Why does speech to text continue getting worse even on devices with the current OS?!

Question

Why does speech to text continue getting worse even on devices with the current OS?!

I am currently on iOS and iPadOS as of January 3, 2026. Both devices have been rebooted. Just getting common answers out of the way immediately.

Why does speech to text continue to get worse? The punctuation is erratic, it spells punctuation instead of doing punctuation not even thinking about trying things like “paragraph,” it doubles words, it correctly interprets words and then changes them to something else adjacently close, sorta, it skips words, it takes a long time to start, sometimes it doesn’t do anything at all but won’t let you abort out of the speech to text mode, and believe it or not, it has resulted in me switching to a keyboard because it is faster for overall accuracy when on my iPad. WTAF?! I totally get that the English language is horrendous and trying to interpret it is a huge challenge, but ****, it used to be better!

iPad Pro, iPadOS 26

Posted on Jan 3, 2026 4:20 PM

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Answer 1

Jan 7, 2026 6:48 AM in response to goddess_xphile

Another un-appreciated problem that can massively interfere with speech to text is background noise. It is a fairly difficult processing problem to remove background noise and focus ONLY on your voice to produce good results. Something as seemingly negligible as a fan running nearby can be disastrous.

Some serious users, such as bloggers, have committed to using speech to text in very quiet environments and/or using a specialized directional microphone.

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Answer 2

Jan 7, 2026 6:53 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:

Another un-appreciated problem that can massively interfere with speech to text is background noise. It is a fairly difficult processing problem to remove background noise and focus ONLY on your voice to produce good results. Something as seemingly negligible as a fan running nearby can be disastrous.

I recall trying to use it in a moving car with the windows down once. That didn't go well.

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Answer 3

Alancito

Level 7

30,036 points

Jan 7, 2026 3:17 AM in response to goddess_xphile

goddess_xphile ~ As we're all just users here, let Apple know about the issues:

Provide feedback

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Answer 4

ylandrum

Level 1

8 points

Jan 6, 2026 6:00 PM in response to goddess_xphile

I’m using text to speech to fill this right now. I will leave everything as it is, transcribed, whatever. The issue is it seems, to have extended, to auto. Complete, and AutoCorrect, as well. I will find myself typing along only, to look down. And see that it has apparently, autocompleted, the word, but, with the cursor right, in the middle of it. So. I end up typing the rest of the word into the word.

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Answer 5

Jan 7, 2026 6:35 AM in response to goddess_xphile

goddess_xphile wrote:

.... it used to be better!

We always remember everything as being better in the old days.

My personal experience is that it continues to improve. But I also have the "standard" accent for my country and reasonably precise diction.

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