If typing on your Mac or iDevice isn’t your thing or the situation isn’t convenient to use a keyboard, speech recognition software can be quite useful. Apple provides built-in speech-to-text capability on Macs, iPhones and iPads called Dictation, and it works well with no training required.

Mac Dictation – to utilize Dictation on the Mac, first go to System Preferences –> Dictation & Speech, and make sure Dictation is turned on. Then go to any area which requires typing, place the cursor where desired and hit Fn-Fn (the function key twice in a row). You’ll see a microphone icon appear, and spoken text will be transcribed. Hit Fn-Fn again to disable.

iOS Dictation – to utilize Dictation on the iPhone or iPad, tap in any field that allows text entry. To the left of the space bar on the keyboard will be a small microphone key. Tap this, and spoken text will be transcribed. Hit Done when finished.