSpoke transcribes and — unless you've turned it off — refines your text.
  4. The finished text appears at your cursor.
Why it won't type into the wrong app

Each keyboard session carries an ID, and text is only injected if it matches the session that started it — so a recording you kick off elsewhere won't suddenly paste into a random app. If the cursor follows a non-space character, InkSpoke also adds a leading space for you automatically.

On Android​

Step 1 — Enable the InkSpoke voice keyboard​

  1. Open Settings → System → Languages & input → On-screen keyboards.
  2. Turn on InkSpoke (Android will confirm that an input method can see what you type — this is the standard prompt for any keyboard).

Step 2 — Switch to it in any app​

Open any app with a text field, tap into it, and use the on-screen keyboard-switcher to switch to the InkSpoke voice keyboard. It's a compact voice toolbar, not a full typing keyboard:

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  [ Workspace ]        EN            🌐  switch   │
│                                                  │
│            (   🎤   Tap to speak   )             │
│                 0:04   "hello wor…"              │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
  • Workspace — shows the workspace InkSpoke picked for the app you're in. Android auto-matches a workspace to the current app; tapping to change it from the toolbar isn't wired up yet.
  • EN — the current language. Like the workspace, changing it from the toolbar is coming soon; set your default language in the InkSpoke app for now.
  • 🌐 switch — switches back to your previous keyboard.

Step 3 — Dictate​

  1. Tap the mic button. It pulses and a timer starts.
  2. Speak. Partial transcription appears live in the toolbar so you can see it's working.
  3. Tap the mic again to stop. InkSpoke finalizes the transcription (and refines it, unless you've turned refinement off) and commits the text into your field — you never leave your app.
Voice-only, on purpose

The Android keyboard is voice-only today — there's no on-keyboard typing layout, and Command Mode (transforming selected text by voice) is coming soon, since it needs an Android accessibility service that isn't built yet.

Expected result​

You've succeeded when:

  • iOS — Tapping Start opens InkSpoke, you speak, tap Done, and clean text lands back in your original field.
  • Android — Tapping the mic shows live text in the toolbar, and tapping it again drops the finished text into your field without leaving the app.

Either way, the text arrives capitalized and punctuated, not as a raw string of lowercase words — that's AI refinement doing its job.

Troubleshooting​

SymptomLikely cause & fix
iOS: Start does nothing / no text comes backFull Access isn't enabled. Go to Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards → InkSpoke and turn on Allow Full Access.
The InkSpoke keyboard isn't in the switcherIt isn't enabled yet. Add it via iOS setup or enable the input method via Android setup.
Android: the mic shows an error and won't recordMicrophone permission was denied. Open the InkSpoke app and grant microphone access (or allow it in Android's app permissions).
"Recording saved — open InkSpoke to retry"The upload of that recording didn't go through. Open the InkSpoke app to retry it — the keyboard intentionally doesn't re-upload on its own.
Android: tapping the workspace or language chip does nothingThose toolbar pickers aren't wired up yet. The workspace auto-matches the app you're in; set your language and workspaces inside the InkSpoke app.

Next steps​