Short answer: Voice typing is not working with your third-party keyboard on iPhone because Apple's dictation mic only appears on Apple's keyboard. A custom keyboard needs its own mic button plus two permissions: Allow Full Access, and Microphone access for its app. Grant both and the keyboard's own voice typing works in any app.
You installed a custom keyboard so you could finally dictate the way you wanted, and now the microphone does nothing. Maybe the dictation button vanished entirely. Maybe the keyboard's own mic icon is there but tapping it produces silence, an error, or a permissions prompt that loops back to the same dead end. Either way, the promise of voice typing fell apart the moment you switched away from Apple's default keyboard, and it is not obvious why.
The reason is structural, and once you understand it the fix is straightforward. This guide explains exactly how dictation works on third-party keyboards, why Apple's mic disappears, and the precise permissions and steps that get voice typing working again, no matter which custom keyboard you are using.
The Core Reason: Apple's Mic Belongs to Apple's Keyboard
The first thing to understand is that there are two completely different kinds of microphone button on iOS, and people constantly confuse them.
The first is Apple's system dictation button, the little microphone that sits next to the spacebar on Apple's own keyboard. That button is part of the system keyboard, not part of iOS as a whole. When you switch to a third-party keyboard, you are replacing Apple's keyboard entirely, and the system dictation mic goes with it. This is by design. Apple does not expose its dictation button to other keyboards, so any custom keyboard that wants voice typing has to supply its own.
The second is a keyboard's own built-in mic button. A well-built voice keyboard includes its own microphone and its own transcription, independent of Apple's system dictation. When you tap that button, the keyboard records your voice and types out the words itself.
So when someone says "voice typing is not working with my third-party keyboard," it is almost always one of two situations:
- They expect Apple's system dictation mic to appear on the custom keyboard. It will not, because that button belongs to Apple's keyboard. The fix is to use a keyboard that has its own mic.
- Their keyboard does have its own mic button, but it is missing the permissions it needs to record and transcribe. The fix is to grant those permissions.
Almost every "broken" third-party voice keyboard is really one of these two things. Let us solve both.
Fix 1: Confirm the Keyboard Is Actually Added and Active
Installing a keyboard app from the App Store does not switch it on. iOS keeps it dormant until you add it and select it. Two steps:
- Open Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards. If your custom keyboard is not in the list, tap Add New Keyboard and choose it.
- In any app, open the keyboard, then tap and hold the globe key in the bottom corner and select your keyboard from the list. The custom keyboard is only active in the app while it is the one currently showing.
If you have been looking for a mic on Apple's keyboard while expecting it to be the custom one, this single step explains the whole problem. Make sure the keyboard on screen is genuinely the third-party one before you go hunting for its mic button.
Fix 2: Grant "Allow Full Access" (This Is the Big One)
This is the permission that breaks more third-party voice keyboards than anything else. By default, iOS runs custom keyboards in a tightly sandboxed mode with no network access and limited capabilities. A voice keyboard generally needs network access to handle transcription, and without Full Access it simply cannot do its job. The mic button may appear, but tapping it does nothing useful.
- Open Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards.
- Tap your custom keyboard in the list.
- Toggle Allow Full Access on.
- Confirm the prompt that explains what Full Access permits.
iOS shows a warning here because Full Access is a meaningful permission, and you should only grant it to a keyboard you trust. A reputable voice keyboard will be clear about what it does with that access. Voice Keyboard Pro, for instance, uses it only to turn your speech into text, and our servers store only basic operational pings, never your audio and never the text of what you dictate. Once Full Access is on, the keyboard can finally do what you installed it for.
Fix 3: Grant Microphone Permission to the Keyboard's App
A keyboard cannot record your voice without microphone permission, and this permission usually lives with the keyboard's companion app, not the keyboard extension itself. There are two places to check:
- The first time you tap the keyboard's mic button, iOS should prompt you to allow microphone access. Tap Allow. If you tapped "Don't Allow" by reflex, you have to fix it manually.
- Open Settings > Privacy & Security > Microphone and make sure the toggle for your keyboard's app is on. You can also find it under Settings, scroll to the app by name, and check its Microphone switch there.
If the mic button produces silence and you never saw a permission prompt, this is almost always the cause. A denied microphone permission fails quietly, which makes it one of the most confusing reasons voice typing appears broken.
Fix 4: Restart the Keyboard (and the Phone)
Custom keyboard extensions occasionally get into a stuck state, especially right after you change a permission. Two quick resets clear most of it:
- Re-add the keyboard. In Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards, tap Edit, remove the keyboard, then add it back. This forces iOS to reload the extension cleanly.
- Restart the iPhone. A full restart reloads every keyboard extension from scratch and resolves a surprising number of "it just stopped working" cases.
Do this after granting Full Access and microphone permission, not before. The reset is what makes the new permissions take effect everywhere.
Fix 5: Check Whether the App Is Blocking Custom Keyboards
iOS deliberately blocks third-party keyboards in certain places for security. In secure text fields, most notably password fields, iOS reverts to Apple's keyboard automatically, and your custom keyboard, along with its mic, will not appear. This is expected behavior and not a bug. If voice typing works everywhere except one field, check whether that field is a password or other secure input. Some banking and enterprise apps also restrict custom keyboards across the whole app. In those cases there is no fix from your side; the app has opted out.
Fix 6: Update iOS and the Keyboard App
Keyboard extensions interact closely with the operating system, so version mismatches can cause flaky behavior. Make sure both are current:
- iOS: Settings > General > Software Update.
- The keyboard app: open the App Store, tap your profile, and update any pending apps.
If voice typing broke right after an iOS update, an app update that restores compatibility is often already waiting.
Fix 7: Rule Out Low Power Mode and Restrictions
Low Power Mode throttles background activity and can interfere with the network calls a voice keyboard relies on. If dictation is sluggish or failing, toggle Low Power Mode off under Settings > Battery and try again. Also check Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions: if microphone access or app changes are restricted there, your keyboard's voice typing can be silently blocked.
The Clean Solution: A Keyboard Built Around Its Own Mic
Working through that checklist will get most third-party keyboards dictating again. But the deeper lesson is worth stating plainly: voice typing on a custom keyboard only works well when the keyboard was designed from the ground up to do it, with its own microphone, its own transcription, and a setup flow that asks for the right permissions up front instead of failing silently.
That is exactly what we built Voice Keyboard Pro to be. It is a third-party keyboard for iPhone with a microphone button built right into the keys, so you can dictate in any app, from Messages and Mail to Slack, Notion, and your browser. The mic is not borrowed from Apple's system dictation; it is part of the keyboard itself, which is why it works consistently wherever third-party keyboards are allowed.
Because dictation is the whole point of the product rather than an afterthought, the setup walks you straight through adding the keyboard, enabling Full Access, and granting microphone permission, so you do not end up in the silent-failure trap this article exists to solve. Once it is running, you get more than a mic button: Voice Edit lets you fix a mistake by speaking the change instead of retyping, two-way translation covers 24 languages as you dictate, and swipe typing is there for the moments you would rather not talk. There is a free tier with daily limits so you can confirm it works on your phone before paying, and Pro is $4.99 per month or $34.99 per year.
If you want to see how a custom voice keyboard compares to the alternatives, our roundup of the best dictation apps for iPhone in 2026 lays out the field, our guide to using a dictation app on iPhone covers day-to-day workflow, and if you mostly dictate email, dictating Gmail on iPhone shows the keyboard in a real app.
Quick Diagnostic: Find Your Exact Problem
Run through these in order and you will land on the cause:
- No mic button at all on your custom keyboard? Either you are still on Apple's keyboard (switch with the globe key), or your keyboard does not include its own mic and never will. Use one that does.
- Mic button present but tapping it does nothing? Grant Allow Full Access, then Microphone permission, then restart.
- Worked yesterday, not today? Update iOS and the app, turn off Low Power Mode, and re-add the keyboard.
- Fails only in one app or field? It is a password or secure field, or that app blocks custom keyboards. Expected, not fixable from your side.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is there no dictation mic on my third-party keyboard?
Because Apple's dictation mic is part of Apple's keyboard and is not shared with other keyboards. A third-party keyboard needs its own built-in microphone to offer voice typing. If your keyboard does not have one, no setting will add it.
Is "Allow Full Access" safe to turn on?
Full Access is a real permission, so grant it only to a keyboard you trust. A reputable voice keyboard uses it solely to transcribe your speech. Voice Keyboard Pro stores only basic operational pings on its servers, never your audio or transcribed text.
I granted everything and it still does not work. What now?
Restart the iPhone after granting permissions, then re-add the keyboard. If it still fails, confirm you are not in a password field and that Low Power Mode is off. As a last resort, update iOS and the keyboard app.
Can I voice type in any app with a third-party keyboard?
In any app that allows custom keyboards, yes. The exceptions are password and other secure fields, and a small number of apps that block third-party keyboards entirely for security reasons.
The mic you are looking for is not missing from iOS. It is missing from the keyboard you switched away from. Use a keyboard that brings its own.
Voice typing on a third-party iPhone keyboard is not fragile by nature. It fails for a small, predictable set of reasons: a missing mic, missing Full Access, a denied microphone permission, or a secure field where custom keyboards are simply not allowed. Work through the list above and your existing keyboard will likely spring back to life. And if it never had a real mic to begin with, that is the clearest sign to switch to one that was built around voice from the start.