How to dictate on a Mac: built-in Dictation, step by step

Your Mac already does voice to text. You don't need to buy anything to try it. The steps below follow Apple's own Mac User Guide (Dictate messages and documents on Mac, checked 11 October 2026). I build EaseMyPease, a paid dictation app, so the last section is about where it fits. Read the rest knowing that.

Turn on Dictation

1. Apple menu > System Settings > Keyboard.
2. Go to Dictation and switch it on. Click Enable.
3. macOS asks whether to share audio recordings to improve Siri and Dictation. Not Now keeps them off. You can change it later in Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements.

Start dictating

1. Click where you want the text.
2. Press the Microphone key (top row, on recent Macs), or your Dictation shortcut, or choose Edit > Start Dictation.
3. When the cursor pulses, talk.
4. Stop with Escape, the Microphone key, or the shortcut again. Dictation also stops on its own after 30 seconds of silence.

On Apple silicon you can keep typing while dictation is on. It pauses while you type and picks up when you stop.

Change the shortcut

System Settings > Keyboard > Dictation > Shortcut. Pick one from the list (for example, press Fn twice) or choose Customize and press your own combination.

Punctuation, new lines and emoji

• In supported languages, Dictation adds commas, periods and question marks for you (Auto-punctuation, on by default).
• Say "exclamation mark", "new line" or "new paragraph".
• Say "heart emoji" and you get one.
• Words macOS isn't sure about are underlined in blue. Click to pick an alternative.

Dictate in another language

System Settings > Keyboard > Dictation > Languages > Edit. Add a language. To switch while dictating, click the language label next to the cursor, or press the Globe key. Apple notes that not every language or feature is available in every region (macOS Feature Availability).

Pick the right microphone

System Settings > Keyboard > Dictation > Microphone source. Automatic usually works. If you use an external mic or a headset, set it by hand. If dictation stops working altogether, see Mac dictation not working.

Where built-in Dictation is enough

For short messages, search boxes and notes, it is free and already there. Use it first.

Where EaseMyPease fits

People move to a separate app for a few specific reasons:

• Clean-up. Built-in Dictation types what you said, ums included. EaseMyPease can take the fillers and repeated words out and punctuate before the text lands. It's a setting; keep the raw transcript if you prefer.
• Two languages in one sentence. macOS switches language when you tell it to. EaseMyPease treats a mid-sentence switch as normal.
• Your words. Correct a misheard name once and it sticks.

What it costs you: $10 a month or $100 a year after a 3-day trial with no card. It needs macOS 15 or later and an internet connection, because transcription runs in the cloud. Audio is processed and discarded, not stored. Built-in Dictation costs nothing.

If you want to compare it with the other apps, I wrote a fair rundown of dictation software for Mac and a Wispr Flow comparison.

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