How to use Gboard’s enhanced voice typing to dictate messages

One of the default features of most keyboards on our smartphones is the ability to use our voice to dictate messages. This is useful in many scenarios where our hands might be occupied, like when we are driving, or cooking, or doing something else. For the most part, voice dictation works, but it can be annoying when you’re trying to punctuate a message.

Gboard’s current voice dictation feature requires users to manually insert punctuations by saying things like “comma”, “period”, or “question/exclamation mark” which can disrupt the flow of your dictation, but that has changed with a recent update.

Google has started to roll out an update to the Gboard beta where they’re further integrating Google Assistant into the keyboard app. This comes in the form of a new “enhanced voice typing” feature that is more responsive and smarter at understanding your words and knows when is the best time to insert punctuation, and here’s what you need to do to enable it.

How to enable Gboard’s enhanced voice typing

1. Download the latest version of Gboard beta
2. Launch any app that will bring up the keyboard
3. Tap the arrow icon above the keyboard
4. Tap the gear icon to launch Gboard’s settings
5. Go to Voice typing
6. Toggle on Enhanced voice typing
7. Toggle on Auto punctuation

At the moment, the feature seems to be only available on newer Pixel handsets like the Pixel 4, Pixel 4 XL, Pixel 4a, and Pixel 5, but it should eventually make its way to more devices in the near future.