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Trouble Texting? Here’s How to Dictate Texts On Your Cell Phone

Let’s be real: Texting isn’t always easy. Maybe you don’t have great eyesight, and the tiny letter buttons are too small for you to see. Or maybe you’re “all thumbs,” so you often type the wrong letters by accident. Whatever the case may be, there’s a way to make texting on your cell phone much easier. 

You can actually dictate texts — meaning you speak out loud and have your phone type the words for you. Here’s how to use the iPhone’s Voice Dictation to simplify your life.

How to Dictate Texts

First, open your Text Messages app by clicking on the text message icon. Pick the person you want to text with, and tap in the text field just like you would if you were going to type a message. However, instead of typing as usual, tap the microphone icon that appears at the bottom right of the screen. Now, all you have to do is speak, and the voice dictation feature will convert the words you speak into a text message, like magic. To finish, simply stop speaking, then tap the keyboard button (that looks like a little keyboard and appears at the bottom of the screen while you’re dictating). Finally, review the text to make sure it looks good, and hit send.

Make sure while you’re dictating that you speak loud and clear, go slowly (rushing can cause the phone to misunderstand you), and avoid background noise.

In places where you want punctuation, you’ll have to include it with your spoken words. For example, “Hi Mark comma I’m on my way exclamation mark” becomes “Hi Mark, I’m on my way!”

Other common punctuation commands that you can use are “quote/unquote” to start and end a quote, “new paragraph” to start a new paragraph, and “all caps” to make the next word all uppercase letters.

Sometimes your phone will type an incorrect word — which is why it’s important to double-check the text message before sending it. To make corrections, tap the word your phone got wrong, then click on the correct spelling that the autocorrect suggests. To replace a word, double-tap the word, tap the microphone button, then say the word again, and tap the keyboard button. 

We hope this hack helps! And if you’re having trouble reading words on your iPhone, find out how to make your text larger and bolder here

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