iPhone Dictation Not Working in Evernote? 10 Fixes That Work

Short answer: In Evernote on iPhone you dictate with your keyboard's mic, so the keyboard has to appear first. Open the note, tap the body below the title until a cursor blinks. If it still fails, stop any Evernote audio recording, check the note isn't view-only, and confirm Enable Dictation is on.

You open Evernote on your iPhone to capture an idea before it disappears, planning to say it rather than thumb-type it. You tap the mic on your keyboard and nothing happens. Or there is no mic on the keyboard at all. Or the keyboard never shows up, however many times you tap the note. Or you dictate a whole paragraph, close the note, and later find the words in the note's title, in a search, or nowhere at all.

Evernote is a note app, so it feels like dictation should just work there. Most of the time it does. But an Evernote note on your phone is more than a single text box. It has a title field, a body, tags, and sometimes checklists, tables and attachments, and the note itself lives on Evernote's servers and syncs down to your phone. Notes can be shared with you as view-only, notebooks can belong to someone else, and your plan decides how much you can create. Evernote can also record audio into a note, which is a different thing from dictation and can get in its way. Each of these can stop dictation without anything looking obviously broken.

This guide works through every cause in order, starting with the most common. If dictation is failing in every app on your phone and not only in Evernote, start with our complete guide to iPhone dictation not working instead. The same fixes apply to Evernote on iPad.

How dictation works in Evernote on iPhone

On iPhone, you dictate into Evernote with the mic key on your keyboard, using either Apple's built-in dictation or a third-party keyboard that has a mic. Evernote receives the text exactly as if you had typed it. Two things follow from that.

First, if the keyboard does not appear, there is no mic to tap. Most Evernote dictation problems are really "no keyboard" problems, and the keyboard only appears when a text field has focus.

Second, keyboard dictation is separate from anything Evernote does with the microphone itself. Evernote can record audio and attach the recording to a note, and depending on your version and plan it may offer ways to transcribe audio too. Those are Evernote features with their own microphone permission, found under Evernote in the Settings app. Keyboard dictation does not use that permission, so turning it on or off does not fix or break dictation. What it can do is get in the way, which fix 3 explains.

The 30-second Notes test

Before you change anything, open Apple's Notes app, create a new note, tap in the body so the keyboard appears, then tap the mic key and say a sentence.

• If dictation fails in Notes too, the problem is dictation on your iPhone, not Evernote. Go to fixes 8 and 10.
• If it works in Notes but no keyboard appears in Evernote, start with fix 1, then fixes 4 and 5.
• If the keyboard appears in Evernote but has no mic, or the mic won't start, go to fixes 2 and 3.
• If your words arrive but go missing, change shape or land in the wrong place, go to fixes 7 and 9.

The 10 fixes, in order

1. Get a cursor in the note body

Evernote opens to a home screen, and from there to lists of notes, notebooks, tags and search results. None of those lists accept text. You need to open a note and tap inside its body. When a cursor blinks and the keyboard slides up, you are ready.

Check which part of the note you tapped. The title at the top is its own field, separate from the body, so words dictated there become the note's name in your note list. The tag field is separate too, and words dictated into it can turn into new tags. The search field is another trap: if search was open, your words became a search, not a note. Tap in the body below the title and try again.

On a long note, tapping on existing text puts the cursor at that spot. That is fine for dictation, as long as you know where you are. To add to the end, scroll down and tap just below the last line.

2. Find the mic key on your keyboard

If the keyboard appears but there is no mic, check which keyboard is showing. Apple's mic key sits at the bottom of Apple's keyboard, on the right on most current iPhones. Many third-party keyboards have no mic of their own, so if one of those is active there is nothing to tap. Tap and hold the globe key and switch to Apple's keyboard, or to a third-party keyboard with a built-in mic.

If Apple's keyboard is showing and still has no mic, dictation is turned off or restricted on your iPhone, which fix 10 covers. If the keyboard you chose keeps being replaced by Apple's, our guide to a third-party keyboard that keeps switching back explains the usual reasons.

3. Stop Evernote's audio recording

This is the cause people rarely think of. When you record audio into a note, Evernote holds the microphone for as long as the recording runs. While it does, the keyboard's mic may refuse to start, start and stop at once, or appear to work while capturing nothing. Because the recording can keep going while you scroll or switch notes, it is easy to forget it is running.

Look for a recording indicator in the note, or the coloured microphone indicator at the top of your screen, and stop the recording before you dictate. If you meant to keep a recording of what you said, that is fine, but it is an audio file attached to the note, not text you can edit. For typed words, stop the recording and use the keyboard mic instead.

4. Let the note finish loading and syncing

Evernote keeps your notes on its servers and downloads them to your phone as you open them. A note you are opening on this phone for the first time, or one with large attachments, may take a moment to arrive, and a note that is still loading may show its title but not its content, or may not accept edits yet. Give it a moment on a good connection, then try again.

Being offline makes this worse. Depending on your plan, you may be able to keep notebooks available offline on your phone. Notes that are not stored offline can only be opened and edited once your phone reconnects. If you often capture notes with no signal, create a new note for the idea instead of opening an old one, then sync when you are back online.

Sync conflicts cause a related problem. If the same note was changed on two devices before they synced, Evernote may keep both versions rather than lose either, so text you dictated on your phone can end up in a separate copy of the note. If words seem to vanish after a sync, search for a phrase you said to find the other copy.

5. Check that the note is yours to edit

Notes and notebooks can be shared in Evernote, and not always with editing rights. If someone shares a note or notebook with you as view-only, you can open it and read every word, but you cannot change it, by typing or by voice. Tapping the body does nothing useful, and the keyboard never appears.

If every note in one notebook refuses to take text while your own notes work, view-only sharing is the likely reason. Ask the owner for edit access. In the meantime, dictate into a note in one of your own notebooks and move the text across later. If one single note refuses edits while its neighbours work, check whether it was shared differently from the rest, or whether it has been locked against editing, if your version of Evernote offers that option.

6. Check whether you have hit a plan limit

Evernote's free plan limits how much you can create, and the exact limits have changed over time. If you reach a limit, Evernote may stop you creating new notes, so the new note you tapped to dictate into never opens. Paid plans have higher limits, and some features, such as offline notebooks, depend on your plan.

If Evernote shows a message about limits when you try to create a note, that is not a dictation problem. Dictate into an existing note instead, or check your plan in Evernote's account settings. Signing in with a different Evernote account than the one you usually use has a similar effect, because each account has its own notes and its own limits. If notes you expect are missing, check which account is signed in.

7. Watch for formatting shortcuts, checklists and tables

Evernote's editor reacts to certain characters as you type. A line that begins like a list item, with a dash, an asterisk or a number followed by a full stop, can be turned into a bulleted or numbered list, and some other patterns at the start of a line can create checkboxes or dividers. Dictation produces those characters when you say their names, so "one, call the landlord" or "dash, pick up groceries" can reshape your note mid-sentence. Undo it if you did not mean it, or dictate plain sentences and add the formatting afterwards.

Checklists and tables have their own rules. In a checklist, Return usually adds the next item, which is handy when you dictate a list of things to do and confusing when you meant to write one long item. A table cell is its own small field, so words dictated there stay inside that cell. If your version of Evernote has task items inside notes, each task has its own field too. Know which one you are in before you tap the mic.

8. Make sure the microphone is free

Beyond Evernote's own recording, anything else using the microphone can block dictation. An active phone or video call can hold the microphone, and dictation may be unavailable until the call ends. Voice memo and recording apps can do the same, as can a recording in another app that is still running in the background.

Bluetooth is the other common cause. If dictation starts and then gives up almost immediately, or the mic key does nothing, disconnect your headphones or earbuds and try with the iPhone's own microphone. If that works, reconnect them and try again, or keep using the phone's microphone for dictation.

9. Find words that landed somewhere else

If you dictated and the text seems to be missing, it usually landed in a place you were not looking. Check these in order:

• The note title. The note may now be named with your first sentence. Look at your note list.
• The tag field. Your words may have become one or more new tags.
• The search field. If search was open, your words became a search.
• A scratch pad. If your Evernote home screen includes a scratch pad for quick jottings, text typed there stays on the home screen until you turn it into a note.
• A different note. If you switched notes quickly, the words may be in the note you left, or in a conflicting copy (fix 4).

If you replaced something by accident, use undo straight away. Dictation replaces any selected text, just as typing does, so if a word or paragraph was highlighted when you tapped the mic, what you said took its place. Tap once where you want new words, so nothing is highlighted, then dictate.

10. Check dictation on your iPhone

If dictation failed in Notes too, the problem is on the phone. Open Settings, go to General, then Keyboard, and make sure Enable Dictation is on. If the switch is missing or greyed out, check Screen Time: under Content & Privacy Restrictions, open the allowed apps list and make sure Siri & Dictation is allowed. A work or school phone may have dictation restricted by its management profile.

Make sure the keyboard language you are using matches the language you are speaking. Then update Evernote from the App Store, and if nothing else has worked, restart your iPhone. A restart clears stuck audio sessions and keyboard processes in one step.

Evernote quirks that look like broken dictation

• Punctuation is missing or wrong. iPhone dictation adds punctuation automatically unless Auto-Punctuation is turned off under Settings, General, then Keyboard. You can also say punctuation such as "comma" and "full stop" out loud.
• Dictation stops halfway through a thought. iPhone dictation stops when you pause. Our guide to iPhone dictation that keeps stopping explains what you can do about it.
• Names come out wrong. People's names, place names and your own shorthand are the words dictation mishears most. Read them back before you close the note.
• Web clips are awkward to edit. Notes clipped from web pages can carry complex formatting that is hard to edit on a small screen. Dictate your comments into a new note, or at the top of the clip, rather than inside the clipped content.

Quick triage

• No keyboard when you tap a note: not in the note body. Fix 1.
• Keyboard has no mic: keyboard without a mic, or dictation off. Fixes 2 and 10.
• Mic won't start in Evernote only: an Evernote audio recording is running. Fix 3.
• Note shows a title but no content: still loading, or offline. Fix 4.
• Nothing can be changed in one notebook: view-only sharing. Fix 5.
• New notes won't open: plan limit or wrong account. Fix 6.
• A sentence turns into a list: formatting shortcut. Fix 7.
• Mic starts then stops at once: microphone busy or Bluetooth. Fix 8.
• Words went missing: title, tags, search or another note. Fix 9.
• Fails in Notes too: iPhone dictation settings. Fix 10.

Evernote on iPhone versus Evernote on Mac

The causes overlap, but they look different on each device. On a Mac you dictate with a keyboard shortcut into whichever field has focus, and the classic trap is a click that leaves the cursor in the search box or the note list. On iPhone, everything runs through the keyboard, so the first question is always whether the keyboard appeared, and whether it is the one you wanted. If you use both, our guide to Mac dictation not working in Evernote covers the desktop side, and how to dictate in Evernote walks through setting up dictation on each platform. If you also keep notes in OneNote, iPhone dictation not working in OneNote has a similar set of fixes.

A dictation workflow that suits Evernote

• Open the note before you start talking. Get the cursor in the body, check no recording is running, and only then tap the mic.
• Name the note last. Dictate into the body first. Once the idea is down, add a short title by hand, so your first sentence never ends up as the note's name.
• Keep a capture note in your own notebook. A shared notebook, an offline gap or a plan limit never gets in the way of a note you own that is already on your phone.
• Dictate in plain paragraphs, then format. Get the words down first, then add lists, checkboxes and tags.
• Read back as you go. Dictate a few sentences, glance at them, fix anything misheard, and carry on.

It is worth the effort, because speaking is much faster than thumb-typing. Most adults type around 40 words per minute on a full keyboard, and even professional typists usually sit around 80 to 100, while normal speech runs at 130 to 150 words per minute. On a phone keyboard, the gap is wider still, which is exactly why a note app is such a natural place to use your voice.

A keyboard with a mic that works across your notes

Apple's dictation is free and built in, but it stops when you pause, it depends on settings that are easy to switch off by accident, and fixing a misheard word means going back and editing by hand.

Voice Keyboard Pro is a custom iPhone keyboard with a built-in mic button for dictation in any iOS app, Evernote included. Get the cursor into the note, tap the mic, speak, and your words are added at the cursor. Because it is a keyboard rather than a feature of one app, it works the same way in Evernote, Notes, Mail and everywhere else you type. Like any keyboard, it only appears when Evernote asks for one, so fix 1 still applies, and if an Evernote recording is holding the microphone (fix 3), stop it first.

A few features help with notes in particular:

• Voice Edit lets you speak a change to fix text, so you can correct a sentence without selecting and retyping it on a small screen.
• Two-way translation while dictating, across 24 languages, lets you speak in one language and write in another, which helps when you keep notes for people who read a different language.
• Swipe typing is there for the moments when speaking is not practical and you still want to write quickly.

Setup means adding the keyboard in Settings and allowing Full Access so it can reach the transcription service. Our guide to enabling Full Access for an iPhone keyboard explains what that permission does. On privacy, our servers store only operational pings. No audio and no transcript content is stored. There is a free tier with daily limits, and Pro is $4.99 a month or $34.99 a year. On a Mac, the same app lives in your menu bar: hold a hotkey, speak, release, and the text appears at your cursor, in Evernote or anywhere else.

Frequently asked questions

Why doesn't the keyboard appear when I tap a note in Evernote?

Either you are not in the note body yet, the note is still loading, or it is shared with you as view-only. Open the note, wait for its content to appear, and tap in the body below the title. If the keyboard still does not appear, check whether the notebook belongs to someone else.

Does Evernote need microphone permission for dictation?

No. Keyboard dictation handles the audio itself, so Evernote's microphone permission does not affect it. That permission is for Evernote's own audio recording. If a recording is running, though, it can hold the microphone and stop dictation from starting.

Why did my dictated text become the note's title?

The cursor was in the title field when you tapped the mic. The title and body are separate fields. Tap in the body below the title before you dictate, and add the title afterwards.

Can I dictate into Evernote offline?

Keyboard dictation on iPhone may need a connection, depending on your language and settings, and Evernote needs the note on your phone before you can edit it. Notes in notebooks stored offline, where your plan allows, can be edited without a connection and sync later.

Does dictation work in Evernote on iPad too?

Yes. Evernote on iPad has the same note fields, sharing, sync and audio recording, so every fix here applies.

What to do next

Run the 30-second Notes test, then work through the fixes that match what you saw. For most people it is fix 1: the cursor was in the title, the tags or search rather than the note body. If the mic refuses to start only in Evernote, it is fix 3, and if words go missing, check fix 9 before dictating them again. And if you want dictation that works the same way in every app on your phone, try Voice Keyboard Pro's free tier on your next note.