Your iPhone already has a good dictation app. It's the microphone button on the keyboard. So the honest way to rank the best iPhone dictation apps is to start there, and then ask what the others add.
The answer, mostly, is cleanup. Apple Dictation writes down what you said. Third-party voice keyboards rewrite it into what you meant: no "um", no false starts, proper sentences. Some also keep your speech on the phone; some send it to the cloud. Below are the options, built-in first, with prices and requirements from each maker's site and App Store listing as of October 2026. We make LumeVoice; where another app is the better choice, we say so.
For computers, see the best dictation software for Mac and Windows. For Android, see best Android dictation apps.
At a glance#
| App | How it works | Internet | Cleanup | Price (Oct 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Dictation | Mic button on Apple's keyboard | Not needed in many languages | Punctuation; spelling help on newest iPhones (English) | Free |
| LumeVoice | Lume keyboard (iOS 17+) | Required | Filler, self-corrections, lists, styles | 3,000 free words, no card required, then $14.99/mo, $79.99/yr, or $249 lifetime |
| Wispr Flow | Voice keyboard | Required | AI cleanup | Free (limited weekly use); Pro $15/mo or $144/yr |
| Superwhisper | Voice keyboard | Optional (local models) | Depends on the model you pick | Free plan; Pro $8.49/mo, $84.99/yr or $249.99 once |
| Typeless | Keyboard (iOS 16.1+) | Required | AI cleanup | Free weekly allowance; Pro $144/yr or $30/mo |
| Willow Voice | Keyboard (iOS 18+) | Offline is a Pro feature | AI cleanup | Basic free; Pro $15/mo or $144/yr |
| Aqua Voice | Keyboard (iOS 17+) | Required | AI cleanup | 1,000 free words; Pro $8/mo yearly or $10/mo |
Swipe to see all columns
1. Apple Dictation: the one to try first#
Apple Dictation
Verdict: Best Free Choice, and Often Enough
Turn on Enable Dictation in Settings > General > Keyboard, then tap the microphone on the keyboard in any app (Apple's iPhone dictation guide). The keyboard stays open, so you can mix typing and talking.
- Good at: it's processed on the iPhone in many languages with no connection needed, adds commas, periods and question marks in supported languages, and lets you edit by voice: say "select" or "delete" plus a phrase, spell a word, or "undo". With Apple Intelligence in iOS 27, an on-device model improves spelling, punctuation and capitalization in English on iPhone 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max and iPhone Air or later.
- Limits: it stops after 30 seconds of silence. Filler words and restarts stay in, and there's no custom vocabulary.
- Price: free.
If Apple Dictation does what you need, stop here. The rest of this list is for people who dictate long messages, emails or notes and find themselves editing every one.
2. LumeVoice: best for clean text across iPhone and computer#
LumeVoice
Verdict: Best for Finished Text, One Plan on Every Device
LumeVoice works as a keyboard called Lume Voice. Switch to it in any app, tap Start Lume (the app opens for a moment to turn on the mic), swipe back and talk. What lands has filler words and stutters removed, your self-corrections applied, punctuation and paragraphs added, and spoken lists turned into lists. Pick a writing style (Casual, Work, Excited or Gen-Z) to match the app you're in.
- Good at: long messages and emails that come out ready to send. 100 languages detected automatically, and you can set an output language. The same plan covers Mac, Windows and Android.
- Limits: needs an internet connection and Allow Full Access. It writes; it doesn't edit by voice. On iPhone, the custom dictionary corrects words during cleanup rather than feeding them to speech recognition.
- Price: 3,000 free words, no card required; Pro is $14.99/mo, $79.99/yr, or $249 lifetime through the App Store.
Audio is sent for processing and isn't stored afterwards, nothing you say is used to train models, and your history stays on your iPhone. Setup steps and a side-by-side with Apple's keyboard are on the LumeVoice iPhone page.
3. Wispr Flow: polished cloud dictation#
Wispr Flow
Verdict: Best Known Cloud Voice Keyboard
Wispr Flow has an iPhone keyboard alongside its Mac, Windows and Android apps, with AI cleanup; its apps also offer a dictionary and snippets.
- Good at: a mature product with team plans for companies.
- Limits: cloud only; the free plan allows limited weekly use on phones.
- Price: Pro $15 a month or $144 a year (Wispr Flow pricing).
4. Superwhisper: best if speech should stay on the phone#
Superwhisper
Verdict: Best Third-Party Option for Local Models
Superwhisper's iPhone keyboard can run local models, so you can dictate with no connection and keep audio on the device, or switch to cloud models.
- Good at: privacy-first users and people who like control over models and modes.
- Limits: more settings than most; local model quality depends on the model your phone can run.
- Price: free plan; Pro $8.49 a month, $84.99 a year or $249.99 once (Superwhisper pricing).
5. Typeless#
Typeless
Verdict: Generous Free Weekly Allowance
Typeless offers a voice keyboard on iPhone (iOS 16.1+) and Android, plus Mac, Windows and Linux apps.
- Good at: a free plan with a weekly word limit (8,000 words, per Typeless) that covers light users; works on older iOS versions than most.
- Limits: internet required for every feature.
- Price: Pro $144 a year ($12 a month) or $30 month to month (Typeless pricing).
6. Willow Voice#
Willow Voice
Verdict: Offline Option on iPhone (Pro)
Willow has an iPhone keyboard (iOS 18+) and Mac and Windows apps; Android is listed as coming soon.
- Good at: offline dictation on iPhone and Mac as a Pro feature.
- Limits: needs iOS 18 or later; no Android yet.
- Price: Basic is free; Pro is $15 a month or $144 a year (Willow pricing).
7. Aqua Voice#
Aqua Voice
Verdict: Low-Cost Cloud Keyboard
Aqua Voice has an iPhone keyboard (iOS 17+), desktop apps and, since October 2026, an Android floating button.
- Good at: a lower yearly price than most cloud keyboards.
- Limits: the free allowance is a one-time 1,000 words.
- Price: Pro $8 a month billed annually ($96 a year) or $10 month to month (Aqua Voice pricing).
Talk in any iPhone app, get text you'd send
Switch to the Lume keyboard, talk, and get clean, punctuated text in Messages, Mail, Notes or Slack. Every new account gets 3,000 free words, no card required, and the same plan works on Mac, Windows and Android.
Also worth a look: apps that record first#
Not every iPhone dictation app types into a text field. Some record your voice and give you the text afterwards, which is better for walks, drives and ideas you'll sort out later:
- Whisper Memos records on iPhone or Apple Watch and emails you a tidy transcript. Free download; transcription is $9.99 a month or $69.99 a year (LumeVoice vs Whisper Memos).
- Just Press Record is a one-time $6.99 recorder for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch that also transcribes (LumeVoice vs Just Press Record).
- Monologue and Spokenly also have iPhone apps; see Monologue and Spokenly.
What "cleanup" means in practice#
The difference between a transcript and a cleaned-up draft is easiest to see in an example. This one is illustrative, not a recorded result:
You say: "Hey, um, so I can't make it at four, actually, can we do, uh, five? And can you bring the, the slides from Tuesday."
A plain transcript keeps: the "um", the "uh", the repeated "the", and both times.
A cleanup keyboard gives you: "Hey, I can't make it at four. Can we do five? And can you bring the slides from Tuesday?"
On a phone, that editing is the slow part: tapping into the middle of a sentence to delete one word is fiddly. If you rarely make those fixes, Apple Dictation is all you need. If you make them on every message, a cleanup keyboard is worth trying.
How to pick#
- Use Apple Dictation for a week. If you rarely edit what it writes, you're done, and it costs nothing.
- If you edit a lot, try one voice keyboard on the same messages. Free allowances are enough to tell.
- Decide on privacy before features. Speech that must stay on the phone means Apple Dictation, Superwhisper's local models or Willow's offline mode. Everything else on this list uses the cloud.
- Check the rest of your devices. If you also write on a Mac, a Windows PC or an Android tablet, an app that covers all of them on one plan saves money and keeps your dictionary and habits consistent.
A tip for any keyboard app: keep Apple's keyboard enabled too. Touch and hold the globe key to switch, and you'll always have a fallback for password fields and apps that block custom keyboards.
