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How do I turn off Voice Over Text punctuation in latest ios update?

Unfortunately I upgraded to ios 16.0 without waiting for public feedback and now I'm having Voice Over Text issues. Whenever using VOT, Siri injects a preposterous amount of punctuation into what I said--commas, periods, question marks, etc. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. For example, whether I take a long pause between 2 words or no pause at all between those same 2 words, Siri will inject a comma between those words and more than half the time it makes no sense to have a comma there.


It's at the point where it's faster for me to just type than use VOT, because I have to go back and edit so much punctuation if I use VOT.


Is there any way to turn off Siri's wildly excessive punctuaion in VOT completely? Or at least make it less sensitive somehow? I want to keep using VOT but it's not usable with the punctuation issues.

iPhone XR, iOS 16

Posted on Nov 18, 2022 3:09 PM

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Posted on Jan 19, 2023 2:31 PM

Thank you @Bailier, but at this point it's best to just turn off Auto-Punctuation.


If you contact Apple Support they run you though about 30 mins of settings and testing things that don't make a difference, then give you a link and tell you how you can submit feedback about the problem. But to be perfectly honest, 99.9% of the time feedback isn't read because Apple gets so much spam. So legitimate issues like this aren't going to be noticed in a timely manner when submitting through the feedback form. We simply have to wait for the engineers to decide this is a problem which may not happen until the next major iOS update.


I mention this not as an attack on Apple, but simply because if you have reached this post then you have already become extremely frustrated with the amount of time you've had to waste correcting the punctuation. And I don't want other users experiencing this problem to waste 30-45 minutes more of their time with an Apple support rep when speaking with one won't solve this specific problem. The reality is that there are lots of issues like these that the support reps aren't trained on, and that don't get acknowledged by Apple nor fixed until the engineers themselves become exasperated by the issue.


In the meantime, the best solution is to simply turn it off entirely as outlined in the prior message.

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4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 19, 2023 2:31 PM in response to bailier

Thank you @Bailier, but at this point it's best to just turn off Auto-Punctuation.


If you contact Apple Support they run you though about 30 mins of settings and testing things that don't make a difference, then give you a link and tell you how you can submit feedback about the problem. But to be perfectly honest, 99.9% of the time feedback isn't read because Apple gets so much spam. So legitimate issues like this aren't going to be noticed in a timely manner when submitting through the feedback form. We simply have to wait for the engineers to decide this is a problem which may not happen until the next major iOS update.


I mention this not as an attack on Apple, but simply because if you have reached this post then you have already become extremely frustrated with the amount of time you've had to waste correcting the punctuation. And I don't want other users experiencing this problem to waste 30-45 minutes more of their time with an Apple support rep when speaking with one won't solve this specific problem. The reality is that there are lots of issues like these that the support reps aren't trained on, and that don't get acknowledged by Apple nor fixed until the engineers themselves become exasperated by the issue.


In the meantime, the best solution is to simply turn it off entirely as outlined in the prior message.

Nov 21, 2022 11:40 AM in response to AZsport115

Hi AZsport115,


Thanks for posting in Apple Support Communities! Since updates can include bug fixes and improvements, we suggest updating to the latest available version of iOS 16, which is 16.1.1:


  1. "Back up your device using iCloud or your computer.
  2. Plug your device into power and connect to the internet with Wi-Fi.
  3. Go to Settings > General, then tap Software Update.
  4. If you see more than one software update option available, choose the one that you want to install.

The Settings app on iPhone showing options to update to iOS 15.7 or iOS 16.

5. Tap Install Now. If you see Download and Install instead, tap it to download the update, enter your passcode, then tap Install Now."

-Update your iPhone or iPad


Later version of iOS 16 resolved many issues users were experiencing. If it continues, contact Apple Support for further assistance.


Cheers!


How do I turn off Voice Over Text punctuation in latest ios update?

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