Question 1

Is Diction free?

Accepted Answer

On your iPhone and on your server, yes. Free forever, no word limits, no account. Diction Cloud is the paid option at $5.99 a month or $59.99 a year, and you can try it free first.

Question 2

Is it a full keyboard, or just a mic?

Accepted Answer

A full keyboard. QWERTY with the layout for your language, autocorrect that looks at where your finger landed, word completion and next-word suggestions, all computed on your iPhone. The mic sits above the keys, one tap away in every app.

Question 3

Does it work in every app?

Accepted Answer

Pretty much anywhere you can type: Messages, Mail, Slack, Notes, your browser. Two exceptions come from iOS itself. Password fields always get the system keyboard, and a few apps block custom keyboards.

Question 4

Does it work offline?

Accepted Answer

Yes, in on-device mode. Download a speech AI once and dictate on a plane, in a tunnel, anywhere. Diction Cloud and self-hosted need a connection, because that is where the speech AI runs.

Question 5

Is my voice stored?

Accepted Answer

No. On-device, your voice never leaves the phone. Self-hosted, it goes to your server and nowhere else. On Diction Cloud it is transcribed and thrown away.

Question 6

Why does the keyboard need Full Access?

Accepted Answer

iOS asks for it before any keyboard can use the network, and Diction needs the network to reach the speech AI. That is all it is used for.

Question 7

Which languages does it speak?

Accepted Answer

99 for dictation, with auto-detect if you switch between them. 25 European languages get the most accurate engine.

Question 8

Will it get my name right?

Accepted Answer

Add it to My Words once, along with your colleagues, brands and jargon, and Diction spells them your way from then on.

Question 9

Can I edit text by voice?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Hold the mic and say what you want: "make it a list", "translate it to Spanish", "remove the last sentence". The text that is already there changes.

Question 10

What is self-hosting?

Accepted Answer

You run the Diction server on a machine you control, and the app sends your voice there instead of the cloud. It is open source, it runs in Docker, and pairing is one QR scan.

Question 11

Do I need a GPU to self-host?

Accepted Answer

It helps. An NVIDIA GPU gives the fastest results. No GPU? The smaller Whisper models run fine on a CPU.

Question 12

Can Writing Tools use an LLM I run at home?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Point the server at any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, like Ollama, and Writing Tools run on it, free.

Question 13

Is there an Android or Mac app?

Accepted Answer

Not yet. Diction is iPhone first, and that is where the work goes right now.

Question 14

How do I cancel?

Accepted Answer

The same way as any App Store subscription, in your Apple ID settings. On-device and self-hosted keep working, free, after you cancel.

Question 15

What is the best free dictation keyboard for iPhone?

Accepted Answer

If you want dictation in every app without paying, Diction is free on-device and self-hosted, with no account, no word limits and 99 languages. It is a full keyboard too, so you do not switch keyboards to type.

Question 16

Can I use my own Whisper server for dictation on iPhone?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Run the open-source Diction server with `docker compose up`, scan the QR code in the app, and the Diction keyboard sends your voice to your server from any app. Any OpenAI-compatible speech-to-text endpoint works, Whisper included.

Question 17

Is there an iPhone keyboard that works with Ollama?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Self-hosted Diction runs its Writing Tools on any OpenAI-compatible LLM, Ollama included, to clean up dictation and edit text by voice. Free, on your hardware.

Question 18

Is there an offline dictation app for iPhone?

Accepted Answer

Diction's on-device mode transcribes on the iPhone with no internet connection, free, in 99 languages. Audio never leaves the phone.

Question 19

Is Diction a good Gboard alternative on iPhone?

Accepted Answer

For dictation, yes: Gboard for iPhone has not been updated since May 2022 and sends voice to Google, while Diction lets you keep speech on the phone or your server. Gboard still has swipe typing and more typing languages. See Gboard alternative.

Question 20

Is Diction a good SwiftKey alternative on iPhone?

Accepted Answer

For dictation, yes: SwiftKey dictates in English only, Diction in 99 languages, on the phone, your server or Diction Cloud. SwiftKey still has swipe typing. See SwiftKey alternative.

Question 21

Does Diction remove filler words like um and uh?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Writing Tools remove filler words and false starts, fix grammar and punctuation, and format lists, on Diction Cloud or on your server with your LLM.

Question 22

Does Diction store my voice recordings?

Accepted Answer

No. Audio is never stored in any mode. On-device it never leaves the phone, self-hosted it goes only to your server, and on Diction Cloud it is discarded after transcription.

App	Free tier	Self-hosted server	Full typing keyboard	App Store privacy label
Diction	On-device and self-hosted, no word limit	Yes	Yes	Data Not Collected
Gboard	Free	No	Yes, not updated since May 2022	Data Linked to You
SwiftKey	Free, dictation in English only	No	Yes	Data Linked to You
Wispr Flow	Weekly word limit	No	Opens on 123 layout, ABC in settings	Data Used to Track You
Apple Dictation	Free, built in	No	System keyboard	Built into iOS
Superwhisper	Small models unlimited	Not documented	Not documented	Data Not Linked to You

Diction compared ​

Diction compared