Google Pixel ruined voice-to-text for me, this app fixes it

There are many reasons why I love using a Google Pixel phone, but speech-to-text might be the most underrated upgrade on these devices. Every time I use a Pixel, without fail, I have a hard time switching back to literally any other Android device, in part because the voice-to-text experience is so much worse. But, finally, a better future is in sight.

Gboard is Android’s flagship keyboard offering and has built-in voice-to-text dictation. It works pretty well, but it gets overloaded on a Pixel. Google was the first to make this change more than half a decade agoand the improved experience on Pixel is not only much faster, but also more accurate. Between saying the right words and being able to include punctuation, simply convert speech to text on a Pixel. drastically better than any other Android device.

And that’s regardless of which keyboard you’re using. Gboard on a Pixel versus Gboard on a Samsung Galaxy are two incredibly different experiences. The version found on other Android devices doesn’t support punctuation (without you saying it out loud), often takes longer to load, and is rarely as accurate. Don’t get me wrong, it could be worse. The Samsung keyboard’s voice-to-text conversion is a real travesty – but I really wish Google would make some improvements here.

However, it really seems like the solution to this is on the horizon.

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It’s AI.

I’m still hesitant about most AI applications, but if there’s one thing LLMs are good at, it’s text; after all, it’s there in the name. Therefore, speech-to-text conversion has become a very popular use of AI and one of the most useful for the end user. Google was technically way ahead of the curve here, as Gboard’s improved voice typing on the Pixel was the result of machine learning. The newer models have just enhanced this.

One of the first places I enjoyed this was “Wispr Flow”, an AI-powered speech-to-text dictation service that launched on Android earlier this year and which I’ve been using ever since.

I think this has two main things going for it.

First of all, Flow is not a replacement for Gboard or any other keyboard you want to use. Instead, it acts as a floating button/popup on top of any other app you’re trying to use. It absolutely takes some muscle memory to stop tapping Gboard’s microphone button and instead use Flow’s, but it’s the best solution I can think of. You couldn’t take Gboard away from me, and I don’t think I’m alone there: Gboard is arguably one of Google’s best pieces of software on Android. The floating button doesn’t show up all the time, but appears somewhat intelligently depending on the app you’re using and what you’re actually doing. I say “a little” because I have caught it showing up on occasions when I don’t need it. Flow seems to focus on detecting the app rather than the simple method of simply seeing when the keyboard is activated.

Still, it’s one of the best implementations I’ve seen. Pressing the button starts the speech to text conversion and pressing the check mark renders it and pastes it into the active text box. I wish it would show a preview of the text, but it works pretty well.

Of course, these are not the only compensations. You need to give Wispr Flow some additional permissions, such as displaying on top of other apps, as well as accessibility access. As a result, the app displays notifications in the tray. There’s no icon in the status bar and they’re muted by default, but you’ll have to turn them off manually through Android settings if you really want to hide them. I quickly turned off persistent notification through Android settings, but it’s a little frustrating that there is now a persistent notification when apps have the ability to display on top of others. I understand why it exists (it’s easy to abuse that functionality), but man, it’s a huge drag on this experience. It’s the main thing that has pushed Flow into a state of “coming and going”. I still use it from time to time, but I’ve been turning it off a lot just because it bothers me.

You’ll also have to trust Wispr on the privacy aspect here. The app has a “Private Mode” which it says will “keep data stored only on your device.”

That said, the actual performance further that makes up for it.

I’ve been using this on my Galaxy Z Fold 7, my daily driver and the exact phone that constantly reminds me how bad Gboard’s speech-to-text conversion is outside of a Pixel, and I’m amazed at how well it all works. The speech-to-text model here is incredibly accurate and can perfectly transcribe what I say regardless of context. Whether in a quiet room or filled with loud music, it picks up my voice and nails the text. It’s not foolproof, with occasional spelling mistakes or misunderstandings, but it feels as accurate as the experience on the Pixel. It also inserts punctuation quite well. I think Google’s experience on the Pixel is still a little better here, but Flow does a really good job.

The main place where I see Flow beating Gboard on the Pixel is in understanding context. When you can transcribe through Pixel and end up with words like “cousin” in places where that’s not appropriate, Flow automatically corrects phrases like that. The app will eventually support a custom dictionary and other ways to customize the output, but I really like it as it is.

But, as we have already mentioned, the big problem with Flow is that it is not native.

That’s where the next step comes into play. This is the type of technology that I can easily see more Android brands looking to take advantage of. Nothing got rolling this week with the release of “Essential Voice,” which is basically a native Wispr Flow for Nothing Phones. It reduces additional cost while better integrating voice typing into your normal experience, as it works through both the physical essential key (and also the keyboard).

It seems inevitable that more Android brands will follow. While everyone is trying to include AI in everything, the speech-to-text improvements are, in my opinion, a home run. It is a feature that we all use in some way and that AI in fact good at.

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