16 slick tricks for smarter Android voice typing
Remember when the notion of typing with your voice seemed downright revolutionary?
‘Twas a time when Android’s voice input felt frickin’ futuristic. No more pecking out sentences on the go with the pointy tip of your pointer finger — just tap a microphone icon, speak what’s on your mind, and move on with your day.
The sheen of voice typing may have worn off a little over the years, and being able to talk to type is something most folks now take for granted. But Google’s text-to-speech system on Android is actually far more capable than many of us mere mortals realize. And it’s gained quite a few useful new tricks over the years, too, which shockingly few Homo sapiens seem to have noticed.
In fact, I just stumbled onto one such new capability myself the other day — which then led me down a rabbit hole of exploring all the available Android voice typing options and rediscovering the many ways that system can make my life easier.
Lemme show ya some of the buried — and in some cases just plain forgotten — treasures I’ve found.
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Android voice typing tricks: The universal options
Before we dive in, two quick but important caveats:
First and foremost, your phone’s voice input system is connected closely to your Android keyboard app. Most of the options we’re about to go over are associated with Google’s own Gboard keyboard — which can be installed and used on any Android device but notably is not installed by default on Samsung’s Galaxy gizmos. If you’re using a Samsung device, do yourself a favor and install (and then activate) Gboard. It’ll bring a massive all-around upgrade to your input experience, even outside of the stuff we’re about to go over.
Over time, Google has limited some of the most useful advanced Android voice typing options to its own Pixel devices — seemingly because of the on-device processing and hardware integration those functions require. So we’ll start with the stuff that’ll work anywhere, no matter what kind of device you’re got in front of you, before progressing to the gems that are available only on a more limited subset of specific Pixel products.
Capisce? Capisce. Here we go!
1. Your on-demand voice typing bar
In the newest Android voice typing twist of all, you can now completely hide your on-screen keyboard and gain back precious screen space whilst typing solely with speech thanks to the recently (and quietly!) rolled out Android voice typing toolbar. Just tap the mic icon in the upper-right corner of Gboard, then tap the double down-arrow icon that appears alongside it.
That innocuous little button opens up a whole new world for your Android voice typing adventures.JR Raphael, Foundry
Yup — that’s the one! And hey, wouldya look at that?
Gboard’s voice typing toolbar, in its horizontal position.JR Raphael, Foundry
Now you can go about your voice typing without the space-sucking distraction of the big honkin’ keyboard eating up half your screen. Pretty nifty, wouldn’t ya say?
And on a related note…
2. Typing bar choices
Once you’re in that new voice typing toolbar mode, try tapping the three-line menu icon within the toolbar and looking for the option to switch between the vertical and horizontal toolbar setups. That can make your on-screen space even more efficient and optimized for whatever you’re doing by putting the voice typing toolbar in a spot that’s especially out of the way for any given interface.
Gboard’s voice typing toolbar, in its vertical orientation.JR Raphael, Foundry
Oh, and one more thing:
3. Drag and drop action
In addition to that menu option for moving the toolbar around, you can actually just press and hold your finger onto the Gboard voice typing toolbar and then drag it into all sorts of different positions — vertical and horizontal alike.
Dragging around the Gboard voice typing toolbar can be both fun and productive.JR Raphael, Foundry
Whee!
4. Speedier speaking
Take two seconds now to speed up your voice typing experience from this moment onward: Just head into Gboard’s settings — by tapping the four-square box in the keyboard’s upper-left corner and then tapping the gear-shaped settings icon in the main menu — and select “Voice typing.”
Then, look for the line labeled “Faster voice typing.” See it?
The name of that menu option kinda tells you everything you need to know.JR Raphael, Foundry
All that’s left is to flip the toggle next to that joggle so that it’s in the on and active position. That’ll cause Gboard to download a local version of the Android speech-to-text engine and then operate much more efficiently as a result, regardless of whether you’re online or off.
5. Spoken symbols
It may seem obvious, but I’ve been consistently surprised by how many Android-owning animals don’t realize this: Practically any form of punctuation you can think of can also be spoken whilst voice typing on your favorite phone or tablet.
So comma give it a whirl semicolon it really can make your voice-typed text much more polished comma professional comma and easy to read open parentheses even if you’re just sending a text to your Great Aunt Gerty close parentheses period And really comma who wouldn’t want that question mark exclamation point
6. Summoned smiles
In addition to basic punctuation, Android’s Gboard-connected voice typing system also supports summoning of many common emoji symbols. So if you must, try spoken commands such as:
Smiley face emoji
Laughing emoji
Crying emoji
Heart emoji
Thumbs-up emoji
Apple emoji
Barf emoji
And, a bonus tip: Those last two symbols go together particularly well.
7. Broken lines
Don’t be that person who sends a massive block of text without any line breaks. (Please.) While you’re speaking to your device, simply say the word enter (or, if you’d rather, say the phrase new line) anytime you want to move to a new line and create a little extra space for sanity-supporting reading of your ramblings.
As you’d expect, too, saying the word twice — enter, enter — will insert two line breaks and effectively start a new paragraph.
Or…
8. Paragraph power
You can also simply say new paragraph anytime you want a double line break, if that’s more your cup of kombucha.
(Kindly play that NBC “The More You Know” jingle in your mind now, if you would.)
Android voice typing tricks: The Pixel-only possibilities
These next advanced Android voice typing commands are available only on relatively recent Pixel devices — anything from the Pixel 6 and newer.
If you’re rockin’ one of those Googley gadgets, start taking advantage of these hands-free typing time-savers:
9. The open mic
One of my favorite Android voice typing options (and one I actually forgot about entirely up ’til very recently!) is the simple ability to keep the Gboard mic open indefinitely for ongoing dictation. In the right situation, it’s a super-helpful shift from the typical behavior of the mic closing and the speech detection stopping after just a few short seconds of silence.
And with a Pixel, you’ve got the power to decide. The next time you need the mic to stay open for a while, simply double-tap that Gboard mic icon and then flap your yap for as long as you like. The mic will remain active until you tap it again or exit the keyboard entirely.
Or…
10. The instant stop
Take a metaphorical pushpin and stick the syllable stop to the front of your hippocampus. Anytime you’ve got the Android voice text mic open within Gboard, saying that one word will cause it to close and stop listening — without the need for any physical intervention.
11. The instant send
Another awesomely useful option I always forget to use is the stupidly simple but insanely impactful ability to say the word send whilst speaking text.
Whenever you’re typing in a messaging app that supports it — including both Google Messages and Slack — that one word will cause whatever brilliant text you’ve composed with your larynx to be sent immediately, without any physical tapping required.
Use it wisely!
12. Quick corrections
It’s all too easy to make a mistake whilst typing via speech (or maybe just notice Android making a mistake with how it interprets your never-mumbly vocal rumblings) — but these four commands are commendable ways to correct any such errors without stopping your speaking:
Delete — to, y’know, delete the last word or character you created
Clear — to clear away the entire last sentence (or sentence fragment) that was transcribed
Clear all — to eliminate everything that’s been typed in the current text field
Undo — to undo whatever action occurred last, be it typing or even an inadvertent deleting/clearing utterance
Oh, and speaking of such subjects…
13. Retroactive replacing
If Android and Gboard get a word wrong and you want to correct it instead of removing it, you can tap your finger to the word and then simply say or spell whatever word you want to replace it.
Good to know, no?!
14. Form flailing
If you’re brave enough to use voice typing to fill out a form somewhere on this wild, wily ol’ web of ours, make a mental note of the spoken Android voice typing commands next and previous. In the right context on your Pixel, those magic words will move you through a form faster than you can say “sweet finger freedom.”
15. Punctual punctuating
Providing your own punctuation dictation is a fine option for the finicky among us, but if you’d rather let Android and Gboard handle that heavy lifting for you, head back into the Gboard keyboard settings and tap “Voice typing” — then make sure the toggle next to “Add punctuation” is in the on and active position.
And that, my friend, is the end of spoken punctuation for you. Period.
16. Language lobbin’
Last but not least, a little somethin’ for the multilinguists among us: If you’ve got Gboard set up to support at least two different languages (which you can accomplish within the Languages section of its settings — imagine that!), the Android voice typing system can actually recognize those languages and switch between ’em automatically when you’re chattering.
Just mosey your way back into the Voice Typing area of the Gboard settings once more and look for the “Auto-switch language” option at the bottom of that section to get it going — then speak, hablar, parlare away, and let your phone do all the interpreting for you.
Oui, s’il vous plait. We’ll take it!
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