You spoke, Subtle recorded you — but nothing appeared in the text field. This is one of the most common dictation issues and is almost always fixable.
Why this happens
Dictation inserts text at the cursor position in a text field. If there's no active cursor (or the app uses a non-standard text field), the transcribed text has nowhere to go.
Step-by-step recovery
- Check for a blinking cursor: Tap the text field once. You should see a blinking line — if you don't, the field isn't active and insertion will fail.
- Dictate a short test: Try dictating just "testing one two three." If it inserts, the issue was a missing cursor — just tap the field first next time.
- Try the paste fallback: If text still doesn't appear, long-press in the text field and look for Paste. Subtle often copies the transcript to the clipboard as a fallback — pasting may recover it.
- Restart the target app: Force-close the app and reopen it. Some apps have text field bugs that are resolved by a fresh launch.
- Test in a known-good app: Try dictating into Apple Notes. If it works there, the issue is specific to the target app.
Apps that block insertion
Some apps use custom text components (particularly web views, certain email composers, and enterprise apps) that block third-party keyboard input. In these cases:
- Dictate into the Subtle app or Apple Notes
- Copy the text
- Paste it into the target app manually
Contact support
If paste fallback also fails, contact support@subtle.co with: the target app name and version, whether paste recovered the text, and a short screen recording showing the cursor state and result.