Dictated Text Stops Prematurely

Shortcuts
1

Hello all

I created a Shortcut to dictate Reminders.

I set it to stop listening “On Tap” - but instead it stops soon after there is a pause in talking.

Why?

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2

Dictation working okay for me with tap vs pause. I dictate with pauses, it keeps listening until I tap into o stop.

  1. Can you reproduce it in a new action with just the dictation step?
  2. Can you reproduce it on another device?
  3. Does the issue persist after a reboot?
3

Thanks

1 - Yes, I can reproduce it with just the dictation step

2 - Yes, it happens on another iPhone

3 - Yes, it persists after reboot

While exploring the above, I think I found the key clue. It actually works fine if I run the shortcut from within the Shortcuts app. The problem happens if I ask Siri to run the shortcut; then the interface is different and there is no button to tap.

The point of this was to be able to dictate while driving so if I need to load Shortcuts and select the Shortcut manually then it does not solve the problem (or at least not safely).

As an alternative, I was able to connect Alexa to Zapier and get automated dictated reminders that way (which would also work in my car) - but Alexa stops even sooner than Siri does.

Can anyone suggest a purely voice-activated way to dictate long pieces of text while driving?

Maybe a Drafts action?

Maybe some other voice app which has Shortcuts integration?

4

I had the same issues with dictation across apps and devices. I think it’s just a feature/bug of the OS that it cannot just sit and listen constantly for long-form dictation, which I was trying to use to write a book while walking my dog.

Here is an alternative I found: Otter.
It’s a free app that allows you to transcribe long-form text. It will constantly listen as long as the app is open and the free version allows you to transcribe up to 600 minutes worth of recording each month. And it works well with Shortcuts.

Get a 1-month free trial of the pro version (and help me get more minutes) by using the link below:

What if you can remember everything from your conversation? Now you can, with Otter.
Get Otter with 1-month FREE Pro Lite by signing up here.

Or, if you just want to download the free version, here is the app store link:

Hope this helps!

  • James
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