Can I create a button that starts Voice Dictation mode in iOS?

Question

I understand this is a bad idea (to show a voice dictation button in the app when it's already on the keyboard when it's available). But I have a client who would really like to have a microphone icon in a text field that would enter voice dictation mode when pressed.

Note, I am talking about the standard OS voice dictation mode (that the keyboard controls).

So the basic question is:

Can I tell the keyboard to enter voice dictation mode?

(my guess is that it's not allowed, but I would love something more "official" than my gut)

Answer 1

This wouldn't be possible unless you were to jailbreak your device. There would be little reason for Apple to offer a public API to do this, because any time you would be able to invoke it is when the keyboard is showing anyway, which would contain the button to activate it.