Top 5 Free Dictation Apps for Freelancers and Home Workers.

With this coronavirus pandemic hovering over us and taking our lives and daily routines by the scruff of the neck, many of us are being forced to work from home or begin freelancing to keep food on the table! This means a lot more typing and being stuck at a computer. While this is not convenient, it is the “new normal” so many of us will want to be as comfortable as possible and get our work done as quickly and as conveniently as we can. This is where dictation software can be useful for you. Dictation can mean a lot of things, this article will cover speech to text dictation because when working from home, that is the most convenient form of dictation you can use. Another important caveat when looking for good dictation software is, I wanted it to be free, in difficult times like these, it is crucial that those who can utilise free services to make their lives easier can do so. Different apps and software can offer different services and can have specific niches, so this article aims to highlight what the most useful ones are for those working remotely and ultimately help you find the one best suited to you. But firstly, there are a few questions that need to be addressed.

Why is Dictation Software So Useful?

If you work from home or as a freelancer, there are a variety of reasons as to why you would want to invest time and energy into such software:

 Productivity: Time is money, and not just regarding work but regarding your own personal life as well. If you are set a target of getting a certain number of emails sent, or words written and you can find a way to do that as fast as possible whilst keeping it up to standard, then why wouldn’t you do it! In using speech to text software, you boost your productivity in working smarter and faster and this can have positive effects on your mental health too. If you feel like you are doing more, you will feel better about yourself and that is one of the best parts of using software like this.

 Reduces risk of cramp/pain: Sitting at a desk or a table all day and typing is never going to be ideal for your hands. Often, people can suffer with carpal tunnel or arthritis or even just cramps in the hands and wrists, using a dictation app can help to prevent the repetitive stresses that come with typing.

What Makes a Good Dictation App?

This answer can vary for everyone, mainly because people may want to use the app for a different reason or will look for the app to provide specific functions or support certain languages. However, I think that overall, there are a few general things that every speech to text software should provide:

 Accuracy: ensuring that the software you use is accurate is the most important thing to look for. Now getting it right and getting used to the app and its functions will take time, but if the software is not able to pick up what you say very well, then it is not for you, it can affect what you write and only increases the risk of mistakes.

Ease of Use: Finding an app that is easy to use and lets you begin work right away without adds, pop-ups or having to say little things like “insert comma” instead of just “comma” is important as well. Remember, you want to save yourself time and use software that is comfortable for you, so keeping an eye on things like this is important too.

 Versatility: can the software be used only within a certain app or can it be added as a widget or as a desktop attachment? Does the app work on other apps or do you have to copy and paste what you have spoken into an email or a message? These are important things to look out for because the point of software like this is convenience, you don’t want to be spending as much time copying and pasting as you would typing. It defeats the purpose.

Do you need dictation software?

If you are reading this, then you might already know the answer! If you write a lot for work, need to meet deadlines fast, or suffer with pains in your hands then it is worth at least trying out some of these apps. Depending on where you look, software ranges in price from about $100 to $200, I think this is madness, you have paid enough for your phone or laptop so the software included should be enough! Each of the apps I have included are free, so it costs you nothing to use them, and the benefits could completely change the way in which you work!

Apple Dictation: Built into all apple devices, this dictation feature is highly convenient for those who are working on an iOS device or for those who use their phone for connecting with others in group chats or connecting with clients over message. It can be activated anywhere, just press the microphone on the stock keyboard of an iOS device or on a desktop you can find it under system preferences. You will need wi-fi to use it, but in terms of convenience, ease of use, versatility and accuracy it is the best software you can use when on your Apple phone or laptop because it is right there ready to be utilised. You can also enable enhanced dictation which allows you to speak for longer periods and use your software offline which is extremely convenient. If you are using apple dictation for large amounts of writing or offline work, then enhanced dictation is the way to go, otherwise, the regular is perfectly fine as it is.

 Windows 10 Speech Recognition: If you don’t happen to have an apple device and have a regular Windows PC, this is the best free software for you. To launch, just go to a word doc or google docs and press the Windows logo key + H. I have seen reviews suggesting that this speech recogniser can be a little inaccurate, so that is certainly something to look out for. For example, when wishing to add a period at the end of a sentence, you will get the word period instead of a full stop. Obviously, you don’t want to be making mistakes on your writing especially if it is for work so keep this in mind. But in terms of ease of use, it is available with the push of a button, it is free and convenient in that it can be used and supported on all browser types. This versatility is what makes it worth its use!

Gboard: In terms of accuracy and convenience on your mobile device, no app is better than Gboard in my view. It is an app available on Android and iOS stores for free and in terms of what to look for in a good speech to text diction app, it ticks all the boxes. It is free, it uses minimal storage, and is super accurate. What I find this app useful for is, when I am working and someone texts me or emails me, I can use speech to text dictation and respond to them quickly without spending minutes replying and getting distracted from my work. With this app, I can reply quickly and stay focussed or in the zone when I’m working. This is exactly the type of convenience I look for in a dictation app.

 Google Docs Voice Typing: In terms of working on a laptop or a mac, this is probably the most general dictation software because it is not confined to a particular operating system like the apple or windows speech apps. Available on any device with google docs, this dictation software is super accessible to anyone looking to record documents or notes either at home or on the go and with it being free, there is no risk involved in using it.

 iFlyDictation- The final free dictation software that is a good choice for a remote worker or freelancer is iFlyDictation. This is an app downloadable on iOS and Android stores that is completely free with no “Pro” version and is known to be up to 95% accurate in its speech recognition. It is quite a new app and was developed by a Chinese company which means that it is restricted to English and Chinese/Mandarin in the languages it understands, but there is a lot of potential for it to grow as a company and add more languages. It may not be the most streamlined of the 5-software highlighted in the article, but if you don’t like Apple dictation or Gboard, this is a very good free alternative that can help you to boost productivity and save yourself from excessive typing.