iPhone
Microphone sessions & privacy
Why Dictāta keeps its iOS microphone session active between dictations, what happens to audio, and how to end the session.
Updated 2026-10-26
When you activate Dictāta's voice keyboard, its microphone session can stay active after an individual dictation finishes. This lets you dictate another passage in the app you are using without switching back to Dictāta each time.
While the session is ready between dictations, incoming microphone audio is discarded: it is not saved to a recording or sent for transcription. The microphone itself remains active, so iOS can continue showing its microphone-use indicator. To release the microphone, end the full session using the controls below.
Why Dictāta needs a microphone session
An iOS keyboard extension cannot access the microphone directly. Dictāta's containing app owns microphone permission and captures speech on the keyboard's behalf.
When a new session is needed, the keyboard opens Dictāta to activate capture in the foreground. You then return to the app where you want to type. Dictāta continues handling microphone input in the background while its keyboard sends commands and inserts the resulting text.
The audio background capability supports this voice-input workflow. Dictāta does not need to play music or another audible stream to transcribe speech while another app is foregrounded. Its purpose here is recording input, rather than background playback or audio alerts.
Keeping that input session open allows multiple user-started dictations without another app switch. A session ends when you explicitly close it, its idle timeout expires, or system conditions interrupt it.
A dictation and a session are different
| State | Microphone and audio |
|---|---|
| Dictating | Captures your passage locally and can stream it for transcription. |
| Finishing and processing | Can capture a short tail after Stop to preserve the last syllable, then finishes transcription and text processing. |
| Ready between dictations | The microphone stays active. Incoming audio is discarded. |
| Session ended | The microphone is released. No audio is received through that session. |
Finish completes an individual dictation. Cancel cancels the current operation. Neither action necessarily ends the full microphone session. Hiding the keyboard or leaving the source app also does not immediately release the microphone.
Understand the microphone indicator
The iOS orange microphone-use indicator can stay visible between passages because microphone access remains active. It does not mean Dictāta is saving or uploading the audio from that ready interval.
Dictāta's Live Activity shows the open session on the Lock Screen and, on supported devices, in Dynamic Island. It can remain visible in the ready state between dictations. A ready session and an active dictation are different states.
To check microphone use, open iOS Control Center. An indication of recent use is different from an indication that the microphone is currently active. Another app may also be using the microphone.
End the microphone session
Finish the current dictation and wait for the result if you want to keep its text. Then:
- Find Dictāta's Live Activity on the Lock Screen. On a device with Dynamic Island, press and hold the activity to expand it.
- Tap the power button, labelled End session for accessibility.
- Dictāta ends the session and releases its microphone access. The activity closes.
The interactive power button is available on iOS 17.2 and later. Ending a session during a dictation or processing may interrupt that operation; finish it first if you want the result.
If the activity or its controls are unavailable, you can close Dictāta from the iOS app switcher to stop the app's microphone access. To prevent access until you explicitly grant it again, turn off Microphone under Settings → Apps → Dictāta. You will need to enable permission again before dictating.
The microphone session can also end automatically using the idle timeout below. After the session ends, the next dictation in another app may require a new handoff into Dictāta.
Choose the idle timeout
In Dictāta, open Account → Settings → Disable Dictāta after.
| Option | Behavior |
|---|---|
| 5 minutes — default | Ends the session after five minutes of inactivity. |
| 15 minutes | Ends the session after fifteen minutes of inactivity. |
| 1 hour | Ends the session after one hour of inactivity. |
| Never | Disables automatic idle closure. End the session yourself when you have finished. |
The idle timeout does not cut off an active dictation or processing operation. Using Dictāta again can restart the idle countdown. Never does not prevent iOS from interrupting microphone access or terminating the app, and it does not guarantee an uninterrupted session.
What is processed and stored
The distinction between a ready session and a recorded dictation matters:
- Between dictations: once capture has finished and the session is ready, incoming microphone audio is discarded. It is not added to history or sent for transcription.
- During dictation: Dictāta records the passage. Managed cloud mode sends speech to its speech-to-text service and may send transcript text for AI processing. With your own API key, requests use the configured provider. This iOS workflow requires cloud processing; an active microphone session does not mean transcription happens entirely on the device.
- Local history: transcripts and available recordings can be saved on this device for history, playback, recovery, and regeneration. Cancelling a dictation can preserve captured audio for recovery. Deleting a history entry also removes its associated saved audio from Dictāta's local history.
- Text actions: when you ask Dictāta to rewrite, translate, or answer using text, the text needed for that action is included in its processing request. Idle microphone audio is not used as context for those actions.
This page explains microphone-session behavior and local history. For account data, service providers, and broader data-handling details, read the Privacy Policy and data-processing explanation.
Example: two passages in Notes
- Open Notes, select the Dictāta keyboard, and start dictation. Activate the session in Dictāta if prompted, then return to Notes.
- Dictate a sentence, finish it, and wait for the text to appear.
- Tap the microphone again and dictate a second sentence without reopening Dictāta.
- After the second result appears, use the Live Activity's power button to end the full session.
You can also leave the source app or visit the Home Screen during a recording: Dictāta's background microphone session allows that recording to continue, subject to iOS interruptions. Return to the keyboard to finish and receive the transcript. Reaching the Home Screen alone does not stop recording.
For keyboard setup and permission troubleshooting, see Get started on iPhone and iPad.