Safari voice typing on Mac: how to dictate in any web page

Safari doesn't have its own voice typing, but you don't need it to. On a Mac, macOS Dictation types into any text field in Safari: turn it on in System Settings › Keyboard › Dictation, click into the field, and press your Dictation shortcut. A website's own microphone button is a different thing, controlled by Safari › Settings › Websites › Microphone.

Keeping those two apart solves most "Safari won't let me talk" problems. Dictation is the Mac listening; the site's mic button is the web page listening.

#Turn on voice typing for Safari

1. Open System Settings › Keyboard, scroll to Dictation, and switch it on.
2. Under Shortcut, pick one. If you use an external keyboard without a 🌐 key, choose a different option or a custom shortcut.
3. Set Microphone source to the mic you'll use. Apple says Automatic picks the device you're most likely to use, which may not be your headset.
4. In Safari, click into a text field: a comment box, a contact form, a webmail draft.
5. Press the shortcut, the Microphone key if your keyboard has one, or choose Edit › Start Dictation. Speak, then press Esc or the shortcut to stop.

Apple's Dictation guide notes that punctuation is added automatically in supported languages, that you can say emoji by name ("heart emoji"), and that on Apple silicon Macs you can keep typing while you speak. Dictation also stops by itself after 30 seconds without speech. These steps are the same on macOS 14 Sonoma, macOS 15 and later. Checked October 31, 2026.

#Let a website use the microphone

Some sites have their own mic button: Google Docs voice typing, video calls, voice search. Safari asks the first time; after that, it remembers.

1. Choose Safari › Settings and click Websites.
2. Select Microphone in the sidebar.
3. Find the site and choose Ask, Deny or Allow from its pop-up menu.
4. Use When visiting other websites at the bottom to set the default for sites you haven't decided on.

Apple's Safari Websites settings page describes each option. Reload the page after changing it.

#Which web voice tools work in Safari

Not every web app's dictation supports Safari. Worth knowing before you spend ten minutes looking for a button:

If a web app's own dictation skips Safari, macOS Dictation still types into its text fields. For the Microsoft tools, our guides to transcribing audio in Word and dictating in PowerPoint cover the details.

#When voice typing in Safari doesn't work

The shortcut does nothing

Try Edit › Start Dictation from Safari's menu bar. If that works, the shortcut is the problem: check whether Press 🌐 key to on the Keyboard settings page is set to something else, or choose a different Dictation shortcut.

Dictation starts but types nothing

The cursor isn't in an editable field. Click inside the box until you see it blinking. Some pages draw their own text areas that don't accept system dictation well; test in TextEdit to tell a page problem from a Dictation problem.

A site's mic button is greyed out or silent

The site is set to Deny in Safari › Settings › Websites › Microphone. Change it to Ask or Allow and reload.

It hears nothing anywhere

That's the microphone, not Safari. Open System Settings › Sound › Input, choose your mic, and watch the level as you speak. Our Mac dictation troubleshooting guide goes through the rest.

Google Docs voice typing won't start in Safari

Update Safari, start it from Tools › Voice typing rather than the shortcut, and allow the microphone for docs.google.com. Our guide to Google Docs voice typing not working has the full checklist.

#On iPhone and iPad

Safari on iOS and iPadOS uses the keyboard's dictation too: tap a text field, then tap the microphone key on the keyboard and speak. Sayburst is a Mac app, so on your phone the built-in keyboard dictation is what to use.

#When the built-in way is enough

macOS Dictation is free, it's already there, and for a search, a short comment or a quick form it's exactly enough. If you mostly write in Safari a few lines at a time, stop here.

It gets tiresome when Safari is where your real writing happens. Every "um" stays in, spoken commands like "comma" come out wrong now and then, names get mangled, and the toggle keeps listening until you stop it.

#Voice typing in Safari with Sayburst

Sayburst types into Safari the same way your keyboard does. Click into any field, hold fn, talk, and let go. Your speech is transcribed on your Mac, cleaned up, and inserted at the cursor. Nothing to allow per website, because the page never hears you.

A message typed into a landlord's maintenance form:

"Hi, um, the kitchen tap has been dripping since Sunday and it's, uh, getting worse. I'm home Tuesday and Wednesday after four if someone can, if someone can come by."

What lands in the form:

Hi, the kitchen tap has been dripping since Sunday and it's getting worse. I'm home Tuesday and Wednesday after 4 if someone can come by.

The overlay shows your words as you speak and never takes focus from the page, so you can see that it heard you without the form losing your cursor. If you switch to another app before the text goes in, Sayburst keeps the dictation and offers it back.

It works the same in Chrome, Firefox and every other app. If you switch browsers, nothing changes; see the Chrome guide and the Firefox guide for those browsers' own options. Want the full picture of Apple's tool against a dedicated app? Start with how to dictate on a Mac.

Sayburst runs on Apple silicon Macs with macOS 14 or later. It's $29 once after the trial, with no subscription.

Questions people ask

Does Safari have voice typing?

Not as a Safari feature. On a Mac, voice typing in Safari comes from macOS Dictation, which works in any text field on a web page. On iPhone and iPad, tap the microphone key on the keyboard.

How do I allow a website to use my microphone in Safari?

Choose Safari › Settings, click Websites, then Microphone. Set the site to Ask or Allow, and use When visiting other websites to set the default for everything else.

Does Google Docs voice typing work in Safari?

Yes. Google lists the latest Safari as supported for Docs voice typing, alongside Chrome and Edge. Start it from Tools › Voice typing, since Google marks the keyboard shortcut as a Chrome feature.

Why does a web app's dictation button not appear in Safari?

Some web tools don't support Safari. Microsoft lists only Edge and Chrome for Transcribe in Word for the web, and Edge, Firefox and Chrome for PowerPoint dictation on the web. macOS Dictation still types into those pages.