I was excited when I saw the microphone in Messages thinking it was for voice texting

T

TH55

macrumors 68040
That is the perfect place for voice texting. The audio texting idea is pretty useless and gimmicky, voice texting is a MUCH more important and useful feature as big of an issue as texting and driving is. I have always felt this should be a completely separate feature from Siri as I hate the awful placement of the Siri mic as it clutters the keyboard and cuts the numbers key in half making it almost impossible to hit, let alone when driving.

Texting while driving is incredibly dangerous, probably among the most unsafe things you can be doing while driving. Apple loves to stand out and be unique and lead the herd, this would be a great opportunity for them to do some image crafting as well.

Creating a separate "voice texting" function and putting it in a visible easy to reach spot would draw much more attention to it. I wasn't even aware it existed and actually worked for a while as Siri had a number of problems starting out and they really didn't advertise that feature of it heavily. I never bothered setting it up for this reason in addition to the poor implementation and cumbersome location of the Siri mic.
 
TH55 said:
That is the perfect place for (Siri's) voice texting. The audio texting idea is pretty useless and gimmicky, voice texting is a MUCH more important and useful feature as big of an issue as texting and driving is. I have always felt this should be a completely separate feature from Siri as I hate the awful placement of the Siri mic as it clutters the keyboard and cuts the numbers key in half making it almost impossible to hit, let alone when driving.

Texting is driving is incredibly dangerous, probably among the most unsafe things you can be doing while driving. Apple loves to stand out and be unique, this would be a great opportunity for them to do some image crafting as well.

Creating a separate "voice texting" function and putting would draw much more attention to it. I wasn't even aware it existed and actually worked for a while as Siri had a number of problems starting out and they really didn't advertise that feature of it heavily. I never bothered setting it up for this reason in addition to the poor implementation and cumbersome location of the Siri mic.
Click to expand...

**Hold down home button**

"Siri, send a message to (blank) saying (blank)"

Problem solved.
 
I see the OP is still posting the same kinds of threads....

If your iPhone is plugged in, use "Hey, Siri." and then send a message. 100% hands free operation.
 
So, you never set it up or used it, but decided it was to cumbersome?

If you had used it and found issues, this thread would hold value, sadly, it does not.
 
T5BRICK said:
I see the OP is still posting the same kinds of threads....

If your iPhone is plugged in, use "Hey, Siri." and then send a message. 100% hands free operation.
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But the mic still appears on the keyboard when Siri is turned on and cuts the numbers key in half, no? This is a big problem for me, I tried Siri starting out and it became such a nuisance when typing I disabled it. I used the keyboard way more than Siri.

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jbachandouris said:
So, you never set it up or used it, but decided it was to cumbersome?

If you had used it and found issues, this thread would hold value, sadly, it does not.
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Yes I had, see my post above. I had to turn it off bc of the poor placement of the mic on the keyboard as I texted way more than I used Siri.

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afurry13 said:
Have you never activated Siri before?
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Yeah I have
 
I've actually been using the voice messages quite a bit. Only time I use voice to text is when driving or my hands are filthy and I just use Siri for that through the home button.
 
I'm a little confused if you mean Siri or dictation in the last reply however the dictation feature is on the keyboard next to the space bar where it's always been since iOS 5 or ios 6.

The sending your voice isn't really gimmicky to me at least as it has its uses but if your utilizing that to have a conversation then yes gimmicky. Now if you wanted to record some quick audio of something such as an issue with a car, or driving and didn't want to do a text (that includes dictation), etc...

I've used it for things like sounds my newborn makes and sent to family so it's cool for certain things and that's what it's there for.

I've also used dictation frequently and never had any issues accidently activating it when texting.
 
jmantn said:
I'm a little confused if you mean Siri or dictation in the last reply however the dictation feature is on the keyboard next to the space bar where it's always been since iOS 5 or ios 6.

The sending your voice isn't really gimmicky to me at least as it has its uses but if your utilizing that to have a conversation then yes gimmicky. Now if you wanted to record some quick audio of something such as an issue with a car, or driving and didn't want to do a text (that includes dictation), etc...

I've used it for things like sounds my newborn makes and sent to family so it's cool for certain things and that's what it's there for.

I've also used dictation frequently and never had any issues accidently activating it when texting.
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I'm sure it can be useful, but there's no way anyone uses it anywhere near as much as the number pad. Why wouldn't they put it on the other side of the number pad so the more heavily used button was closer and the mic wasn't in the way to where you have to reach over it?
 
TH55 said:
I'm sure it can be useful, but there's no way anyone uses it anywhere near as much as the number pad. Why wouldn't they put it on the other side of the number pad so the more heavily used button was closer and the mic wasn't in the way to where you have to reach over it?
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But those are all your own preferences and what's considered useful to some and not to others is only subjective. You're speaking as if we all feel the same way and I disagree. I use my voice texting (siri) much more than typing, especially when it's a long message. If it's Hi and Bye then I just text. And what's the NumberPad have to do with texting messages?
 
HenryDJP said:
But those are all your own preferences and what's considered useful to some and not to others is only subjective. You're speaking as if we all feel the same way and I disagree. I use my voice texting (siri) much more than typing, especially when it's a long message. If it's Hi and Bye then I just text. And what's the NumberPad have to do with texting messages?
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But you have the home button for vouce texting, why can't you use that? At the very least there should be the option to remove the mic from the keyboard. And I'm talking about the number keyboard, not the number pad sorry.
 
TH55 said:
But the mic still appears on the keyboard when Siri is turned on and cuts the numbers key in half, no? This is a big problem for me, I tried Siri starting out and it became such a nuisance when typing I disabled it. I used the keyboard way more than Siri.

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Yes I had, see my post above. I had to turn it off bc of the poor placement of the mic on the keyboard as I texted way more than I used Siri.

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Yeah I have
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The mic button located in the keyboard is technically voice dictation, not Siri. Yes, it utilitizes the same functionality but they are enabled two different ways.

If you want to use Siri to send a text message, just hold down the Home button until Siri pops up and ask you what you want to do. Siri, send my wife a text message saying I will pick up the kids. Siri creates it and then ask if you want to send it. Then just say yes. Done.

I use the mic button in the keyboard all the time to dictate messages to my wife while driving so I do not need to type anything. In addition, iOS 8 allows you to send an audio message instead of having to type anything. Just hold the mic button down while you talk. Then let up when you are done. All you have to do is look to press then you can look away.

Not difficult at all. I bet you spend more time looking at your car stereo during your drive.
 
TH55 said:
Would using a 3rd party keyboard solve this issue? Do you think it would be difficult dor someone to write a tweak to remove it if not?
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Actually, since third party keyboards don't have access to the voice dictation functionality at all, there is no microphone on third party keyboards.

I believe you've found the solution to the OP's primary complaint.
 
Darth.Titan said:
Actually, since third party keyboards don't have access to the voice dictation functionality at all, there is no microphone on third party keyboards.

I believe you've found the solution to the OP's primary complaint.
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Lol I am the OP, and thank you.

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scottw324 said:
The mic button located in the keyboard is technically voice dictation, not Siri. Yes, it utilitizes the same functionality but they are enabled two different ways.

If you want to use Siri to send a text message, just hold down the Home button until Siri pops up and ask you what you want to do. Siri, send my wife a text message saying I will pick up the kids. Siri creates it and then ask if you want to send it. Then just say yes. Done.

I use the mic button in the keyboard all the time to dictate messages to my wife while driving so I do not need to type anything. In addition, iOS 8 allows you to send an audio message instead of having to type anything. Just hold the mic button down while you talk. Then let up when you are done. All you have to do is look to press then you can look away.

Not difficult at all. I bet you spend more time looking at your car stereo during your drive.
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So I don't have to have Siri turned on to have it send a text message?
 
TH55 said:
Lol I am the OP, and thank you.

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So I don't have to have Siri turned on to have it send a text message?
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in iOS 8, if you use the microphone button to the right of the box/field that your text would show up when you start typing, no, you do not need Siri to be activated. You can turn her off in Setting app in the General section.

That gives you back that section of the stock keyboard however..........that also means that you cannot use Siri by pressing on the home button or use voice dictation (the mic button in the stock keyboard) for any other app like Notes, Contacts, Safari, etc...). So it is up to you. I use the dictation button all the time though. I haven't really gotten into the send an audio message via messages app yet. I can definitely see how it could be useful though, especially while driving, but then in that case, I might as well call the person. For short messages, I can see it. For anything more drawn out, I would call.
 
TH55 said:
But you have the home button for vouce texting, why can't you use that? At the very least there should be the option to remove the mic from the keyboard. And I'm talking about the number keyboard, not the number pad sorry.
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I can't text that way unless I'm in the car driving. That's the only time it makes sense. Texting using the home button doesn't show the chat window. I do marathon texting with my best friend every day. The chat window needs to be shown.

But as others mentioned those 3rd party keyboards that range from free to $.99 should solve your issue. They don't have the voice dictation for texting. I use them for Swype texting but without the voice dictation they are useless to me.
 
Voice texting = sending a message with a voice clip attached to it.

Dictation = telling the phone what you want it to send, and it then transcribes that onto the screen in text.

I think you're talking about dictation, and you would like the dictation feature to be where the voice text feature is at the moment. If that's the case, where would you put the voice text button?

I like the keyboard where it is.
 
scottw324 said:
in iOS 8, if you use the microphone button to the right of the box/field that your text would show up when you start typing, no, you do not need Siri to be activated. You can turn her off in Setting app in the General section.

That gives you back that section of the stock keyboard however..........that also means that you cannot use Siri by pressing on the home button or use voice dictation (the mic button in the stock keyboard) for any other app like Notes, Contacts, Safari, etc...). So it is up to you. I use the dictation button all the time though. I haven't really gotten into the send an audio message via messages app yet. I can definitely see how it could be useful though, especially while driving, but then in that case, I might as well call the person. For short messages, I can see it. For anything more drawn out, I would call.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's what I was asking, if you can still use Siri for voice texting when it is turned off so they keyboard mic key is gone. As I said I have zero interest in sending audio recordings.

Damn.
 
TH55 said:
Yeah that's what I was asking, if you can still use Siri for voice texting when it is turned off so they keyboard mic key is gone. As I said I have zero interest in sending audio recordings.

Damn.
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why do you care what you keyboard looks like when you are driving, you not suppose to look at the phone while operating a motor vehicle

you can wake siri up without touching the phone if it is plugged in to your car adapter

siri can text for you
 
Just recorded and sent a short audio message. I thought I saw the word "keep" but ignored it. Upon returning to iMessage it is no longer there... So, my recipient received it. Guess I need to manually keep them. I can see where this might save space. But you lose record of your conversation :confused:
 
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