Use Dictation on your Apple Watch

With Dictation, you can use your voice to reply to messages and email, or for other tasks, like searching in Maps. You might also be able to use Dictation with third-party apps.

Reply to a message

  1. Open a message and tap reply.
  2. Tap microphone icon.
  3. Say your message, then tap Done. You can also say punctuation. For example, say “Did it arrive question mark.” 
  4. Tap to send the message as audio or text. If you choose audio, your contact gets a voice message to listen to, instead of a text message to read.

Reply to an email

  1. Open an email and tap reply at the end of the message. Or firmly press the screen and tap Reply.
  2. Tap microphone icon.
  3. Say your message, then tap Done. You can also say punctuation. For example, say “How was the movie question mark.” 
  4. Check your message, then tap Send.

Search for a location in Maps

  1. Open Maps and firmly press the map.
  2. Tap Search, then tap Dictation.
  3. Say what you're searching for, then tap Done.

Turn Dictation on or off

On your iPhone, go to Settings > General > Keyboard. Then turn Enable Dictation on or off.

Change the language

You can change the language on any screen where you have the option to tap Dictation. Tap Reply or Search, firmly press the screen, tap  , then select a language. 

When you use Dictation in an app on your Apple Watch, the dictation language matches the keyboard language for the same app on your iPhone. For example, if you dictate a message on your Apple Watch, the language matches the keyboard language on your iPhone for that conversation. When you change the keyboard language on your iPhone for a message or app, the dictation language also changes on your Apple Watch.

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