Wispen Keyboard
The Wispen Keyboard lets you dictate into Messages, Mail, Notes and any other app on iPhone and iPad. It also has a typing layout, so you can stay on it between dictations.
Turn on the keyboard
- Open the iPhone or iPad Settings app and go to General › Keyboard › Keyboards › Add New Keyboard, and choose Wispen. You can also get there from Wispen's setup guide: tap Open Settings, then Keyboards, and turn on Wispen.
- Tap Wispen in the keyboard list and turn on Allow Full Access.
- In any app, touch and hold the globe key and choose Wispen.
Why Full Access is needed
iOS doesn't reliably give keyboards the microphone, so the Wispen Keyboard works with the Wispen app through a shared space on your device. Full Access lets the keyboard:
- ask the Wispen app to record for it,
- receive the live text,
- read your dictionary and settings, and
- save dictations as notes.
The keyboard makes no network requests and doesn't log keystrokes. It reads only the text around the cursor, to space and capitalize dictated text and, with Spell Names on Screen on, to spell names that are already there.
Without Full Access, the Wispen Keyboard works as a regular typing keyboard, with a note at the top: "To dictate, turn on Allow Full Access in Settings › Keyboards › Wispen."
Dictate with the keyboard
- Tap the microphone in the middle of the keyboard.
- The first time, the keyboard opens the Wispen app, which shows Listening for the Wispen Keyboard. Go back to your app: tap the app name in the top-left corner, or swipe right along the bottom edge. Wispen keeps listening.
- Speak. Your words appear in the text field as you talk.
- Tap the stop button on the keyboard. Wispen replaces the live text with the cleaned-up version.
You can also stop from the Wispen app with Stop Dictation.
If you tap a key while dictating, the dictation ends first so the text doesn't get mixed up.
Keep Microphone Ready
After a keyboard dictation, Wispen can keep the microphone ready so your next dictation starts right away, without switching apps. Set how long in the Wispen app: Settings › Dictation › Wispen Keyboard › Keep Microphone Ready: Off, 1 min, 5 min (default) or 15 min.
While it waits, iOS shows the orange microphone indicator. Wispen doesn't record or transcribe anything during that time; the audio is discarded.
Keyboard layout
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| Mode buttons (top row) | Pick the dictation mode: Writing, Chat, Email, Tasks, Notes or Code. |
| Microphone | Starts or stops dictation. |
| Globe | Switches to your next keyboard (shown when iOS needs it). |
| Keyboard | Switches to the typing layout. |
| space, delete, return | Work as usual. |
The typing layout has letters, numbers and symbols, capitalizes the start of sentences, and types a period when you tap space twice. With Full Access on, tap Dictate to go back to dictation.
The highlight on the selected mode follows Settings › Appearance › Accent Color.
Keyboard settings
In the Wispen app, under Settings › Dictation › Wispen Keyboard:
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Save as Notes | On | Keeps a copy of each keyboard dictation as a note in Uncategorized. |
| Keep Microphone Ready | 5 min | How long the microphone stays ready for the next keyboard dictation. |
Your dictionary, cleanup settings, language and Spell Names on Screen apply to keyboard dictations too.
Which speech model is used
When Wispen records for the keyboard, it uses your selected speech model, including Whisper and Parakeet. When the keyboard can record on its own, it uses Apple's speech engine.
The S1-mini transcript cleanup isn't used for keyboard dictations, because iOS doesn't let it run in the background. They use Wispen's built-in cleanup.