Dictate in any app · Browser

Voice typing in Safari

Safari on a Mac has the operating system's dictation behind it, which most people never enable. With Typally you hold a hotkey, speak, and the text lands in Safari exactly where your cursor was.

Written by the team behind Typally. Safari's own features are described as accurately as we can — check them yourself before switching anything.
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In short

  • Safari's own dictation: Nothing browser-specific, but macOS system dictation reaches Safari's text fields once switched on in Settings.
  • What Typally does instead: puts text wherever the cursor is, in Safari or in anything else you have open.
  • Best used for: web forms

Does Safari have built-in dictation?

Nothing browser-specific, but macOS system dictation reaches Safari's text fields once switched on in Settings.

Why dictate in Safari at all?

Mac users often do not realise system dictation exists at all, or tried it years ago when it was worse. Meanwhile everything they type happens in a browser window.

In practice people use it for: Web forms, webmail, web applications, comment fields, and Google Docs where Chrome-only features do not apply.

How to dictate in Safari

Typally runs in the background and types into whatever window has focus, so there is nothing to install inside Safari:

1

Start with the install

Windows or macOS build, signed in once.

2

In Safari, click the field before you speak

Whatever has the cursor receives the text, so click the right place in Safari before starting.

3

Hold, say it, release

Nothing truncates part-way through.

4

Read it before you move on

Safari's own autofill and web apps' shortcuts both react to input. Click into the intended field before speaking.

What Typally adds in Safari

Typally types into Safari's fields like a keyboard, which matters because the browser is where most of a Mac user's typing actually happens. macOS system dictation covers the same ground; where Typally differs is the AI cleanup pass and custom vocabulary. Google's Docs voice typing does not work in Safari at all, so this closes that gap.

What this looks like in practice

A Mac user who assumed dictation meant a document app tries it in the browser instead, where most of the day's typing actually happens. The web-based ticketing tool that has no dictation of its own now accepts speech.

One habit that makes it work better

Whatever you use, the browser is where the volume is. Optimising dictation for a document app and ignoring the browser gets the priority backwards.

What to watch out for in Safari

Safari's own autofill and web apps' shortcuts both react to input. Click into the intended field before speaking.

Frequently asked questions

Does Safari have dictation?

Not of its own, but macOS system dictation types into its fields once enabled.

Does Google Docs voice typing work in Safari?

No. That feature is Chrome-only.

Can I dictate into web apps in Safari?

Yes, with system dictation or any tool that types into the focused window.

Try it in Safari

Free plan: 100 minutes of dictation a month, no card. Pro is $7.99/month if you want more.

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Also dictate in: Chrome · Firefox · Apple Mail · see all apps