Talking and listening

When your hands are full, you can talk to a chat and have the replies read to you. Your speech is turned into text on your device. No recording is made, and no audio goes to your organization, to the assistant or to anyone else. Only the text you send goes, just as if you had typed it.

Voice needs iOS, iPadOS or macOS 26 or later. On older systems, the keyboard's own dictation still works.

Talking instead of typing

The microphone sits in the composer, next to the send button.

• Hold to talk. Press and hold the microphone and speak. Your words appear in the field as you talk. Let go to stop. The words stay in the field so you can check them before you send.
• Slide away to cancel. While you are holding, slide your finger away from the microphone until it reads Release to cancel, then let go. The field goes back to what it held before.
• Tap for hands-free. Tap the microphone once and talk. It stops by itself when you stop talking, or when you tap it again.

Words still being worked out are drawn lighter until they settle. The first time, your device asks for permission to use the microphone.

Sending what you said

You always see your words before they go, unless you turn on Send when I stop talking in Settings. Then a hands-free message is sent as soon as you stop talking.

If what you said looks like card or ID details, nothing is sent and you see the same warning as when you type it. Card and ID details belong in the secure form the assistant opens, never in a chat.

Hearing the replies

Tap the speaker icon at the top of a chat to turn Speak Replies on; it is filled while on. Tap it again to turn it off. It is on every chat where voice is available, the Concierge too, and also in the chat's ••• menu and the Mac's Chat menu. Some streamlines, such as Receiving, start with it on.

• Replies are read a sentence at a time, as they arrive. They are still shown in the chat as usual.
• While it is on, the assistant writes for listening: short, plain sentences, numbers said the way people say them, and an offer of details instead of a long list. A small Voice replies tag by the composer shows this; tap it to turn Speak Replies off. Turn it off and the next reply is written as usual again.
• Code, tables and links are not read out. A card is announced in one short line, such as A card is on screen: Customers.
• While it reads, a Stop button shows at the top of the chat. Esc stops it too on a Mac or a keyboard, and so does tapping the chat, typing or pressing the microphone.
• Leaving the chat stops the reading: another chat or tab, the list, another account, closing the window or leaving the app.
• With hands-free and Listen again after a reply on, the microphone opens again once a reply has been read, so you can go back and forth without touching the screen.

Nothing starts again by itself after a call or when you unplug your headphones.

Hearing a message again

• With Speak Replies on, each message from the assistant has a small play button under it: play, pause, resume, with a line that shows how far it has got. Playing one stops any other.
• With it off, there is no button. Right-click a message on the Mac, or press and hold it on the iPhone and iPad, and choose Speak. The same menu has Copy, Select Text…, Share… (for your own messages) and Copy Chat Reference.

What is never spoken

• Secure forms. A secure form, a receipt or a secure view is only ever announced as A secure form is on screen. Nothing in it is read out. The microphone is turned off while a secure form is open.
• Confirmations are always a tap. When something needs your confirmation, you hear Waiting for your tap. Tap Submit sale to confirm. Saying yes does not confirm anything: only tapping the card does.

Voice settings

Settings → General → Voice offers two voices: Samantha (the default) and Karen, each in the best quality your device has, with a badge (Premium, Enhanced or Standard) and a sample. If only the standard one is installed, Get a more natural Samantha (free) shows where to download a better one (iPhone and iPad: Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → Voices; Mac: System Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → System Voice → Manage Voices). Streamliner switches to it by itself once it is downloaded. A new choice is heard on the very next line, in every chat.

The same group holds the Speed, Send when I stop talking, Listen again after a reply, Interrupt by talking on the speaker, Stop listening after a pause (low, medium or high), and on the iPhone Speak replies through the speaker or the earpiece. They stay on this device. Voices never come from the internet. Your organization can turn voice off; the microphone then shows why.

On the Mac

The Chat menu has Speak Replies, Start Listening (⇧⌘L) and Stop Speaking (Esc) for the chat in front. Only one chat listens at a time, even with several windows open.