Bonnier Corporation Privacy Policy This policy was last updated on May 16, 2018. At Bonnier Corporation, your privacy is important to us. This Privacy Policy applies to all of the products, services, and websites offered by Bonnier Corporation and its subsidiaries or affiliated companies (collectively, 'Bonnier'). To better protect your privacy, we provide this notice explaining our privacy practices and the choices you can make about the way your information is collected and used by Bonnier. Bonnier acts as a “data controller” for the purposes of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation. Bonnier has appointed a Data Protection Officer for you to contact if you have any questions or concerns about Bonnier’s personal data policies or practices. The Data Protection Officer’s contact information is as follows: Jeremy Thompson, General Counsel Bonnier Corporation 460 N.

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Orlando Ave., Ste. 200 Winter Park, FL 32789 dpo@bonniercorp.com If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, or to check your information to verify, update or correct it, please write to us via e-mail at privacy@bonniercorp.com, or via postal mail at: Privacy Department Bonnier Corporation 460 N. Orlando Avenue, Suite 200 Winter Park, FL 32789 You may also ask for a summary of the information that we have retained, how we have used it, and to whom it has been disclosed.

For your protection, we may require that you authenticate your identity before we provide you with any information. Note: For questions related to your magazine subscription, please visit the respective magazine’s customer service website.

An overview of the information that Bonnier may collect You are able to take advantage of many Bonnier products, services, and websites without providing any information that personally identifies you by name, address, or other personally-identifying information. We only collect personally-identifying information when you voluntarily submit it to us. Sometimes, we need personally-identifying information in order to provide you with the products and services that you request. Depending upon the product or service, we may ask you for a variety of personally-identifying information.

This might include, for example, your name, address, e-mail address, telephone number, gender, and birth date. We may also ask for other information about you, such as your credit card information (when you are making a purchase), interests, income, or education level. We consider certain identifying information 'sensitive.' This includes your credit card number, income level, or any other information that would normally be considered confidential. Some types of personal information will NEVER be requested or collected, such as information on your race or ethnic origin, political opinions, trade union memberships, religious beliefs, health, sex life, or sexual orientation. You may choose not to provide us with any personally-identifying information. In that case, you can still access and use many portions of our websites; however, you will not be able to access and use those portions of any Bonnier website that require your personal information.

Many Bonnier websites include community features, such as online forums and message boards. Information that is posted in these areas becomes public information and the use that any third party makes of this information is beyond our ability to control. You should exercise caution before disclosing any personally-identifying information in these public venues. If you elect to submit content that includes information that can be used to identify you, you must assume that the content can and will be displayed on any website on the Internet.

At some Bonnier sites and through certain promotions, you can submit personally-identifying information about other people. For example, you might submit a person's name and e-mail address to send an electronic greeting card; or, if you order a gift online or offline and want it sent directly to the recipient, you might submit the recipient's name and address.

Some Bonnier websites also provide referral services to help you inform a friend about our websites, products, or services. The types of personally-identifying information that we collect about other people at pages like these may include the person's name, address, e-mail address, or telephone number.

We will only ask you for the information about your friend that we need in order to do what you request. Our properties may feature Nielsen proprietary measurement software, which will allow you to contribute to market research, such as Nielsen TV Ratings.

To learn more about the information that Nielsen software may collect and your choices with regard to it, please see the Nielsen Digital Measurement Privacy Policy at. We allow third-party companies to serve ads and/or collect certain information when you visit our web site and directly in emails/communications. These companies may use information you have shared (e.g., click stream information, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over, e-mail address) during your visits to this and other Web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of greater interest to you. Our partners use this information to recognize you across different channels and platforms over time for advertising, analytics, attribution, and reporting purposes; any information collected is stored in hashed or non-human-readable form.

These companies typically use a cookie or third-party web beacon to collect this information. To learn more about this behavioral advertising practice or to opt-out of this type of advertising, you can visit. Bonnier websites sometimes may offer contests, sweepstakes, or promotions that are sponsored by or co-sponsored with identified third parties.

By virtue of their sponsorship, these third parties may obtain personally-identifying information that visitors voluntarily submit to them in order to participate in the contest, sweepstakes, or promotion. Bonnier has no control over the third-party sponsors' use of this information. If a third-party sponsor beyond our control will obtain information that you supply us, we will notify you at the time we collect the information from you. For certain promotions, only those who provide us with the requested personally-identifying information will be able to order products, programs, and services, or otherwise participate in the promotion's activities and offerings.

Some of our websites contain links to other sites. By clicking on these links, you will leave the website operated by Bonnier and this Privacy Policy will no longer apply. These other sites' information practices may be different than ours. You should consult the other sites' privacy notices, as we have no control over information that is submitted to, or collected by, these third parties. How we use the information we collect We use the personally-identifying information that you provide us to fulfill your requests for our products, programs, and services, to respond to your inquiries about offerings, and to offer you other products, programs, or services that we believe may be of interest to you.

We sometimes use this information to communicate with you, such as to notify you when you have won one of our contests, when we make changes to subscriber agreements, to fulfill a request by you for an online newsletter, or to contact you about your account with us. We do not use your personal information to make automated decisions.

We may syndicate the publicly available content of our community areas to unaffiliated third-party websites, using RSS or other technologies. The information you have shared in the community areas may be included in this syndication.

We will use the personally-identifying information that you provide about others in order to provide the products or services that you have requested; for example, to enable us to send them your gifts or cards. If you provide us someone else's personally-identifying information for referral purposes, we may use that information to invite them to visit our websites or to provide them information about our products or services. If you provide us with your e-mail and/or postal address, we may include that address in e-mail and/or postal address lists that we sell, trade, or rent to third parties. These lists will never contain sensitive information. If you do not wish for your e-mail or postal address to be shared with companies not owned by Bonnier who want to market products or services to you, you have the opportunity to opt out, as described below.

You may also opt out of the receipt of any marketing materials from Bonnier as described below. We may transfer your sensitive personally-identifying information to other Bonnier offices for internal management and administrative purposes. In addition, your personal data will be transferred to other Bonnier offices where necessary for the performance or conclusion of our contractual obligations to you or for your benefit. Transfers of personally-identifying information may also be made where necessary for the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims.

We do not transfer personal information internationally. Bonnier will only share your sensitive personal information with outside companies or individuals in any of the following limited circumstances:. When we use trusted businesses or persons to process personal information on our behalf. Before sharing any personal information with outside parties, we require that these parties agree to process such information based on our instructions and in compliance with this Privacy Policy and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures. When we have a good faith belief that access, use, preservation, or disclosure is necessary to (a) comply with applicable law, regulation, or legal process; (b) enforce the applicable Terms of Service or other agreements and policies on the Company's Websites; (c) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security, or technical issues; or (d) protect against imminent harm to the rights, property, or safety or Bonnier, its users, or the public as required or permitted by law. When you consent.

Before we share your sensitive personal information outside of the previously listed circumstances, we will ask you for permission first. Please note that this only applies to sensitive information, as defined above. We may also use, transfer, sell, and share aggregated, anonymous data about our users for any legal purpose, such as analyzing usage trends and seeking compatible advertisers and partners. In no event will this aggregated data contain any information that could be used to identify individual users of our products or services.

How we protect the safety and integrity of the information we collect We take appropriate physical, electronic, and procedural measures to safeguard and protect your personal information. We use a variety of security measures, including encryption and authentication, to maintain the confidentiality of your personal information. We store your personal information on systems behind firewalls that are only accessible to a limited number of persons, each of whom is required to keep the information confidential.

We also take appropriate measures to secure the transmission of sensitive personal information from your computer to the Company's computers. When you transmit sensitive personal information to us, like credit card information, we offer the use of a secure connection to our servers.

To the extent you select the secure connection method or your browser supports such functionality, all credit card account information that you supply is transmitted via secure encryption technology. Regardless of these measures, no system connected to the Internet or data transmission sent over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. We will provide notice if we become aware of any security breach that may affect any sensitive personal information pertaining to you that we have stored on our systems. Bonnier employees, agents, and contractors who have access to personally-identifying information are required to protect this information in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Policy and may not use the information for any purpose other than to carry out the services they are performing for Bonnier. These individuals are bound by confidentiality obligations and may be subject to discipline, including termination and criminal prosecution, if they fail to meet these obligations. Bonnier only collects personal information that is relevant to the purposes for which it will be used.

Though we do take appropriate steps to review and update the information that we store to ensure that it is accurate, complete, and current, we also depend on you to update or correct your personal information when necessary. You may correct or delete any or all of the personal information you have provided to us at any time. Many of our websites provide means to review and update the personal information that you have provided on that website. To inquire about personally identifiable information that Bonnier has collected about you, or about other ways to correct factual errors in that information, please send us an e-mail at privacy@bonniercorp.com. (Note: Do not use this email address to send questions about your subscription. Instead, please visit the respective magazine’s customer service website.) To protect your privacy and security, we will take reasonable steps to help verify your identity before granting access or making corrections.

We will decline to process requests where we cannot verify the identity of the requester. We may also decline to process requests that are automated, repetitive, systematic, or impractical, or that might jeopardize the privacy of others. In some limited circumstances, such as to resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems, and enforce our policies, we may retain some of information that you have requested us to remove. Therefore, you should not expect that all of your personal information will be completely removed from our databases in response to your requests.

We only use the information we collect for purposes consistent with this policy. If we propose to use your personal information for purposes beyond that explained in this policy, we will provide appropriate notice before doing so and we will provide you with the means to opt out of those uses. We will not use your sensitive personal information for any purposes other than those described in this Policy unless we have obtained your consent.

Your privacy options If you prefer not to receive e-mail communications from other companies, you may choose to remove yourself from any e-mail lists that we provide to third parties for marketing purposes by sending us an e-mail at. You will still receive information from Bonnier and its various brands, but we will not share your address information with anyone else. If you prefer not to receive postal communication from other companies, you may choose to remove yourself from any postal mailing lists that we provide to third parties for marketing purposes by sending us an e-mail at, or writing us at P.O. Box 6364, Harlan, IA. You will still receive information from Bonnier and its various brands, but we will not share your address information with anyone else.

We only want to communicate with you if you want to hear from us. If you prefer not to be contacted at all, you may opt out of receiving any communications from us at any time by notifying us at. You may also notify us by sending mail to the following address: Online Marketing Department Attn: Privacy Preferences Bonnier Corporation 460 North Orlando Avenue, Suite 200 Winter Park, FL 32789 In all requests, please tell us what communications you would like to opt out of, what means we have been using to contact you (such as your e-mail or postal address), the date of your request, and a way to reach you in case we need to personally contact you in an effort to comply with your request.

We reserve the right to send you certain communications, such as technical alerts, without offering you the opportunity to opt out of receiving them. Enforcement and Compliance with this Privacy Policy We take our Privacy Policy seriously and we regularly review our own compliance with this Policy.

If you have any questions or concerns about this Policy, or if you think that we have used your personal information in a manner inconsistent with this Policy, please contact us at: Privacy Department Bonnier Corporation 460 North Orlando Ave., Suite 200 Winter Park, FL 32789 If we receive a complaint from you, we will contact you in an attempt to address your concerns. If we are not able to resolve a complaint, we will participate in appropriate independent recourse mechanisms as necessary. Bonnier Corp. Website Data Disclosure This policy was last updated on May 25, 2018 Bonnier Corp. And its brands use cookies to identify your individual device so that we and our third-party partners can efficiently target you with content and advertisements that will be relevant to you, based on the pages you visit on our site(s) and other websites across the internet. Bonnier may collect information such as the type of browser you use, your operating system, your IP address, the type of device you are using to access the site, and the domain name of your Internet Service Provider. This information, by itself, does not permit individual identification, meaning that you will remain anonymous.

However, if you elect to provide us with personally-identifying information during your visit, that information may be linked to your IP address, or to your email address where we may have that on file through other Bonnier Corp. Products or services. When you visit our websites, we and our third-party partners send cookies — small, removable data files – to your computer. We use cookies to uniquely identify your browser, which allows us to enhance and personalize your online experience at Bonnier websites.

For example, cookies allow us to recognize you when you return to a website and present relevant content to you when you visit. Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies, but you can configure your browser to warn you when cookies are sent, or to refuse all cookies. Some of the features and services of Bonnier websites may not operate properly if your cookies are disabled. Cookies, by themselves, do not provide us with any personally-identifying information. On our websites, we may also use tiny graphic images called pixel tags, web beacons, or clear gifs.

These tiny images help us to analyze our users' online behavior and collect other data, such as page views or advertising responses. Pixel tags also allow us to send you email in a format that you can read, and let us know when you have opened an email message from us. Pixel tags may also be used to deliver cookies. Some of our websites also use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit.

These companies may use non-personally-identifying information about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. We work with reputable third parties that provide data tracking and collection technologies in order to:. Present or serve the advertisements you may see at Bonnier websites;. Deliver and track email communications;. Process purchase orders through e-commerce transactions;. Fulfill print and digital subscription orders; and. Provide marketing leads to third-party organizations (where you have agreed to allow us to do so).

These companies may collect information about you on our behalf. We require that these parties agree to process any such information based on our instructions and in compliance with this Privacy Policy and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures. We allow third-party companies to serve ads and/or collect certain information when you visit our website.

These companies may use information you have shared (e.g., click stream information, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over, email address) during your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of greater interest to you. Our partners use this information to recognize you across different channels and platforms over time for advertising, analytics, attribution, and reporting purposes; any information collected is stored in hashed or non-human-readable form. These companies typically use a cookie or third-party web beacon to collect this information.

To learn more about this behavioral advertising practice or to opt-out of this type of advertising, you can visit. You may correct or delete any or all of the personal information you have provided to us at any time.

To inquire about personally identifiable information that Bonnier has collected about you, or about other ways to correct factual errors in that information, please send us an e-mail at. If you have previously accepted Bonnier Corp.’s use of cookies, but now wish to reject that instead, please visit our page. For information on the data we store and how we use your data, please view our Privacy Policy.

Perfect ideas don't wait for you to sit down at your desk. They come during hikes, while you're walking your dog, and in the middle of lunch.

Shouldn’t you be able to save those thoughts at any time, no matter where you are or what you’re doing? That’s what voice dictation is for. It lets you record your ideas hands-free, even if you're folding laundry, walking to the grocery store, or making dinner. And it's one of the best accessibility features on computers, helping anyone write their words without typing.

Voice recognition software can translate hundreds of thousands of words in dozens of languages, in real time. Talk to your devices and tell them to open new apps, send an email, or even tell you a joke. They're what make Siri and Alexa fun—but use that same tech to turn your voice into text much faster than you could ever type, and they'll improve your productivity, too. We wanted to find how much voice dictation tools impact efficiency, and how well they work. So we tested free, built-in speech recognition software and paid apps on desktop and mobile to see which ones were best at comprehension, accuracy, and ease of use.

Here are the very best dictation apps to turn your voice into text, along with tips for finding the right microphone and creating detailed speech-to-text notes. Plus, you’ll find out if voice dictation is right for you.

Originally published April 14, 2016; updated May 30, 2017 to add and include new pricing, supported languages, and details on apps and microphones. How Voice Dictation Helped me be More Productive I write thousands of words every week, and I'm embarrassed to say that I had never tried voice dictation tools before recently.

You can imagine my pleasant surprise when I realized I could dictate an introduction paragraph and turn voice to text in half the time it would take me to type. After evaluating more than a dozen desktop and mobile apps, my favorite was Google Docs Voice Typing.

Google Docs had the best accuracy without forcing me to talk like an android. It also has the most extensive list of voice commands for editing and formatting text—and it's free.

Anything you want to do in Google Docs, you could do with your voice. For mobile, my favorite dictation app was the built-in dictation tool in iOS on iPhone and iPad—and its cousin from Google on Android devices. From opening new apps to texting a friend to quickly recording an idea, I knew I could always count on Siri. The dictation works in any app or browser that has a virtual keyboard, so I didn’t have to jump around in different apps. I also like how easy it is to get up-and-running: Once you turn Siri on, there's little to no learning curve. I also experienced all the standard benefits of voice dictation. I saved time and energy, was able to multitask while dictating an outline to a new post, and could safely add something to my to-do list while going on a bike ride.

Plus, there was an unexpected benefit: Using a voice dictation app silenced my internal editor. With dictation, I was able to do a pure brain-dump of ideas and, as a result, had more material to work with. Dictation lets me focus on ideation instead of prose. But my favorite tools might not be for you. Here are some different options to check out over multiple platforms. The Best Dictation Software I evaluated dozens of dictation apps and tested them for comprehension, accuracy, and ease of use. Here are our top four dictation tools to turn voice to text on your computer.

Look no further than your Mac, iPhone, or iPad for one of the best dictations app. Apple’s Siri-powered, built-in is included recent versions of macOS and iOS. By default, you can dictate up to 30 seconds at a time while connected to the Internet, using Siri’s servers to detect and translate what you said. It’s great for dictating something quickly on the go, but not the best choice for composing an essay. If your Mac is running OS X 10.9 or later or you have an iPhone 6s or newer, you can use Enhanced Dictation for unlimited dictation. Enable it from the Dictation option in System Preferences, and your Mac will download a file with advanced dictation tools.

Then, just press a hotkey or say a dictation keyword phrase on your Mac—or press the microphone icon on your iPhone or iPad's keyboard—and you’ll hear that familiar Siri ding prompting you to start dictation. This is when Dictation is at its best. You can dictate continuously, with no time limit and without being connected to the Internet. The text will appear in real time in almost any app, aside from.

There’s no need to touch your mouse at all; you can say commands like to start writing on a new line; just stop talking to pause the dictation. And for quicker dictation, you can just use Siri. Ask it to save a note or send a message, and you can dictate the text right from Apple's voice assistant.

Accuracy: Of the 200 words I dictated using standard Dictation, only three were inaccurate. Of the 250 words I dictated using Enhanced Dictation, only two were inaccurate. My Recommendation: I would only recommend using Apple’s pre-built dictation feature if you can use Enhanced Dictation.

The standard Dictation is just too annoying and inconvenient for anything longer than 30-seconds—though it's still great for dictating quick messages on the go. On the other hand, the enhanced option makes dictation as easy as possible—it’s free, you don’t have to use your mouse, and you can work offline in a number of different languages. Languages: Apple Dictation supports 31 languages, including English, Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.

Siri and Enhanced Dictation supports only 20 languages. Dictation Commands: for a full list of dictation voice commands. Price: Free with a Mac, iPhone, or iPad Windows Speech Recognition (Windows XP and newer).

Windows also offers free, built-in voice dictation with. Available on all versions of Windows since XP, Speech Recognition lets you type and use simple commands with your voice.

Enable Speech Recognition by clicking on the Start button and selecting All Programs Accessories Ease of Access Windows Speech Recognition. You can then choose to activate Speech Recognition with your mouse (manual activation) or with a voice command of Start Listening (voice activation mode). Then just open a browser, program, or web application to start dictating. You can also use when working with text—they let you speak commands that do things like delete sentences, go to the end of the current document, and put a cursor after a specific word. If you have Windows 10, you can enable for a more powerful hands-free experience. Microsoft’s personal assistant can be activated by saying “Hey Cortana” and you can use voice commands for things like searching, opening different apps, saving quick notes, or finding directions—much like Siri on a Mac.

Accuracy: The first time I used Speech Recognition, I dictated 200 words and 30 were incorrect. However, Speech Recognition needs to be trained and the accuracy will improve the more you use it. If your PC has a tough time translating, click on the microphone widget and select Configuration Improve Voice Recognition.

You'll be sent to a voice training where Speech Recognition learns your voice and accent. My Recommendation: Cortana and Speech Recognition together offer a strong dictation package. You can use voice commands to control and type almost anywhere, and can start and stop dictation without your mouse. But don’t judge Speech Recognition’s quality after the first go-round—you'll need to use it a couple times to see its full potential. Languages: Windows Dictation and Cortana work with, including English, French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, and Chinese.

Dictation Commands: for a full list of voice commands. Price: Free Google Docs Voice Typing (Web). Google Docs takes voice dictation to the next level. It not only lets you type with your voice, but also helps you select text, add formatting, and move around your document, all with a few phrases. Only available in Google Docs inside Google Chrome, is a free tool from Google.

Enable Voice Typing in the Tools menu and you’ll see a microphone appear on your document. Simply click that microphone to start and stop dictation, and the translated text will appear in real time.

The real magic of Google Docs Voice Typing comes from its voice commands that let you format and edit as you go. You can say Create Bulleted List to make bullet points, Select Word or Phrase to edit, italicize, bold, underline, or delete, or Go to End of Paragraph to move around in your document. With more than 100 commands, you can do almost anything in Google Docs without using your hands.

Accuracy: Of the 200 words I dictated, only one was incorrect. Voice Typing was also able to keep up and accurately translate when I was speaking at my normal pace. Plus, it understands the context: When you say a voice command like Create Bulleted List, for example, it may start to type that out as a normal dictation, but then it soon realizes you are dictating a formatting command and will automatically delete the dictation and apply the formatting.

My Recommendation: I use Google Docs every day and found Voice Typing to be incredibly helpful. It's one of the only voice dictation apps that I could realistically see myself using for dictating a long piece.

I love how hands-off you can be—the fact that you can edit and format with voice commands is a major differentiator among free dictation apps. Languages: Voice Typing works with; however, voice commands (for editing and formatting) are only available in English. Dictation Commands: and go to the Voice commands section for a list of all available commands.

Price: Free Learn how to do even more with Google Docs in our roundup of. Dragon NaturallySpeaking & Anywhere (Android, iOS, Windows, Mac). If you never want to touch your keyboard or mouse again, is the voice dictation tool for you. Created by Nuance Communications, Dragon is the industry standard speech recognition software that works across all programs and web browsers. It offers nine different products that range from personal to industry-specific tools—like medical or legal editions with industry-specific dictionaries. Based on the option you choose, you'll end up paying anywhere from $100-500 for Dragon on your computer.

Dragon for Mac supports OS X Mavericks and newer, while Dragon NaturallySpeaking 13 for PC supports Windows 7 and newer. Or, on mobile, you'll pay around $15/month for the same dictation features on the go. Once Dragon has acclimated to your voice and accent in the setup process, there is no limit to what you can do. You can use voice commands to control programs and web browsers, and dictate in any web application. And with the Professional version, you can set custom commands for recurring tasks. When you say New Client, Dragon could open your sales management tool, log in for you, and build a new blank record.

It's an advanced voice workflow tool that will help you do your job just by talking. Accuracy: Dragon does not offer a free trial on desktop, so we used its mobile app to test accuracy and comprehension. Of the 250 words I dictated, only one was incorrect. My Recommendation: Dragon NaturallySpeaking is a hefty investment—both in terms of price and learning curve. However, if you want to create a completely hands-free workflow, Dragon is worth it. Languages: Dragon NaturallySpeaking supports 7 languages, including English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, and Japanese—and its mobile apps work in.

Price: $15/month mobile apps for iOS and Android; from $99.99 for; from $300 for full-featured Mac or PC The Best Mobile Dictation Apps When inspiration hits, don't trust your brain to hang onto that idea until you can find a pen. Instead, whip out your phone and use it as a sounding board. Here are the best six voice to text apps for dictation on mobile devices—along with the aforementioned Dragon Anywhere. Apple’s personal assistant, Siri, comes preinstalled on all its mobile products (iPhones, iPads, iPod touches, Apple Watches, and Apple TVs).

Once you turn Siri on in Settings, hold down the Home button until you hear the Siri ding. Or, you can say “Hey Siri” to an iPhone 6s or newer, or an iPhone 5 or newer if charging. While Siri will accurately translate your voice into text, she also has a few tricks up her sleeve: She can talk back to you and understand relationships and context.

For example, you could ask Siri to check your voicemail, send a new email to a certain person, read your notifications, set reminders, get directions, make dinner reservations, or save a note. Or, you can access the same dictation features as OS X dictation, just by tapping the mic icon on the keyboard in any app. That'll let you dictate for up to 30 seconds—even when offline with supported languages. It's enough to help you write a quick reply; not quite enough to dictate an essay, though. Languages: Arabic, Cantonese, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Mandarin, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, and Turkish Dictation Commands: for examples of what you can say to Siri. Price: Free Cortana (Android, iOS, Windows) Best for: Personalized, interactive dictation.

Siri isn’t the only personal assistant around. Microsoft’s Cortana comes with Windows Phone and is built into Windows 10 desktops—and also works on iOS and Android now.

It's an artificial intelligence, hands-free helper. Press and hold the Search button, open the Cortana app, or say the voice command to begin. Cortana can send text messages, add items to your calendar, take notes, play music, check the weather and more.

You can also just chat with her about whatever is on your mind—she may even tell you a joke. When you need to save dictated text, just have her save a note—that'll add your dictated text to OneNote for easy access later. Languages: Chinese (Simplified), English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish. Dictation Commands: for a list of voice commands. Price: Free Google Now (Android, iOS, Web) Best for: Third-party integrations. Say “Ok Google” and your Android phone is instantly listening.

On Android 4.4 and later, Google’s smart personal assistant, Google Now, comes with voice commands. Open the Google app and go to Settings to turn on “Ok Google.” From there you can choose activation options like making “Ok Google” available all the time, or only when your phone is active or charging. Not an Android person? On iOS devices, you can use 'Ok Google' inside the for its core search features—which is at least enough to search the web and save a new dictated note to Google Keep. You can use “Ok Google” on Android for almost anything, such as calls, text, email, browsing the web, locking your phone, opening and closing apps.

“Ok Google” voice commands also work with a handful of third-party apps, including NPR One, WhatsApp, Viber, and Zillow. And on your computer, you can use the same voice recognition to search the web from google.com with your voice. Languages:, including English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Russian, Spanish, and more. Dictation Commands: for a list of voice search and actions. Price: Free Speech Recogniser (iOS) Best for: Dictation and translation to other languages. With over 20,000 reviews on the Google Play Store, is one of the most popular speech recognition apps for Android. It combines the classic notepad functionality with voice dictation, using your phone's built-in Google Voice Search to turn voice to text while recording the audio at the same time.

Each dictation is saved as a searchable note that you can categorize and color-code. You can then share these notes via email, text, Twitter, or any other note-taking app. And, you can listen to the recorded audio while reading through the transcribed text and your own notes at the same time. ListNote also offers a handful of unique features, like the 'Time to Breathe' option that lets you choose how long to wait before stopping speech input. You can also enable password protection for your notes or back up and encrypt them on an SD card. Languages: Supports all 43 of Google's built-in dictation languages, including Chinese, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and more.

Price: Free Want a similar option on Windows and iOS? Lets you record voice—and then on your PC, you can enable to recognize words from the recording.

That won't fully transcribe your text, but it will help you get audio along with your own written notes. Gboard (Android, iOS) Best for: Universal voice-to-text. Is perhaps the most powerful keyboard yet. You can type or swipe in text on iOS and Android, using Google's smart predictive text to type without mistakes. Or, you can search Google right from your keyboard, pulling in GIFs and images from the web and checking the weather without leaving your keyboard.

Press-and-hold on the space bar, and it'll turn into one of the better mobile dictation tools, too. You can talk as long as you want, and Gboard will keep transcribing your text—and will add it all to your app once you're done. That way, in any app you're using, you can get the same dictation results on iOS and Android—without time limits. Languages: English, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Malay, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish Price: Free How to Successfully Dictate Text. Do you, like, speak with a lot of, um, filler words?

Or, do you tend to speak in very long sentences because you have so many details you want to convey and you always remember new things you want to add as you start talking? Your shiny new dictation apps are impressive, but they aren’t perfect. You won’t be able to to talk to the app in the same way you talk to your best friend, with mile-a-minute stories or slang. Keep these pointers in mind when chatting with a dictation tool:.

Have a plan: Create a mental outline of what you want to say and the main message you want to write down before starting dictation. It's not that you have to spend hours fleshing out your idea, it’s just easier to structure and organize your piece if you’ve spent some time thinking about the end goal. Talk like you write: We tend to write far more clearly than we speak.

Some of that comes down to editing, but speech includes more slang, half-sentences, pauses, and incorrect grammar. Your dictation app will jot down exactly what you say, so unless you're writing example conversation, you'll need to talk far more like written text. Speak like a newscaster: Almost everyone slurs words together or softens the “t” or “d” sounds at the end of sentences. With a dictation app, you need to enunciate much more clearly than in normal speech. You don’t need to speak like a robot; instead, pretend that you're reporting the news.

Use short sentences: Some apps—including Apple’s dictation feature—can only listen for 30 to 40 seconds by default. If you tend to ramble, your sentences could get cut off. Try to speak in short, concise sentences. You can always go back and add more detail if necessary.

Avoid filler words: Try not to use filler words including “you know,” “like,” or “um.” If you forget what you were going to say or don’t know what to say, just take a quick pause. It’s better to wait quietly or pause the dictation than to have to edit out everything. Remember to punctuate: Dictation tools won’t be able to interpret your pauses as periods or commas. Instead, you’ll have to say “comma,” “period,” “hyphen,” and so on. If you’re worried about forgetting to say the punctuation aloud, write them on Post-It notes and hang them up around you.

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Practice: It takes some time to adjust your speaking style for voice dictation apps, but it gets easier the more you practice. At first, write down what you want to say and then read it to your dictation app. This will let you see what the app does and doesn’t understand, and allow you to make tweaks as you go. As you get more comfortable, you can transition to dictating from memory (rather than reading aloud) and eventually speaking spontaneously. Which Microphone to Use for Dictation?

While each dictation app on this list is compatible with your built-in microphone, the best option for quality and accuracy is to use an external microphone. The earbuds that came with your phone are a great place to start.

For an upgrade, here are three general kinds of microphones you can choose from, along with recommendations from:. Wired headset: Headsets offer the highest quality dictation experience. Because the microphone is directly in front of your mouth, you don’t need to worry about ambient noise. A wired headset does limit your movement because you’re attached to your computer, but it also provides for one of the most reliable, accurate dictations.

Check out: The for around $50. Wireless headset: If you want more freedom, go for a wireless headset.

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These are often more expensive than a wired headset, but you can get up and move around. Make sure to pay attention to the range on wireless headsets; some are limited to 30 feet, while others go up to 100 feet. Check out: The for around $130. Desktop microphone: If you don’t want to wear a mic on your head, or want even higher audio quality, a desktop microphone is a good alternative. This kind of microphone sits on your desk and requires you to park yourself right in front of it. If you move your head or shift positions, the accuracy will suffer. And, of course, it won't work with mobile dictation apps without an adaptor.

But if you want to record videos or podcasts, you'll get the best quality recordings along with reliable dictation. Check out: The for around $130. There's no right or wrong microphone—it all depends on what you are looking for. If you're in a busy, loud environment, a headset might be better for canceling out background noise.

If you like to pace around your room for inspiration, you should go for a wireless headset. Or, if you don’t want anything attached to your head, a desktop microphone might be the best choice.

And if you're mostly dictating short things on the go, your phone's built-in mic will likely get the job done just fine. Is Voice Dictation Right for You? I started this journey as a dictation newbie. After trying more than a dozen dictation apps, I’m sold. I can save time, multitask, and silence my internal editor.

If you’re still wary of voice dictation, remember that you don’t have to use it for every single thing you do. Try it for something quick and easy, like making a grocery list or setting a reminder on your phone. As you get more comfortable, you can use it for a creative brainstorm or even composing an email. You just might get addicted. However you use voice dictation, I guarantee this: You'll miss your keyboard or mouse far less than you'd expect. Do you have any favorite voice dictation apps?

We’d love to hear about them in the comments below! Need new apps to save your dictated text and ideas? Here are the and to help draft your next masterpiece. Microphone photo by via.