Faster than typing, and much better in the moment — walking out of a meeting, or straight after a conversation.
Speaking a deet
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Open the contact and tap + in the DEETS section.
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Tap the microphone beside the label or detail field.
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Speak. The words appear as you go.
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Tap the microphone again to stop, then Save.
Pausing doesn't lose anything. Tapping the microphone off and on again keeps what you've said so far and carries on from there.
Speaking a whole note
There's also a capture card at the top of the add-deet sheet, with Voice and Text. Use Voice to say a whole sentence and let Deeta pull the details out:
"Sarah's got two kids, Noah and Emma, and she's just started at Figma as a designer."
Deeta shows you what it found — Kids, Company, Job — and you review it before anything is saved. See Turning what you say into deets.
The first time you use Voice, a short tip explains it.
Your voice stays on your iPhone
Speech is turned into text on your device. The audio never leaves your iPhone.
For the simple dictation above, that's the whole story — the text goes straight into the field.
If you use the capture card to pull details out of a longer sentence, the resulting text may be sent to be analysed, then discarded. It's never stored. If you've chosen Private Mode in Settings → AI Provider, the text is never sent — the analysis happens on your iPhone or not at all.
Deeta asks for microphone and speech-recognition permission the first time.
Troubleshooting
"Microphone access needed." Open Settings → Deeta on your iPhone and turn Microphone on. The message has a shortcut.
"Voice input unavailable." Speech recognition isn't available right now — check your connection and that speech recognition is allowed in your iPhone's settings.
It's mishearing names. Unusual names are hard. Say them clearly, or type the name and dictate the rest.
It stopped while I was still talking. Long pauses can end dictation. Tap the microphone again and continue — what you already said is kept.
Nothing appeared when I spoke. Check your iPhone isn't muted and nothing is covering the microphone. Try again somewhere quieter.
I don't see the Voice/Text card. Use the microphone icons beside the fields instead — the same dictation, one field at a time.
Questions
Does it work offline? Simple dictation into a field works on your device. Pulling details out of a longer sentence may need a connection.
Can I dictate in another language? It follows your iPhone's dictation language. Change it in Settings → General → Keyboard → Dictation Languages.
Is my voice recorded? No. It's turned into text as you speak, and the audio isn't kept.
Can I use Siri instead? Yes — see Using Siri with Deeta.
Is this the same as asking a question by voice? No — that's the AI tab's own microphone. See Asking by voice.