Capture diction now 2 steps

Capture diction now 2 steps on Apple Watch.

Purchased Drafts exactly for simplest, dependable diction of notes. I may as well use Things or Bear now.

Fix this. Return to 1 step dictation.

No need for me to continue to pay app that doesn’t continue to perform competently.

W G Barker

We are unable to fix this, unfortunately.

This is a change Apple made in watchOS 8.1, to always default text entry to the non-dictation option (on Series 7, that is the new keyboard, on previous models the “scribble” handwriting input).

There is no way for developers to override this behavior, and the watch does not remember your preference for the last used mode (it did on watchOS 8.0, but Apple eliminated that behavior on 8.1). This change not only affects Drafts, but anyplace you do text input on the watch (message replies, etc.).

I highly recommend you report this as a bug/regression to Apple using the Feedback Assistant. I have been trying to draw attention to this change because I think it is a significant regression for most watch users. I report it as a bug during the beta cycle but was informed by Apple it was an “intentional change”. Maybe enough feedback from users will make them reconsider.

The original notification and call to action from Greg on this very point, from when it first came to light, can be found here.

Has there been any resolution with Apple about 1 step dictation as it was, or are we stuck with new 2 step dictation?
I use Drafts every day in the car to dictate notes and new 2 step dictation makes it more dangerous as one drives … and Siri is useless. The original 1 step dictation made Drafts my number 1 app.

Yesterday’s release notes for Drafts:

The pertinent entry:

  • Change: Replaced microphone icon on Apple Watch complications and buttons. Since Apple has made it so it is not possible to launch input directly to dictation on watchOS 8.1, it no longer makes sense to use microphone icon. (PS: Please let Apple know if you do not like this change! We’d love to get back the ability to go straight to dictation.)

Have you reported this to Apple yet? The more people who do, the more chance it will be reviewed.

1 Like

Yes. But haven’t seen any response. Also, mentioned to Apple tech support during calls on other matters. They don’t acknowledge even knowing about Drafts app.

I’m not surprised they wouldn’t know about a specific third-party app. The best thing to do is probably to keep referencing back to Greg’s ticket - FB9685074.