Voice Typing in Urdu and English: Android, iPhone, PC Guide

Learn how to voice type in Urdu and English on Android, iPhone, and Windows, including the workarounds that fix devices where Urdu isn't built in yet.

9/10/20266 min read

Texting family in Urdu and then switching to English for a work email, all with the same microphone button, sounds simple. In practice, it isn't consistent. On some phones, voice typing handles both languages without a hitch. On others, the microphone either stays silent when you speak Urdu or quietly types out English instead.

That inconsistency isn't a broken microphone or a bad app. It comes down to which phone, keyboard, and operating system you're using — because Urdu voice typing simply isn't available everywhere yet. This guide covers what actually works on Android, iPhone, Windows, and Mac, and the workarounds for the devices where Urdu support is still missing.

Why Urdu Voice Typing Doesn't Work the Same Way on Every Device

English voice typing is supported on almost every keyboard and operating system. Urdu is a different story, because Google, Apple, and Microsoft each build and roll out speech recognition for one language at a time, and they haven't all reached Urdu on the same schedule.

Google added Urdu to its speech-recognition systems back in August 2017, as part of an update that brought Urdu (Pakistan, India) and 30 other languages to Gboard, Google Assistant, and related voice services. That's why Urdu voice typing on Android has been reliable for years, while Apple's Dictation and Windows 11's Voice Typing still don't include Urdu on their supported-language lists.

Also Read: How to Transfer Data to a New Android Phone Safely

There's a second wrinkle even where Urdu voice typing does exist: it usually won't blend into the same sentence as English automatically. Keyboards that auto-detect a language switch mid-sentence do that well for language pairs that share a script, like English and Spanish. Urdu is written right-to-left in a different script, so most keyboards treat it as a language you switch to manually rather than one they can guess on the fly.

Quick Answer: Where Urdu Voice Typing Works Right Now

Platform Native Urdu Voice Typing What To Do Instead Android (Gboard) Yes — built in Nothing extra needed iPhone / iPad No Dictate through the Google Translate app Windows 11 No Use Google Docs voice typing in Chrome Mac No Same Google Docs workaround, in Chrome or Safari

If you're on Android, the fix is a two-minute settings change. On iPhone, Windows, or Mac, you'll need to route Urdu dictation through a Google product instead of the device's built-in tool.

Voice Typing in Urdu and English on Android (Gboard)

This is the easiest case, since Gboard has supported Urdu voice typing for years. It just needs to be added as a language once.

Add Urdu as a Keyboard Language

Open Settings and go to System > Languages & input > On-screen keyboard > Gboard > Languages. (On some phones, this sits under Settings > General management > Keyboard list, depending on your phone's version of Android.)
Tap Add keyboard, search for Urdu, and select it.
Confirm the layout Gboard suggests.

Switch Between Urdu and English While Typing

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Touch and hold the space bar, or tap the small globe/language icon next to it, to bring up the language switcher. Pick Urdu or English before you start speaking each part of your message. Since Gboard generally won't auto-detect a switch between two different scripts, doing this before each language segment — rather than mid-sentence — gives the most reliable results.

Start Voice Typing

Open any app you can type in — WhatsApp, Messages, Gmail, or Notes.
Tap the microphone icon on the Gboard toolbar.
Wait for "Speak now," then dictate in whichever language is currently active.
Switch the active language using the space-bar method above, then continue dictating in the other one.

Why iPhone Doesn't Support Urdu Voice Typing — and the Workaround

Apple's Dictation feature doesn't currently include Urdu. This has been a recurring, unresolved request in Apple's own support community across several iOS versions, and Urdu hasn't appeared in Apple's more recent language expansions either.

Also Read: How to Use Google Assistant Routines to Save Time

Installing Gboard on an iPhone doesn't fix this. On iOS, Gboard's microphone button hands off to Apple's own Dictation engine rather than using Google's speech recognition directly — which is why the same app supports far more languages for voice typing on Android than it does on iPhone.

English Dictation Works Normally

For the English half of a message, iPhone's built-in Dictation works as expected: go to Settings > General > Keyboard and turn on Enable Dictation, then tap the microphone on any keyboard.

Get Urdu Voice Input Through Google Translate

Since there's no keyboard-level fix on iPhone, the most practical route is the Google Translate app, which uses its own speech recognition rather than Apple's.

Open the Google Translate app.
Set the "from" language (on the left) to Urdu.
Tap the microphone icon, then tap Transcribe.
Speak in Urdu. The app displays the Urdu text on screen as you talk, with an English translation underneath it.
Copy the Urdu line — not the translated line — and paste it into WhatsApp, Notes, Messages, or wherever you need it.

If the microphone option looks greyed out for Urdu, voice input for that language may not have reached your app version or account region yet; updating the app is worth trying first.

For typing Urdu without voice at all, iPhone also lets you add a manual Urdu keyboard (Settings > General > Keyboard > Add New Keyboard > Urdu), and Gboard's Roman Urdu feature — typing Urdu using English letters that auto-convert to Urdu script — is a fast typing-only alternative.

Urdu Voice Typing on Windows and Mac

Windows 11's built-in Voice Typing (Win + H) and Mac's Dictation have the same gap as iPhone: Urdu isn't on either platform's supported-language list.

Check Why Windows Voice Typing Skips Urdu

Microsoft's official list of Voice Typing languages currently includes around 45 languages — Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu among them — but not Urdu, Arabic, or Persian. Installing an Urdu language pack in Windows Settings won't add voice typing for it, because the feature hasn't been built for that language at all. This isn't a setting to troubleshoot; it's simply not there yet.

Use Google Docs in Chrome for Urdu Dictation

Open Google Docs in Chrome (Edge and Safari also work for this feature; Firefox doesn't).
Open a document and go to Tools > Voice typing, or press Ctrl+Shift+S (Cmd+Shift+S on Mac).
Click the language dropdown on the microphone panel and choose Urdu — it may appear as "Urdu" or "Urdu (Pakistan)" depending on your account.
Click the microphone icon and start speaking.
Copy the text into whatever document or app you actually need it in.

The same tool covers the English half of a mixed document too — just switch the language in that same dropdown whenever you need to.

Also Read: How to Schedule Texts and Auto-Replies on Android

Tips for Switching Cleanly Between Urdu and English

Switch the active language before you start speaking, not mid-sentence. None of these tools reliably catch a language change on the fly between Urdu and English.
Pause briefly after switching languages so the app has a moment to register the change.
Punctuation voice commands like "comma" or "new line" are most reliable in English. For Urdu, it's often faster to add punctuation manually afterward.
Proofread mixed-language dictation before sending anything important — accuracy drops slightly whenever you're switching languages, on every platform covered here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does WhatsApp support Urdu voice typing?

WhatsApp doesn't build its own voice typing — it uses whichever keyboard is set as default on your phone. That means Urdu voice typing works inside WhatsApp on Android through Gboard, but not on iPhone, for the same reason it doesn't work anywhere else on iOS: Apple's Dictation engine doesn't support Urdu yet.

Will Apple ever add Urdu to Dictation?

There's no official timeline. Urdu remains a frequently requested language in Apple's support community, but Apple hasn't announced plans or a date. The Google Translate workaround above is the most reliable option for now.

Can I type Roman Urdu instead of using voice?

Yes. Gboard includes a Roman Urdu feature that converts Urdu typed in English letters into Urdu script as you go. It's a typing feature rather than a voice one, but it's a quick option on any Android phone.

Why does my keyboard keep switching back to English while I'm speaking Urdu?

This usually means the active input language wasn't switched before you started talking. Voice typing dictates in whichever language is currently selected, not the language it hears — hold the space bar on Android, or use the language dropdown in Google Docs, to set Urdu as active first.