Published October 8, 2026 · By Sumbat.T

The 7 Best Speech to Text Apps for Android in 2026

Works in every Android app

Talk in any app. Get clean, punctuated text.

A floating mic for WhatsApp, Gmail, Google Docs and every other app on your phone. Keeps your keyboard. Free during the beta.

Get it on Google Play

9:41

MMayaonline

Today

Are you still coming tonight?18:02

MessageHey, I'm running ten minutes late. Can you grab us a table?

qwertyuiop

asdfghjkl

Uh hey so um I'm running ten minutes late, uh can you grab us a table

Get it on Google Play

Talking is the fastest way to get words into a phone. In a Stanford study published in 2017, people entered English text by speech at 153 words per minute against 52 on a phone keyboard, nearly three times faster, and made fewer mistakes along the way. Android runs on 69% of the world's phones (StatCounter, September 2026), and every one of them already has a mic on the keyboard.

So the real question is what you get beyond that free mic. We compared seven apps on the things that decide whether you keep using one: whether it types into other apps or only into its own notepad, whether it fixes punctuation and filler words for you, whether you have to give up your keyboard, and what it actually costs. Prices were read from each vendor's own pricing page on October 8, 2026.

App	How it works	Types into other apps	Free plan	Paid price
Blabby	Floating mic over your keyboard	Yes, any app	Free while in beta, no card	None during the beta
Gboard voice typing	Mic key on the Gboard keyboard	Yes, while Gboard is your keyboard	Fully free	None
Samsung voice input	Mic key on Samsung Keyboard	Yes, while Samsung Keyboard is active	Fully free	None
Wispr Flow	Floating bubble (Android 13+)	Yes, any app	1,000 words a week on mobile	$15/mo, or $12/mo billed yearly
Aqua Voice	Floating button (Android 10+)	Yes, any app	1,000 words	$10/mo, or $8/mo billed yearly
Typeless	AI voice keyboard	Yes, while it is your keyboard	Limited words each week	$30/mo, or $12/mo billed yearly
Otter.ai	Recorder and meeting notes	No, text stays in Otter	300 minutes a month	$16.99/mo, or $8.33/mo billed yearly

Keyboard mic or floating mic: the difference that matters most

Android gives a dictation app two ways to put text into WhatsApp, Gmail or anything else, and which one an app uses shapes your whole experience.

Keyboard apps replace your keyboard. Gboard, Samsung voice input and Typeless work this way: the mic is a key, so you can only dictate while that keyboard is active. If you love your current keyboard's swipe typing, layout or autocorrect, switching to dictate means giving those up or flipping keyboards back and forth.

Floating apps sit on top of whatever keyboard you use. Blabby, Wispr Flow and Aqua Voice show a small button next to the focused text field and type into it through Android's accessibility service. Your keyboard stays exactly as it is, and the mic shows up in every app. The trade-off is a one-time Accessibility permission during setup, because that is the only way Android lets one app type into another.

1. Blabby: best for writing in every app

Best for: anyone who writes real sentences on their phone, from long WhatsApp replies to work email, and wants finished text instead of a raw transcript.

Blabby adds a floating mic that appears whenever a text field is focused, in any app, even with the keyboard hidden. Tap it to start and tap stop when you are done, or hold it like a voice note and let go to send. Slide toward the trash while holding to cancel. Your speech is transcribed by OpenAI's Whisper large v3 turbo model, punctuated, and typed straight into the field you were in, while Gboard, Samsung Keyboard or SwiftKey stays as your keyboard.

What separates it from the keyboard mics is modes. A mode is a short instruction Blabby applies to what you said before it lands. Open the side bar, tap Email, and say:

It ships with Cleanup, Email and Translate modes, and you can write your own: bullet points, a friendlier tone, or a rule that turns “new paragraph” into an actual line break. Custom spellings teach it names and jargon, snippets swap a phrase like “my address” for saved text, and it handles 90+ languages with auto-detect.

• Pros: works in every app; keeps your keyboard; automatic punctuation; your own AI modes; custom spellings and snippets; 90+ languages; text already in a field never leaves your phone
• Requires: Android 10 or later and a Google sign-in
• Price: free while the Android app is in beta, no card needed

Setting it up takes two minutes: install it from Google Play, turn it on in Accessibility settings (the app opens the right screen and floats a short video over it), then tap any text field. More on Blabby's voice to text app for Android.

2. Gboard voice typing: best free built-in

Best for: short texts and searches, with nothing to install.

Gboard is the default keyboard on most Android phones, and its mic key types into any app. On most phones you add punctuation by saying it (“comma”, “period”, “new line”). Pixel 6 and later phones get advanced voice typing with more automatic punctuation and voice editing, and the newer editing commands are gated further: “Fix it” and detailed edits need a Pixel 8 in US English, and rewrite commands like “Formalize” need a Pixel 9.

In 2026 Google added Rambler, which removes filler words and handles self-corrections. It launched with the Pixel 11, text appears only after you tap a checkmark rather than as you speak, and Google notes that usage limits may apply. If your phone is not a recent Pixel, you get the basic mic. If voice typing stops responding, our guide to voice typing not working covers the usual fixes.

• Pros: free; already installed; types into any app
• Cons: only works while Gboard is your keyboard; the best features are limited to recent Pixels; no custom instructions
• Price: free

Best for: Galaxy owners who use Samsung Keyboard and want dictation without extra apps.

Samsung's mic lives in Samsung Keyboard, and per Samsung's own support page it is only available while that keyboard is in use. You can switch it to Google voice typing in the keyboard settings, and you can download language packs so it keeps working without a connection. Galaxy AI's Writing assist can proofread and change the tone of a message, but it is a separate step after you dictate rather than part of the dictation itself.

• Pros: free; built into Galaxy phones; offline language packs
• Cons: tied to Samsung Keyboard; cleanup is a separate manual step
• Price: free

Keep Gboard or Samsung Keyboard

Add AI modes on top of the keyboard you have

Blabby floats over any keyboard. Say a rough message, get a clean email or a translation, in the same tap.

Get it on Google Play

4. Wispr Flow: well-known AI dictation, at a higher price

Best for: people already paying for Wispr Flow on a Mac or iPhone.

Wispr Flow came to Android in February 2026. Like Blabby, it uses a floating bubble rather than a keyboard and types into any app through accessibility. It removes filler words, handles backtracking (“5, actually 6pm” becomes “6pm”), and lets you pick a style per app. It needs Android 13 or later, hides the bubble in password and number fields, and turns itself off in banking apps.

The catch is cost. Wispr Flow Pro is $15 a month, or $12 billed yearly, and the free tier allows 1,000 words a week on mobile, half of what you get on desktop. Blabby covers the same floating, any-app dictation and is free while its Android app is in beta. Our Wispr Flow pricing breakdown has the details.

• Pros: floating bubble keeps your keyboard; filler removal; per-app styles
• Cons: Android 13+ only; $15/month; 1,000 free words a week on mobile
• Price: $15/month, or $12/month billed yearly

5. Aqua Voice: floating button with tiered plans

Best for: people who want voice editing and style rules, and do not mind a word-capped plan structure.

Aqua Voice is also a floating button, not a keyboard, on Android 10 and later. It removes ums, fixes grammar, supports voice edits, and has a custom dictionary and style rules. Pricing starts with 1,000 free words, then Pro at $10 a month ($8 yearly) and Max at $30 ($24 yearly), with one subscription covering every platform. Our Aqua Voice review goes deeper.

• Pros: floating button; voice editing; style rules
• Cons: small free allowance; top features on the $30 plan
• Price: $10/month ($8 yearly), Max $30/month ($24 yearly)

6. Typeless: AI voice keyboard

Best for: people happy to make a dictation app their main keyboard.

Typeless launched on Android in January 2026 as an AI voice keyboard. It removes filler words, handles self-corrections, formats lists and translates, across 100+ languages. Because it is a keyboard, you dictate while Typeless is your active keyboard rather than alongside your usual one. Pro is $30 a month, or $12 a month billed yearly, with a limited weekly free allowance. See our Typeless alternatives for how it compares.

• Pros: strong AI cleanup; translation; 100+ languages
• Cons: replaces your keyboard; $30/month unless you pay a year upfront
• Price: $30/month, or $12/month billed yearly

7. Otter.ai: for meetings, not for typing

Best for: recording and transcribing meetings, lectures and interviews.

Otter shows up on every “speech to text” list, but it is a different kind of app. It records a conversation and builds searchable notes inside Otter, with speaker labels and summaries; it does not type into WhatsApp or Gmail. The free plan covers 300 minutes a month at 30 minutes per conversation, and Pro is $16.99 a month or $8.33 billed yearly. Many people use both kinds of app: Otter to record the meeting, and Blabby to write the follow-up email.

• Pros: speaker labels; summaries; meeting integrations
• Cons: does not type into other apps; per-minute caps
• Price: free 300 min/month, Pro $16.99/month ($8.33 yearly)

Also considered

• Voicy has an Android app and lists Pro at $8.49 a month after a 30-minute free trial. Its site does not say whether it works as a keyboard or a floating button.
• Superwhisper now has an Android app with a floating bubble for phones (not tablets), covered by its Pro license.
• Speechnotes is a dictation notepad: you dictate inside the app and copy the text out. It does not type into other apps. See our Speechnotes alternatives.
• Dragon Anywhere is gone. Nuance's own store notes say it stopped selling on July 1, 2026, and renewals are no longer possible.
• Not on Android: Willow Voice (Mac, Windows and iPhone), Monologue and VoiceInk (Apple only).

Which one should you install?

1. You send short texts and want free: use the mic that is already on your keyboard, Gboard or Samsung voice input.
2. You write long messages, emails or notes: install Blabby. Punctuation, cleanup and your own modes save you from fixing the text afterwards, and your keyboard stays as it is.
3. You speak one language and write in another: Blabby's Translate mode turns what you say into English in the same tap.
4. You record meetings or lectures: that is a recorder's job, which is what Otter.ai does. Pair it with Blabby for everything you type afterwards.

Blabby on your computer too

The same dictation works at your desk. The Windows app types into any program with Ctrl+Space and keeps a local history of every recording, and the Chrome extension adds a mic to every text field in Chrome on Mac, Windows and Chromebook. For a wider comparison across platforms, see our best dictation apps guide.

Android speech to text questions