iPhone dictation commands: the complete list for punctuation, formatting and editing

28 October 2026 · 6 min read

In a Stanford study, speaking was about three times faster than typing on a phone keyboard, but only once you stop fixing every sentence by hand. The trick is knowing the voice commands: how to add a comma, start a new paragraph or correct a word without touching the screen. Here is Apple's full list for iPhone, with tips for dictating longer notes.

Before you start

• Turn on dictation: open Settings → General → Keyboard and turn on Enable Dictation. Then tap the microphone on the keyboard to start.
• Decide on automatic punctuation. In supported languages, your iPhone adds commas, periods and question marks by itself. If you prefer to say every punctuation mark, turn off Auto-Punctuation on the same screen.
• Other languages: the commands below are the English ones. When you dictate in another language, say the name of the punctuation mark in that language. Some commands aren't available in every language.

Punctuation

Line breaks and capitals

Correcting and editing by voice

Apple's editing commands work in US English on iPhone 12 and later (except iPhone SE).

You can also spell a word out loud. Apple's own example: say "Let's invite Steven S-T-E-P-H-E-N" to get the spelling you want, or "change tea to T-E-E" to fix a word that came out wrong. It's the quickest way to get client names and unusual terms right.

Emoji

In some languages, you can add an emoji by saying its name followed by "emoji": "heart emoji", "smiley emoji", "fingers crossed emoji" or "car emoji".

Stopping dictation

Tap the microphone button, say "stop dictation", or stay silent: dictation stops by itself after 30 seconds without speech. That last one catches people out when they pause to think in the middle of a long note.

Tips for dictating long notes

• Think in short paragraphs. Say "new paragraph" between ideas. A note is much easier to check afterwards when it isn't one long block.
• Spell out names the first time. Dictation learns nothing from your last note, so unusual names often come out differently each time.
• Read it back straight away, while you still remember what you said. Dictation types what it heard, not what you meant, and a wrong number or a dropped "not" can change the meaning of a sentence.
• Keep the recording when it matters. Built-in dictation turns your voice into text and keeps no audio, so there's nothing to go back to if a sentence comes out wrong. For a client meeting, a consultation or a long case note, a recorder that transcribes keeps both. See how to transcribe voice notes on iPhone without the cloud.

Is dictation private?

Apple says dictation is processed on your iPhone in many languages, with no internet connection needed. When you dictate into a search field, though, your words may be sent to the search engine. And once the text is typed, it's stored wherever the app keeps it: in a notes app that syncs to the cloud, in an email draft or in a chat. For confidential work, the app you dictate into matters as much as the dictation itself. Our guide is iPhone dictation private? explains the settings to check.

Where Dictalock fits

We're building Dictalock for professionals who dictate all day. It records, transcribes and summarizes your voice notes on your iPhone, keeps the audio with the transcript so you can always check what was said, and organizes everything by client or case. Every note is encrypted with a key only you hold, and nothing is sent to a server, so it works offline too. See how Dictalock works.