# Enhanced Dictation Canonical page: https://flit.fyi/glossary/enhanced-dictation [Glossary](https://flit.fyi/glossary) / [On your Mac](https://flit.fyi/glossary#mac) Also: Use Enhanced Dictation, offline dictation Published October 4, 2026 Definition Enhanced Dictation was a checkbox in the Dictation pane of Keyboard preferences on older versions of macOS that downloaded speech recognition software to the Mac so you could dictate offline. Apple’s Mac User Guide describes it for macOS High Sierra 10.13 and macOS Mojave 10.14, and it is absent from the guide for macOS Catalina 10.15 and every version since. If you remember ticking a box called Use Enhanced Dictation and cannot find it now, you are not missing a hidden setting. Current macOS has no option by that name. The job it did, turning speech into text without sending it to a server, is now part of ordinary Dictation on a Mac with Apple silicon, and part of Voice Control on any Mac that supports it. Apple’s current documentation does not announce a removal or give a date for one. What can be checked is which editions of the Mac User Guide mention the feature and which do not. ## What did Enhanced Dictation do? In the macOS Mojave guide, Apple says that turning on Enhanced Dictation makes it possible to dictate text even when you are offline, and to use a dictation keyword phrase to start dictating. Selecting the checkbox started a download of the software it needed. If you added more languages while it was on, those languages were downloaded too. With the checkbox off, the Mac used what Apple called server-based dictation. Your words were sent to Apple servers, and the final converted text appeared only after you ended dictation. - Dictation worked without an internet connection. - You could edit with the keyboard, mouse, trackpad or spoken commands while dictating. Without it, starting to edit stopped the dictation session. - You could start dictating by saying a keyword phrase. - You could speak commands to control the Mac, such as selecting text, scrolling a document or pressing Return, and you could turn on a set of advanced commands or create your own. ## Where is Enhanced Dictation in current macOS? It is not there. In macOS High Sierra and macOS Mojave the checkbox sat in System Preferences, under Keyboard, in the Dictation pane. The macOS Catalina 10.15 edition of the same help page no longer mentions Enhanced Dictation at all. It describes keyboard dictation as a feature where your words are sent to Apple servers and converted into text in real time, and it points people who want to dictate and control the Mac by voice to Voice Control. Current macOS uses System Settings instead of System Preferences, and Dictation is at System Settings, Keyboard, Dictation. You will find the Dictation switch, the languages, the shortcut and an Auto-punctuation switch there. There is no Enhanced Dictation option, and Apple’s current help page for Dictation does not use the phrase. ## What replaced Enhanced Dictation? Two things replaced it. The first is Dictation itself on a Mac with Apple silicon. The macOS Monterey 12 guide says that on these Macs general text dictation requests are processed on the device in many languages and no internet connection is required. It also says you can dictate text of any length without a timeout, and that dictation stops automatically when no speech is detected for 30 seconds. The second is Voice Control, which took over the spoken commands. Apple’s guide says Voice Control needs a one-time download the first time you turn it on, and after that it does not need an internet connection. When Voice Control is on, you use it to dictate text, and standard macOS Dictation is not available. If you want offline speech recognition outside of Apple’s features, open models such as Whisper and Parakeet also run entirely on the Mac. ## How to check whether Dictation works offline on your Mac Apple does not publish one list that says which Mac and language pairs are processed on the device. Instead, the Mac tells you in Keyboard settings. Apple’s current help page says to look at the text below the Dictation switch, and that Dictation must be turned on for the text to appear. 1. Choose Apple menu, then System Settings. 2. Click Keyboard in the sidebar. You may need to scroll down. 3. Go to Dictation and turn it on if it is off, then click Enable. 4. Read the text below Dictation. It says whether your voice inputs and transcripts for general text dictation are processed on your device and not sent to Siri servers. 5. Click About Ask Siri, Dictation & Privacy at the bottom of Keyboard settings if you want Apple’s full explanation. ## How to dictate without internet using Voice Control Voice Control is the closest thing in current macOS to the old Enhanced Dictation with dictation commands. It is an accessibility feature for entering text and controlling the Mac by speaking commands, instead of using a keyboard, mouse or trackpad. 1. Choose Apple menu, then System Settings. 2. Click Accessibility in the sidebar, then click Voice Control. 3. Turn on Voice Control. The first time, your Mac completes a one-time download. 4. When the download finishes, click in a text field and speak to dictate. No internet connection is needed from this point. 5. Turn Voice Control off again when you want to go back to standard Dictation, because the two cannot be used at the same time. ## Enhanced Dictation vs Dictation today The name is gone, but most of what it offered is now the default on a Mac with Apple silicon. The main differences are where the setting lives and which Macs get on-device processing. - Where it is: Enhanced Dictation was in System Preferences, Keyboard, Dictation. Dictation is now in System Settings, Keyboard, Dictation. - What you switch on: Enhanced Dictation was a separate checkbox with its own download. Today there is only the Dictation switch, and the text under it tells you where processing happens. - Typing while you talk: on a Mac with Apple silicon you can keep using the keyboard while you speak without stopping dictation. - Spoken commands: selecting text, scrolling and clicking by voice now belong to Voice Control, not Dictation. - Punctuation: in supported languages Dictation now inserts commas, periods and question marks for you, with an Auto-punctuation switch under Keyboard, Dictation. In Flit Flit runs its voice models on the Mac and works with no connection, which is the job Enhanced Dictation was for. [Every connection Flit makes](https://flit.fyi/privacy) ## Questions people ask. ### Where is Enhanced Dictation on my Mac? Current macOS has no setting called Enhanced Dictation. Apple’s Mac User Guide documents it for macOS High Sierra 10.13 and macOS Mojave 10.14, where it was a checkbox in System Preferences, Keyboard, Dictation. ### When was Enhanced Dictation removed from macOS? Apple’s help pages do not give a removal date. The Mac User Guide for macOS Mojave 10.14 describes Enhanced Dictation, and the guide for macOS Catalina 10.15 does not mention it. ### Can I still dictate offline on a Mac? Yes, on many Macs. Apple says that on a Mac with Apple silicon, dictation requests are processed on the device in many languages with no internet connection required. Voice Control also works offline after its one-time download. ### How do I know if Mac Dictation is sending my voice to Apple? Open System Settings, click Keyboard, and read the text under the Dictation switch. It states whether your voice inputs and transcripts are processed on your device and not sent to Siri servers. ### Did Enhanced Dictation send audio to Apple? Apple described Enhanced Dictation as working offline, using software downloaded to the Mac. With the checkbox off, the Mac used server-based dictation and your words were sent to Apple servers. ### What happened to dictation commands on Mac? The spoken commands that came with Enhanced Dictation are now part of Voice Control, at System Settings, Accessibility, Voice Control. When Voice Control is on, standard Dictation is not available. ## Related terms - [Dictation](https://flit.fyi/glossary/dictation) - [On-device processing](https://flit.fyi/glossary/on-device-processing) - [Spoken punctuation](https://flit.fyi/glossary/spoken-punctuation) - [Whisper](https://flit.fyi/glossary/whisper) ## Your voice was always faster. 7 days free, then $19 USD once. No account, no subscription, nothing uploaded. 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