Potok transcribes Russian speech; this site has been translated into English for convenience.
Dictation on iPhone is tied to the active keyboard: if you switch to a keyboard of another language, dictation also starts recognizing speech in that language. This is not a failure but a feature of how the function works. The fix is to add the language you need as a keyboard in Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards → Add New Keyboard (a path of 5 screens) and to switch between the installed keyboards before dictating.
If dictation on iPhone suddenly starts recognizing speech in another language although it worked correctly before, the cause is almost never the dictation function itself but which keyboard is active right now.
What this message means
On iPhone, dictation does not choose the language by itself: it uses the language of the keyboard that is currently active. If you switch to a keyboard of another language, for example from Russian to English, dictation immediately starts recognizing speech in that other language, even if the person keeps speaking Russian.
This is not a failure or a recognition error: the function is designed this way officially. The dictation language is rigidly tied to the active keyboard, not to the language the person actually speaks. Because of this the problem is especially noticeable for those who often switch between languages during the day: it is enough to change the keyboard by accident once, and all the following dictation goes in the wrong language until the keyboard is switched back. Similar situations with the recognition language on different Apple devices are collected in the analysis of Apple voice input errors.
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Dictation recognizes speech in the wrong language | Dictation is tied to the active keyboard: when you switch to a keyboard of another language, dictation works in that language. | Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards → Add New Keyboard; switch between the installed keyboards when dictating. |
How to fix the error
- Check which keyboard is active on the iPhone right now: dictation uses its language at the moment, not the interface language or the language the person actually speaks.
- If the language you need is not among the installed keyboards, add it: Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards → Add New Keyboard.
- Choose the language from the list and confirm the addition; after that the keyboard appears in the general list of keyboards installed on the iPhone.
- Before you start dictating, switch to the keyboard with the language you need: the keyboard itself has a globe icon that cycles through all the installed keyboards in turn.
- Dictate a short phrase and make sure recognition goes in the chosen language; if not, check whether the active keyboard has switched back.
- If you need many languages for dictation, it is worth keeping the list of installed keyboards at hand and always checking the active one before you start dictating, rather than relying on the iPhone to guess the language itself.
| What is available | |
|---|---|
| Potok | hold the key, speak, release: the text lands in the field under the cursor |
When the error is not cured by settings
If the keyboard is switched to the language you need and dictation still recognizes speech wrongly, the cause may not be the language but the quality of recognition itself: accent, noise or unfamiliar terms, and switching keyboards will not help here. Similar logic with the language is found in dictation on a MacBook, if it does not start at all.
Potok is not on the phone: it is a cloud service only for computers, Windows, macOS and Linux, it recognizes speech on servers in Russia and does not work without the internet either, so it does not change the tie of dictation to the active keyboard on iPhone.
Frequently asked questions
There is no special dictation setting: the recognition language simply follows the active keyboard. It is enough to add the language you need to the keyboard list once via Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards → Add New Keyboard, and then switch between the keyboards already added before you start dictating.
Yes: Windows has built-in voice typing via Win+H (Russian only in Windows 11, Windows 10 has no Russian; it does not work without the internet), and the Mac has system dictation in the keyboard settings. Both are free.
Built-in system tools (Win+H in Windows, Dictation in macOS, Voice Typing in Google Docs, Gboard on Android), voice browser extensions, and specialized desktop and web services (Potok and similar) that work on top of any app via a hotkey.
By a model estimate, the average dictation speed with Potok is about 900 characters per minute versus about 200 characters per minute with ordinary typing, so speech is noticeably faster than the keyboard.
Potok states about 900 characters per minute by voice versus about 200 when typing, roughly 4 times faster. This is the product's own estimate, not an independent measurement.
Any microphone the system sees as a recording device will do. In Potok you choose it in the app settings or in the tray icon menu; system access to the microphone is required.
How to start
Potok is available for Windows, macOS and Linux. For two weeks everything is open for free, after that 2500 words per week without paying. Potok is a cloud service: speech is recognized on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet.
Download PotokYou dictate in the app, and recordings and voice messages are transcribed by @potok_now_bot in Telegram. 60 minutes per month are free; the Potok subscription removes the limit in the bot and in the app.
Primary sources: support.apple.com · support.apple.com