Voice Control

The first time you turn on Voice Control, your Mac must be connected to the internet so it can complete a one-time file download from Apple. After the download is complete, you do not need an internet connection to use it.

You can also ask Siri to "Turn on Voice Control".

1. 01 Choose Apple menu → System Settings.
2. 02 Click Accessibility in the sidebar, then click Voice Control. You may need to scroll down.
3. 03 Turn Voice Control on.
4. 04 Wait for the Voice Control icon in the menu bar to change, which shows that the download is complete and Voice Control is listening.
5. 05 Say a command, for example "Open Mail" or "Scroll down".
6. 06 Click Open Tutorial in Voice Control settings if you want to practice the essential commands.

There are two levels of off. Pausing keeps the feature on but stops it from acting on what you say. Turning it off in settings ends it and makes standard Dictation available again.

Pause when you take a call or talk to someone in the room. Turn it off if you only wanted to try it, or if you want the regular Dictation shortcut back.

1. 01 To pause, say "Stop listening". Say "Start listening" to resume.
2. 02 To turn it off, choose Apple menu → System Settings.
3. 03 Click Accessibility in the sidebar, then click Voice Control.
4. 04 Turn Voice Control off.

Dictation is for entering text. You start it with a key or shortcut, speak, and it stops when you end it or when no speech is detected for 30 seconds. It is set up under System Settings → Keyboard → Dictation. Voice Control is for running the whole Mac by voice, and it keeps listening until you pause it or turn it off.

The two do not run side by side. While Voice Control is on, it handles dictation itself, in one of several modes that you switch between by saying the mode name.

• Dictation mode: any words that are not Voice Control commands are entered as text. This mode is on by default.
• Spelling mode: you dictate character by character, which helps with passwords and web addresses. It is not available in all Voice Control languages.
• Command mode: Voice Control responds only to commands, and other words are ignored.
• Swift mode: Voice Control writes Swift code and handles the formatting.

The names are close and the jobs are opposite. Voice Control takes your voice as input so that you can control the Mac without your hands. VoiceOver is the screen reader built into macOS, which speaks what is on the screen so that you can use the Mac without seeing it.

VoiceOver is turned on and off with Command-F5, or under System Settings → Accessibility → VoiceOver. The two features work together: with both on, you can say commands such as "VoiceOver read all". Apple suggests headphones in that case, so that Voice Control hears only you.

Apple’s instructions say that after the one-time download, you do not need an internet connection to use Voice Control. That is the clearest statement Apple makes about where it runs.

A separate choice covers whether Apple may keep samples of your audio. Under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Analytics & Improvements, the Improve Siri & Dictation switch controls whether Apple can store and review a sample of your Siri and Dictation audio. Apple says that data helps improve Siri, Dictation, and other language features such as Voice Control. Leave it off if you do not want to share recordings.

If Voice Control keeps getting a name or a technical term wrong, add it to the custom vocabulary. Apple says you can add up to 1000 terms, in languages that support a custom vocabulary. If the Vocabulary option is dimmed, the selected language does not support it.

1. 01 Choose Apple menu → System Settings, click Accessibility, then click Voice Control.
2. 02 Click Vocabulary.
3. 03 Click the add button, type the word or phrase as you want it entered, then click Next.
4. 04 Record yourself saying the phrase and click Save, or click Save Without Recording. Recording requires Dictation to be turned on.
5. 05 Repeat for other terms, then click Done.
6. 06 While you work, you can also select a word and say "Add to vocabulary".