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Voice to Text on Android and Samsung: Dictation or File

Author: Hushscript | Published: October 16, 2026 | Last reviewed: October 16, 2026

There are two ways to do voice to text on Android, and they solve different problems. Keyboard voice typing writes what you say into a text field as you speak. Transcribing a saved recording turns a finished audio file into an editable transcript. This guide shows how to turn on voice typing on Android and Samsung phones, and when a recording is the better route.

If you only want to dictate a message or a note, use the keyboard. If you have a meeting, lecture or interview on your phone, skip ahead to the saved-recording steps.

How to turn on voice to text on Android

Voice typing lives on the keyboard, so it works in any app where you can type. Google’s help for its Gboard keyboard gives the steps, and they are short:

1. Install Gboard from the Play Store if your phone does not already use it.
2. Open an app with a text field, such as Messages or Notes, and tap the field so the keyboard appears.
3. Tap the microphone icon on the keyboard.
4. When you see “Speak now”, say what you want written.

Google’s Gboard page also notes that some steps need Android 7.0 or later and that talk-to-text does not work with every language. You can say punctuation such as “period”, “comma”, “question mark” or “new paragraph”, but what is available depends on the language.

If the microphone icon is missing, open your keyboard’s settings and look for a voice typing option, or check that the right keyboard is selected as your default. The same keyboard microphone is how you dictate in Google Docs on a phone, which the Docs voice typing guide covers.

Voice to text on a Samsung phone

Many Samsung phones come with Samsung’s own keyboard, and Gboard is another option. The idea is the same on either: tap a text field, then tap the microphone key on the keyboard and speak.

Where that key sits, and what the menu calls it, changes with the phone model and the software version. The quickest check is your keyboard’s own settings, which list its voice input option and the languages it supports.

Voice typing or a saved recording

Voice typing is built for one person talking now. Its output is text in a field, with no audio file to go back to. That fits a text message, a reminder or a quick email.

A recording fits everything else. It captures people who are not talking to your phone on purpose, it lets you check the transcript against the audio, and it can run for hours. A transcript of a recording also keeps timestamps and labels each speaker. Those are the things dictation does not give you.

Transcribe a voice recording from your phone

Hushscript has no Android app and does not capture calls or meetings. It transcribes files you already have, in your phone’s browser. The steps:

1. Record and save the file. Open the voice recorder app on your phone, tap record, and tap stop when you finish. Apps and names differ by phone, so look for a Share or Save option on the finished recording to get it out as a file. Voice memos from any app that records audio work the same way.
2. Add the file. Open voice recording to text in your browser and choose the file. A long recording can go up to 10 hours, with no fixed file-size limit, though a very large file depends on your phone’s memory.
3. Read the preview. The first 5 minutes come back speaker-labeled with no account. That tells you how the text reads on your audio before you sign up for anything.
4. Sign in for the full transcript. Pick speaker detection, run the job, then rename the speakers and fix names in the editor. Export what you need.

Common formats upload as they are. Audio and video file formats for transcription explains what M4A, MP3, WAV and OGG are and when conversion helps. AMR and 3GP files, which some older recorder apps save, cannot be previewed on the page; open the Hushscript web app for those.

If you prefer to record inside the browser, the free voice recorder saves the recording on your device, and nothing uploads. You can download it as WAV if it is up to 30 minutes long and as MP3 if it is up to 2 hours; a longer one downloads in the browser’s own format, which Hushscript also accepts. Some browsers have tighter limits. The preview box also has a Record tab for up to 5 minutes. Both need microphone permission for the site.

Make a phone recording easier to transcribe

The transcript can only be as good as the audio. A few habits help on a phone:

• Put the phone near the speakers, not in a bag or on the far side of the room.
• Record in a quiet space. Air-conditioning and traffic compete with voices.
• For a meeting, put the phone on a stable surface in the middle and keep it away from laptop fans.
• Ask people to avoid talking over each other. Overlapping speech is the hardest part of any recording.
• Say your name at the start, so labels are easy to match later.

Automatic speaker labels are a first draft, so read the transcript against the audio. How to fix speaker labels shows how.

Other things people want from an Android phone

Voice messages from chat apps. If the app lets you save or share a message as an audio file, add that file like any other recording. Hushscript does not connect to chat apps. WhatsApp voice message to text covers that app’s options in more detail.

Calls. Some phones can record calls, but availability varies by model, carrier and region, and the rules on consent vary by country. If you have a recording, see how to transcribe a phone call.

Video from your phone. Add the video file and Hushscript pulls the audio out in your browser. Only that audio is uploaded. You can export SRT or VTT subtitles, but captions are not burned into the video.

Voicemail. Setting up and checking voicemail belongs to your phone app and carrier. Hushscript only works on a voicemail you have saved as a file. See voicemail to text.

What it costs

There is no app to buy or install. The preview is free and needs no account. A full transcript needs an account and enough minutes; a card is not required. Eligible personal accounts can receive 30 free minutes once, after card verification or with a first purchase. After that you buy prepaid minute packs, with no subscription. Pricing has the details.