dictation
Many of the voice commands for Dragon Dictation also work in Siri's Dictation service on the iPhone 4S. The new speech-to-text service allows users to press a microphone on the keyboard in any application and then utilize Siri's speech recognition to enter text.

Jim Rhoades of Crush Apps has made an extensive list of commands that Siri's dictation service understands:

"new line" - move to the next line
"all caps" - make the next word all uppercase
"all caps on/off" - turn caps lock on or off
"smiley" or "smiley face" or "smile face" - :-)
"frowny" or "frowny face" or "frown face" - :-(

See Rhoades' post on the Crush Apps blog for the full list of Siri dictation commands.

Top Rated Comments

NightFox Avatar
187 months ago
I'm sure Siri has got a dark sense of humour - On my own I can chat away for ages with it understanding everything I say with such accuracy it's incredible. However, as soon as I try to demo it to anyone like my wife or an Android owner, you can bet that all I'll get from it is "I'm sorry Neil, I don't understand 'spleen longboat curry'"
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
essrow Avatar
187 months ago
I guess I can see why so many people are excited about this. Personally, though, I don't see myself using the speech-to-text feature very often (if at all) because it drives me crazy that it fails to include punctuation. I'm way too OCD about periods and commas.

I'm the same exact way. But you can use the words "comma", "period", "question mark" etc. and it will listen!!!!
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mrsir2009 Avatar
187 months ago
If you say 'I'm being sarcastic' will it come up with: :rolleyes:
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ladeer Avatar
187 months ago
This is amazing. I just tried:

I spoke "I just had my period"
Siri typed "I just had my period"

I spoke "I just had my period period"
Siri typed "I just had my period."

I spoke "I want to go period"
Siri typed "I want to go."

!!!
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
inigel Avatar
187 months ago
I'm sure Siri has got a dark sense of humour - On my own I can chat away for ages with it understanding everything I say with such accuracy it's incredible. However, as soon as I try to demo it to anyone like my wife or an Android owner, you can bet that all I'll get from it is "I'm sorry Neil, I don't understand 'spleen longboat curry'"

I found that too, but then I realised that when demoing Siri, I would change the tone of my voice. When I am using it privately I use a more natural voice.

It is weird trying to force myself to talk to it naturally when other people are around!
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pensoftware Avatar
187 months ago
Nope. It returns it as "Why a P a".

In NaturallySpeaking, you can just say "Spell", pause a half a beat, then spell the word. When you pause again at the end of the word, it assumes you've left spelling mode.

A lot of Googling hasn't turned up any clues.
If it isn't implemented now, I'm sure Apple will release a Siri update that fixes both escaping commands as well as new features such as spelling a word.

EDIT: What would be a really cool feature is if it used changes in volume to signify automatic capitalization. Or if you yell into your phone with an angry tone then it would automatically capitalize the whole thing.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Shows Off a Key Reason to Upgrade to the iPhone 17

Saturday February 7, 2026 9:26 am PST by
Apple today shared an ad that shows how the upgraded Center Stage front camera on the latest iPhones improves the process of taking a group selfie. "Watch how the new front facing camera on iPhone 17 Pro takes group selfies that automatically expand and rotate as more people come into frame," says Apple. While the ad is focused on the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, the regular iPhone...
Finder Siri Feature

Why Apple's iOS 26.4 Siri Upgrade Will Be Bigger Than Originally Promised

Friday February 6, 2026 3:06 pm PST by
In the iOS 26.4 update that's coming this spring, Apple will introduce a new version of Siri that's going to overhaul how we interact with the personal assistant and what it's able to do. The iOS 26.4 version of Siri won't work like ChatGPT or Claude, but it will rely on large language models (LLMs) and has been updated from the ground up. Upgraded Architecture The next-generation...
wwdc sans text feature

Apple Rumored to Announce New Product on February 19

Thursday February 5, 2026 12:22 pm PST by
Apple plans to announce the iPhone 17e on Thursday, February 19, according to Macwelt, the German equivalent of Macworld. The report, citing industry sources, is available in English on Macworld. Apple announced the iPhone 16e on Wednesday, February 19 last year, so the iPhone 17e would be unveiled exactly one year later if this rumor is accurate. It is quite uncommon for Apple to unveil...
apple wallet drivers license feature iPhone 15 pro

Apple Says These 7 U.S. States Plan to Offer iPhone Driver's Licenses

Monday February 9, 2026 6:24 am PST by
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Apple Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, and then use it to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps. The feature is currently available in 13 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, and it is expected to launch in at least seven more in the future. To set up the...
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

New MacBook Pros Could Now Arrive in March

Sunday February 8, 2026 6:02 am PST by
New MacBook Pro models with the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips could arrive as soon as Monday, March 2, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In today's "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that the release of new MacBook Pro models is tied to the release of macOS Tahoe 26.3. The launch is said to be slated for as early as the week of March 2. He added that the M4 Pro and M4 Max models on sale today...