iPhone dictation adding random commas after update

Dictation – when I do voice texting, for the past month or so, my phone is inserting, random, is when they’re not needed. Someone else posted on here about that, and I replied with “me too”. It’s so frustrating.

The other thing that’s happening- and this is so bizarre - is when I voice dictate and say someone’s name, the name will either not come out, or at the end of the text. The names will be inserted. It’s really strange… anybody else? Please!

Add me, to the list, of users that, are having this comma, being inserted at, random times issue,,,,,

I for one do not agree that I should be required to go in and change settings to accommodate Apple's inability to fix this. Some members feel that it's on us to alter our settings and behavior as a work around. That's not right and especially for something that has worked for many years with the current settings I have.

By the way, I tried the fix in settings that is on this thread. It does help quite a bit, however, it does not fix it completely. It just happens less often. As everybody has been saying, it's a real pain to write a text and then you've got to stop and edit.

Hi all, so I went into settings and turned off, enable dictation and auto punctuation, and then turn my phone off and on. I tried sending a text where I begin with, “ Hi there, Lisa” - and it still put the comma after hi, there instead of Lisa! I swear, it never used to do this before the update. That said, I decided to take a deep dive into the Google, and my findings are saying that saying, “Hi there, Lisa,” is the correct way! I don’t have a lot of occasions to write formal text or email, and I write the way I speak, in a formal setting I’ve always thought I had decent grammar. But the following is from mlastyle.com. I have never heard of this, but MLA stands for modern language association. This was not the only place I went but to note, Grammarly said the same thing, and so did some other business writing blog. Anyway, here it is:

https://style.mla.org/greetings-direct-address/

so, that “,” is right apparently! I know I didn’t pay attention in school, but has it always been this way/when did this happen?? Again, when needed? I’ve always thought I could call up the correct grammar, but this is news to me.

also, even after turning those settings on and off, dictation is still inserting, the random commas. In fact, please take note above where, in the first sentence of this dictated message, there was a comma inserted after the word “off”, and even though my sentence is casual, this is wrong! This is ungrammatical… Or is it non-grammatical??!!

I disagree. It has entered commas even when I’m just typing it in. It just did it now and I’m going back to fix it :( As for voice dictation, if it’s adding it for pauses, then it’s completely over sensitive. Either way, it’s a faulty product that Apple should not have released in its current state. they should’ve kept it as beta longer.

I have read the solution, but I do not have auto-punctuate in my Keyboard settings, or anywhere else I can find. I am using Ventura 13.3.1.

Any reason the feature everyone else finds and disables is not there for me?

gambia1 wrote:

I have read the solution, but I do not have auto-punctuate in my Keyboard settings, or anywhere else I can find. I am using Ventura 13.3.1.

Any reason the feature everyone else finds and disables is not there for me?

Probably because this thread is about iPhones and iPhone settings?

Fabulous suggestion. For me, turning off auto punctuation worked. I am a former English teacher and want to do the correct pronunciation myself via dictation. Have been very irritated until now. Thank you very much!

The same thing was happening to me, and the only solution I was given was to turn off auto punctuation. I shouldn’t have to turn off anything because Apple sold us a product that said works, so if it doesn’t work as intended, then they should’ve never released it.

I turned it off, and it was still happening, but less. But also stopped adding any punctuation at all in a lot of places. So I would have to go back in anyway and edit punctuation back in.

It’s a faulty product. And now with the release of 16.6, it’s all happening again. Commas everywhere. And it’s not inserting itself during a pause. I purposely spoke a sentence as if it were all one word and it’s still added all kinds of commas. It may not seem like a big deal to some of the posters on here, but when you use a feature every day, it gets frustrating very quickly when it does not work. I paid a lot of money for all the features on the phone to perform as described and they do not.

When the **** are you going to fix the dictation? Problem in talk texting? Having to go back and fix, the punctuation that is randomly put in and incorrect is freaking annoying!!! This message is an example; putting?'s in when I haven't even finish the sentence!!! ENOUGH! I'm thinking of going to Samsung.

Dr108 wrote:

Commas everywhere. And it’s not inserting itself during a pause. I purposely spoke a sentence as if it were all one word and it’s still added all kinds of commas.

Have you turned off Settings>General>Keyboards>Smart Punctuation?

Truffles100 wrote:

So what other benefits and features will no longer be abailable by turning off Smart Punctuation and Auto Puncuatrion?

Dictation will no longer attempt to figure out where you need commas or put in any other punctuation. You'll need to dictate it. "you'll need to dictate it period".

I would suggest that you try turning off Smart Punctuation but leave Auto Punctuation on. If you're still seeing unwanted characters, turn off Auto Punctuation.

Yes, Apple please shut off or give us the option to shut that excessive comma use y’all have implemented! It sucks and requires me to go back and edit every text, removing unwanted commas and capitalizing of word. #stepback

KerryJo wrote:

Yes, Apple please shut off or give us the option to shut that excessive comma use y’all have implemented!

Why don't you avail yourself of the option to turn off the feature that Apple has provided?

RikkyTikiTavi wrote:

I’m having the same issue and found this thread by googling “iPhone voice text random commas”. It’s super annoying but glad I’m not the only one experiencing this. Were you able to resolve the issue?

Have you tried turning off Settings>General>Keyboard>Smart Punctuation as has been suggested several times in this thread?