Accessibility

Dictation that works with VoiceOver

Voice input matters most to the people typing serves worst. Quill Flow is built so that blind and low-vision iPhone users can dictate, edit, and send text with VoiceOver — without hunting for buttons, and without their screen reader ending up in the transcript.

Built with blind users, not just for them

In 2026 a blind user left us an App Store review. He liked the app — he had been looking for a way to improve on native iOS dictation for months — but he pointed out two things that made it slower than it should be: VoiceOver focus didn't move to the finish button when a recording started, and while he searched for it, the microphone transcribed everything VoiceOver said out loud.

We rebuilt the experience around that feedback. Everything on this page ships in the current version of Quill Flow.

What VoiceOver users get

Magic tap to dictate — from anywhere

A two-finger double-tap starts a dictation, and another one finishes it — the same gesture Voice Memos uses. No hunting for the record button, no reading key names into your transcript.

Focus follows the recording

The moment dictation starts, VoiceOver focus moves to the Finish button. Ending a recording is a single double-tap, and the button says exactly what it does: “Finish dictation.”

Your screen reader stays out of your text

Quill Flow filters VoiceOver's own announcements out of transcripts and enables echo cancellation while VoiceOver is running — so “Finish dictation, button” never shows up in your message, in any of the languages we ship.

Hear what landed

When a dictation is inserted, VoiceOver reads it back — the same confirmation Apple's own dictation gives. Recording started, paused, and stopped states are announced too.

Every key is a real key

Letters, Shift, Delete, Return, the globe key, emoji search, settings — every control carries a proper VoiceOver label, trait, and state, localized in 34 languages. Shift announces whether it's on, off, or caps lock.

Dynamic Type and Reduce Motion

The app's text scales with your preferred reading size, and animations — from onboarding to confetti — respect Reduce Motion. Timed sequences skip straight to their content when VoiceOver is running.

Using Quill Flow with VoiceOver

Install Quill Flow from the App Store, then add it in Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards, and allow Full Access (this is what lets a keyboard extension record audio).
In any app, switch to Quill Flow with the globe key — VoiceOver announces it as “Next keyboard.”
Two-finger double-tap to start dictating, speak naturally, then two-finger double-tap again to finish. Your polished text is inserted and read back to you.
Prefer buttons? Find “Speak” in the top row to start and “Finish dictation” to stop — focus moves there for you when recording begins.

Where we're still improving

We won't claim perfection. iOS keyboard extensions have real platform constraints, and a few of our visual flourishes (like the mini-games) are not yet meaningfully playable with VoiceOver. We treat accessibility feedback as roadmap, not as a complaint queue — the features above exist because someone told us what was slowing them down.

Found something that doesn't work with your setup? Email hello@quillflow.app — accessibility reports go to the top of the list.

Try dictation built for VoiceOver.

Download Quill Flow on the App Store