Does Claude have dictation?

Yes. In the iPhone and Android apps it's the microphone in the chat input, on every plan: Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise. Anthropic's Academy says it's on the web and in the desktop app too.

What's the difference between dictation and voice mode in Claude?

Dictation turns your speech into text you can edit and send, and Claude replies in text. Voice mode is a full two-way spoken conversation. It's in beta, and voice conversations count toward your usage limits.

How do I dictate in Claude on Windows?

Look for the microphone in the message box, which Anthropic's Academy describes for the desktop app. If it's not there, put your cursor in the box and press Windows key+H (it needs an internet connection), or use AudioPen's Windows app, whose hotkey types into Claude as clean text or as a rewritten prompt.

Does Claude keep my voice recordings?

For dictation in the mobile apps, Anthropic says it deletes your recording once your speech is converted to text, and doesn't keep a copy or train on it. Its help pages don't say the same for the web or desktop.

Guides

How to voice type in Claude

How to dictate into Claude on each device, when a plain transcript is all a prompt needs, and when to have the prompt rewritten first.

By Louis Pereira, founder of AudioPenUpdated October 21, 2026

The short answer: Claude's dictation is the microphone in the chat input. In the phone apps, it's on every plan: tap it, talk, and tap the arrow to send. Anthropic says the web and desktop apps have it too, but gives no Windows steps, and its Linux app has no dictation. AudioPen's voice typing types into Claude on Mac, Windows and phones, as a plain transcript or rewritten.

I built AudioPen, which turns rambling speech into clear writing. But when I'm just talking to Claude and don't care much about the formatting, I sometimes insert a transcript.

A question for Claude doesn't need to read well, so any microphone will do, and on your phone Claude's own is right there. The rewrite is for the other kind of prompt: a set of instructions Claude will follow, like a long task, a spec or a job for an agent. Those are worth having rewritten as instructions before you send them.

Use dictation in the Claude app

1Open the Claude app on your iPhone or Android phone and start a new chat.
2Tap the microphone icon on the right side of the chat input. The first time, you choose your language. To change it later, tap your initials and choose Speech Input Language.
3Talk. Your words appear as text in the chat window.
4Tap the arrow icon to send your prompt, or the X to cancel without sending.
5In the desktop app, press the microphone in the message box, talk, and send when you're ready. The chevron next to it switches between dictation and voice mode.

Where Claude's dictation runs out

Windows gets no instructions

Anthropic's Mac quick entry, with its voice shortcut, isn't available on Windows, and no Anthropic help page covers dictation in Claude for Windows.

The Mac shortcut may not work anymore

Anthropic's help says to turn on a Caps Lock voice shortcut in the Mac app's settings. A September 2026 entry in Anthropic's changelog says a Caps Lock or custom shortcut chosen earlier no longer opens the dictation bar. If Caps Lock does nothing, use the microphone in the message box, or Mac Dictation.

Other languages are in beta

In the mobile apps, Anthropic lists dictation in languages other than English as a beta. If it keeps mishearing you, check that Speech Input Language matches the language you're speaking.

Claude Code works differently

In the terminal, Claude Code has its own voice input: run /voice and hold the space bar while you talk.

Talking to Claude on each device

Here's what to press in Claude wherever you use it.

Claude on	Built in	With AudioPen
The web	Built in:Anthropic's Academy says dictation is on the web. Its help pages don't give the steps.	With AudioPen:The Mac or Windows app types into Claude in your browser like any text field.
Mac app	Built in:The microphone in the message box, or Mac Dictation.	With AudioPen:Hold the hotkey for clean text, or double-tap it for a prompt rewritten in the style you pick. Apple Silicon Macs.
Windows app	Built in:Windows key+H, which types wherever your cursor is.	With AudioPen:The same two hotkey modes in the Windows app.
iPhone	Built in:The microphone in the chat input.	With AudioPen:The AudioPen keyboard, in the Claude app. It's on iPad too.
Android	Built in:The same microphone in the chat input.	With AudioPen:The floating AudioPen bubble, in any style in your library or as a plain transcript.

When a transcript will do, and when to rewrite

If you're talking something through with Claude, a transcript is fine. You ask, follow up, change your mind. You'll be back with the next message anyway.

AudioPen's voice typing types into Claude like any app with a text field, in the browser or the desktop app, with the same hotkey you use in ChatGPT or your email.

On a Mac or Windows computer there are two ways to use it. Press and hold the hotkey, talk, and let go, and clean, formatted text lands at your cursor. That's the one for a quick line. Double-tap the hotkey, talk, and tap it again, and AudioPen rewrites what you said in the style you picked before it types it in. That's the one for a paragraph. On iPhone, iPad and Android you talk through the AudioPen keyboard or the floating AudioPen bubble.

To talk it through, hold the hotkey and send what lands.

When the prompt is instructions, double-tap and use the LLM Prompt style. It tells AudioPen: “Write clear, detailed instructions that I can use as a prompt for an LLM or AI Agent. Avoid ambiguity like your life depends on it.” It's on 4.5% of AudioPen notes, the fourth most used style across 20,000 notes from July to September 2026. With the rewrite, you get to read the instructions before Claude starts on them. A step you forgot, or an “and so on” where the detail should be, jumps out of a tidy list and hides in a long ramble. It counts most when Claude will work on its own for a while, or when you'll reuse the prompt.

Each dictation lands where your cursor is and in a typing history. It never becomes a note in your AudioPen library. You choose how it transcribes: turn on the offline option in the Mac, Windows, iPhone or Android app and the audio never leaves your device, or use cloud transcription, where the audio isn't saved. The rewrite step runs in the cloud, and nothing from it is stored. That's the audio. Your prompt goes to Anthropic when you send it, like anything you type into Claude.

The free plan includes voice typing with a limited number of sessions, and every writing style, including the ones you make. AudioPen Prime makes voice typing unlimited.

Reading your notes is a different job. Connect Claude to your notes and it can search and read your AudioPen library. That needs Prime.

Tips for prompts you say out loud

Open with what you want done, then give the background, then say what the answer should look like.
Read file names, function names and numbers before you press send, whatever you dictate with.
For a long job, talk in chunks: the goal, then the steps, then how you'll know it's done. A few short takes are easier to check than one long one.