iPhone Dictation Not Working in Grammarly? 9 Fixes That Work

Short answer: On iPhone, Grammarly is a keyboard, and the dictation mic belongs to whichever keyboard is on screen. While Grammarly's keyboard is up, Apple's mic key is not. Hold the globe key to switch to Apple's keyboard, confirm Enable Dictation is on, dictate, then switch back to check.

You added Grammarly's keyboard to catch typos in your emails, and now the microphone you used for dictation has gone. Or it shows up in one app and not in the next. Or you switch keyboards to dictate a message, and the next time you open Mail, Grammarly is back and the mic has vanished again. It feels as if Grammarly broke dictation. It did not, and you do not need to delete anything.

Three facts explain almost every case. The first is that on an iPhone, Grammarly is a keyboard. It is not a layer that sits on top of your other apps, the way it can be on a computer. When you use Grammarly on your phone, its keyboard takes the place of Apple's keyboard on the screen.

The second is that dictation lives on a keyboard too. Apple's dictation starts from the mic on Apple's keyboard, and iOS shows exactly one keyboard at a time. While Grammarly's keyboard is on screen, Apple's keyboard is not, and neither is its mic.

The third is that Grammarly's keyboard is built for typing and checking. At the time of writing it has no dictation of its own, so there is no setting inside Grammarly that brings the mic back. The fix is always about which keyboard is showing, plus the usual dictation settings on your iPhone.

This guide works through every cause in order, most common first. If dictation fails in every app on your phone, with or without Grammarly, our full list of iPhone dictation fixes is the better place to start.

Which keyboard is on your screen?

Most of the confusion clears up once you can tell the keyboards apart at a glance.

• Apple's keyboard. This is the one that came with your iPhone. It shows predictive text above the keys and has the dictation mic: in the strip below the keys on iPhones with Face ID, or next to the space bar on iPhones with a Home button. It is also the keyboard iOS uses for passwords.
• Grammarly's keyboard. It usually shows the Grammarly logo and its own bar of suggestions above the keys, and it offers corrections as you type. It has no key for dictation.
• Any other keyboards you have added. A keyboard for a second language, an emoji keyboard, or a keyboard with its own mic button, like ours.

To see every keyboard you have, press and hold the globe key. iOS lists them by name, and tapping one switches to it. If you only have one keyboard plus emoji, the globe may appear as a smiley face instead.

How dictation and Grammarly fit together on iPhone

Apple's dictation

Apple's dictation is switched on in Settings, under General, then Keyboard, with Enable Dictation. Once it is on, the mic appears on Apple's keyboard. Tap it, speak, and your words appear at the cursor. On recent versions of iOS you can keep typing on Apple's keyboard while dictation is still listening.

Grammarly's keyboard

Grammarly's keyboard is a third-party keyboard. You add it under Settings, General, Keyboard, Keyboards, and it asks for Full Access, because it needs to send your text to Grammarly to check it. When it is on screen, it works on the text near your cursor and suggests corrections. It does not listen to you.

Why you cannot have both at once

iOS shows one keyboard at a time, and it gives each keyboard only a limited view of the text around the cursor. Grammarly cannot check while Apple's keyboard is up, and Apple's mic is not there while Grammarly's keyboard is up. They take turns. Once you think of them that way, the workflow is simple: speak with one keyboard, then check with the other.

The 30-second test

Before you change any settings, find out where the problem actually is.

1. Open Notes and start a new note. Hold the globe key and choose Apple's keyboard.
2. Tap the mic and say a sentence.
3. Hold the globe key again, choose Grammarly, and look at the keyboard.

• If step 2 failed, the problem is dictation on your iPhone, not Grammarly. Go to fixes 2, 4, 8 and 9.
• If step 2 worked and Grammarly simply has no mic, that is expected. Fix 1 is your answer.
• If Apple's keyboard is not in the list at all, go to fix 3.
• If Apple's keyboard is there but it has no mic either, go to fixes 2 and 4.
• If there was no keyboard at all, go to fix 5.
• If dictation works, but the keyboard keeps jumping back to Grammarly, go to fix 6.
• If one particular app never shows Grammarly, or never shows the mic, go to fix 7.

Half a minute here saves you from changing settings that were never the problem.

The 9 fixes, in order

1. Switch to a keyboard that has a mic

This is behind most "my mic disappeared" reports. Nothing is broken. The keyboard on screen is Grammarly's, and the mic belongs to a different keyboard.

• Tap the globe key to move to the next keyboard in your list. Keep tapping until Apple's keyboard appears.
• Or press and hold the globe key and pick Apple's keyboard by name. This is quicker if you have three or more keyboards.
• Depending on your iPhone and the keyboard, the globe can sit on the keyboard itself or in the strip just below it. If you cannot see one on Grammarly's keyboard, look below the keys.
• Dictate what you want to say, then switch back to Grammarly when you want it to check the text.

Our guide to a missing microphone button on the iPhone keyboard covers the same symptom when no third-party keyboard is involved. If you dictate many times a day, the smoother answer is a keyboard that has a mic built in, so the speaking part needs no switching. There is more on that further down.

2. Turn on Enable Dictation

If Apple's keyboard has no mic either, dictation itself is switched off. Open Settings, tap General, then Keyboard, and switch on Enable Dictation. It is easy to turn off by accident while you are in that screen adding a new keyboard and tidying up the list.

If the switch is already on, turn it off, wait a few seconds, and turn it on again. iOS may need a moment, and a connection, to set dictation up for your language. Then open Notes, switch to Apple's keyboard, and look for the mic.

3. Add Apple's keyboard back if it is missing

When people set up Grammarly, some remove the other keyboards so that Grammarly is the one that always appears. If Apple's keyboard for your language has gone, the globe key has nothing with a mic to switch to.

• Open Settings, then General, then Keyboard, then Keyboards.
• Tap Add New Keyboard and choose your language.
• Tap Edit and drag the keyboards into the order you want. The order decides which one comes next when you tap the globe key.

You can keep Grammarly in the list. Having both is the point.

4. Check Screen Time and work restrictions

If Enable Dictation is missing from Settings, or no keyboard ever shows a mic, something may be blocking dictation. Open Settings, then Screen Time, then Content & Privacy Restrictions, and look at the list of allowed apps. Siri & Dictation needs to be on. This is common on a child's phone and on phones set up by a school or an employer.

A work-managed iPhone can also have dictation turned off by its management profile. In that case the setting is not yours to change, and your IT team is the one to ask.

5. Tap into a real text field

No keyboard appears until a text field has a cursor, so no mic appears either. The Grammarly app on your phone is mainly where you set up the keyboard and choose its options. Your writing happens in your other apps.

Open Mail, Messages or Notes, tap where you want to write, and wait for the cursor to blink. Then check which keyboard came up, and switch if you need to. If you tap a word in a list or a link in a message, you are selecting it, not editing, and the keyboard stays away.

6. Stop the keyboard jumping back to Grammarly

iOS tends to bring back the keyboard you used last, and some apps remember a keyboard of their own. So you can switch to Apple's keyboard in Mail, dictate, open Messages, and find Grammarly waiting there. That is iOS working as designed, not dictation failing.

• Put Apple's keyboard at the top of your Keyboards list if you dictate more than you type.
• Get used to one tap on the globe key before you speak. It becomes automatic quickly.
• Or use a single keyboard that has a mic, so you do not need to switch to speak.

The opposite also happens. If a third-party keyboard is slow to load or quits, iOS quietly falls back to Apple's keyboard. Our guide to an iPhone keyboard that keeps switching back covers both directions in detail.

7. Expect Apple's keyboard in password fields, number pads and some apps

iOS does not let third-party keyboards into password fields or phone number pads, and any app can choose to block them altogether. Some banking and work apps do. In those places Grammarly will not appear and Apple's keyboard will, which can make the mic seem to come and go from app to app. It is not a fault.

Password fields are a special case in the other direction too, since Apple's keyboard does not offer dictation there. If dictation fails in one particular app with every keyboard, the problem is that app and not Grammarly. Our guide to iPhone dictation not working in some apps explains why.

8. Free the microphone and check your connection

Dictation cannot start while something else is using the microphone. A phone or video call, a voice memo that is still recording, or another app that is listening will all get in the way. End the call or stop the recording, then try again.

Depending on your iPhone and your language, Apple's dictation may also need an internet connection. If the mic appears but nothing is typed, or dictation gives up after a few words, try again on a stronger connection. If you use a VPN and dictation hangs, switch the VPN off for a moment to test.

9. Restart, update, and re-add the keyboard

If the globe key stops responding, keyboards load blank, or the mic flickers on and off, restart your iPhone. That clears a stuck keyboard or dictation process in one step. Then update iOS and the Grammarly app, since keyboard bugs are often fixed in updates.

As a last step, remove Grammarly's keyboard from your Keyboards list and add it back. This resets how iOS loads it. Your Grammarly account and settings are not affected, though you may need to allow Full Access again.

Grammarly quirks that look like broken dictation

• Grammarly says nothing about a paragraph you dictated. A keyboard only sees a limited stretch of text around the cursor. After you switch to Grammarly, move the cursor into the paragraph, or to the end of it. On a long message, check it a section at a time.
• Grammarly flags a word your dictation got right. Names, brands and jargon are often unknown to a checker. Before you accept a change, make sure the original was not correct. Add words you use often to Grammarly's personal dictionary.
• A sound-alike word slipped through. Dictation can write "there" when you meant "their", and both are real words. This is exactly the kind of slip a checker is good at catching, so the switch to Grammarly is worth it for anything important.
• The punctuation looks odd. Apple adds punctuation as you speak in many languages. If it puts a comma where you did not want one, fix it by hand, or switch off Auto-Punctuation under Settings, General, Keyboard and say your punctuation out loud.
• Dictation typed the wrong language. Apple's dictation listens in the language of the keyboard you switched to. If you passed through a second-language keyboard on the way, switch to the right one and try again.

Quick reference

• No mic while Grammarly is up: switch to Apple's keyboard (fix 1).
• No mic on Apple's keyboard either: turn on Enable Dictation, then check Screen Time (fixes 2 and 4).
• Apple's keyboard is not in the list: add it back (fix 3).
• No keyboard at all: tap into a real text field (fix 5).
• Grammarly keeps coming back: reorder keyboards, or use one with a mic (fix 6).
• The mic only shows in some apps: password fields and blocked apps use Apple's keyboard (fix 7).
• The mic is there but nothing is typed: free the microphone, check the connection (fix 8).
• The globe key or keyboards misbehave: restart, update, re-add Grammarly (fix 9).

Grammarly on iPhone versus Grammarly on a Mac

On a Mac, Grammarly is not a keyboard. It watches the text fields in your apps and your browser, so it can be on screen at the same moment you dictate, and the problems there are about two tools working on the same sentence at once. Our guide to Mac dictation not working in Grammarly covers that side. For the everyday routine of pairing the two on either device, see how to dictate in Grammarly.

A dictate-then-check workflow that works

• Speak first, check second. Dictate the whole message without stopping to fix anything. Then switch to Grammarly and go through its suggestions in one pass.
• Keep your own voice. Spoken drafts sound like you, which is usually why they read warmly. Accept the corrections, and be choosy about rewrites that only change the tone.
• Check names and numbers yourself. A checker cannot know that a client's name is spelled unusually, or that the meeting is on the 14th and not the 4th.
• Use Notes for long pieces. Draft a long email in Notes, check it there, and paste it in when it is ready.
• Do not dictate passwords. iOS will not let you, and it is a habit worth keeping anyway.

The habit is worth building because speaking is much faster than typing. Most adults type around 40 words per minute on a computer keyboard, and professional typists usually reach 80 to 100. Normal speech runs at 130 to 150 words per minute. On a phone, where most people type more slowly than they do on a full keyboard, that gap is even harder to ignore, and a quick check afterwards costs far less than typing every word.

A keyboard with the mic built in

Apple's dictation is free, and once the fixes above are sorted, switching between it and Grammarly works fine. If you dictate many times a day, though, a keyboard built around dictation removes the switching from the speaking part.

Voice Keyboard Pro is a custom iPhone keyboard with a built-in mic button for dictation in any iOS app. Tap in a field, tap the mic, speak, and your words appear at the cursor, in Mail, Messages, Notes and everywhere else. It follows the same iOS rule as Grammarly: one keyboard at a time. So if you still want Grammarly's second pass, the pattern becomes speak with Voice Keyboard Pro, then tap the globe key and let Grammarly check.

• Voice Edit lets you speak a change to fix text. Say what should be different, and skip the fiddly cursor work on a small screen.
• Two-way translation while dictating covers 24 languages, which helps when you write to people in a language you do not type comfortably.
• Swipe typing is built in for the moments when a word is quicker to swipe than to say.

Setup means adding the keyboard in Settings and allowing Full Access, the same step Grammarly asks for. Our guide to enabling Full Access for a keyboard explains what that permission does. On privacy, our servers store only operational pings. No audio and no transcript content is stored. On iPhone there is a free tier with daily limits, and Pro is $4.99 a month or $34.99 a year. On a Mac, Voice Keyboard Pro is a menu bar app: hold a hotkey, speak, release, and the text appears at your cursor in any app.

Frequently asked questions

Why did the dictation mic disappear after I installed Grammarly?

Because Grammarly's keyboard is now the one on screen, and the dictation mic belongs to Apple's keyboard. iOS shows one keyboard at a time. Tap or hold the globe key, choose Apple's keyboard, and the mic is back.

Does Grammarly's keyboard have voice typing?

At the time of writing, no. Grammarly's keyboard checks and corrects what you type. To speak your text, use Apple's keyboard or a third-party keyboard with a mic, then switch to Grammarly to check it.

Do I need to delete Grammarly to use dictation?

No. Keep both keyboards in your list and switch with the globe key. Deleting Grammarly would only save you one tap.

Can Grammarly check text I dictated?

Yes. Dictated text is ordinary text once it is in the field. Switch to Grammarly's keyboard and put the cursor in or after the text you want checked, since a keyboard only sees the text near the cursor.

Why does my iPhone keep switching back to Grammarly's keyboard?

iOS tends to bring back the keyboard you used last, and some apps remember their own choice. Move Apple's keyboard to the top of your Keyboards list, or use a single keyboard with a mic so you never need to switch to speak.

Why does Grammarly not appear in some apps?

iOS keeps third-party keyboards out of password fields and phone number pads, and apps can block them entirely. Apple's keyboard appears there instead.

Is it safe to give a keyboard Full Access?

Full Access lets a keyboard use the network, which Grammarly needs for checking and a dictation keyboard needs for transcription. Give it only to keyboards from companies you trust, and read what each one says it stores.

What to do next

Run the 30-second test, then work through the fixes that match what you saw. If Grammarly simply had no mic, switch keyboards (fix 1). If Apple's keyboard had no mic either, dictation is off or restricted (fixes 2 and 4). If Apple's keyboard was missing, add it back (fix 3). If Grammarly keeps returning, reorder your keyboards (fix 6). And if you would rather speak without switching at all, try Voice Keyboard Pro's free tier for your next few messages, and keep Grammarly one tap away for the final check.