Apple announced a new systemwide dictation feature at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2026) in June 2026, built into the iOS 27 keyboard and powered by an Apple Intelligence model running on Google’s Gemini.
The feature works across apps and is capable of correcting spelling, punctuation, and capitalization automatically. By integrating directly into the keyboard, it requires no additional setup steps to activate — a distinction that could give it a usability edge over third-party dictation apps.
AI-powered dictation apps have grown in popularity, with Wispr Flow, Willow, and Monologue among the notable offerings in the space. These apps transcribe speech while removing filler words such as “ums” and “ahs,” and format the resulting text based on context. Apple had already begun tightening conditions for these apps with iOS 26.4, which required extra steps for third-party keyboard-based dictation sessions to activate. Whether iOS 27 will ease those conditions for third-party developers remains unclear.
Apple’s move follows a similar feature released by Google for Gboard, which also uses Gemini and operates across the system.
By building dictation natively into iOS 27, Apple may reduce the practical incentive for users to rely on standalone dictation apps, particularly given the added friction those apps have faced since iOS 26.4. How third-party developers will be able to compete under the new operating system’s conditions has not yet been confirmed.
Source: TechCrunch