How do I dictate a Family Chats message by voice?

When your hands are full — feeding, soothing, walking the stroller — voice-to-text in Family Chats lets you compose a note without typing.

How it works.

1. In any thread, tap the mic button next to the input. The recording starts straight away — no hold-to-speak.
2. A small sheet opens in place of the input with a live waveform and a ghosted preview of what you've said so far.
3. Tap ✓ (or press Enter) when you're done. The transcript drops into the input where you can edit, add to it, or attach photos before tapping Send.
4. Tap ✗ (or press Escape) to cancel without sending anything.

Voice-to-text is review-before-send by design — you always get a chance to fix a mishearing before the message goes out to your co-parent.

Adding to an existing draft.

If you've already typed part of the message, the transcript is appended with a space so you can dictate the rest. Useful for tacking on "…and she ate a full bottle" without retyping what you'd already written.

What's stored.

The original audio is never saved — only the transcript. It's identical to a typed message once it lands in the thread, so editing, unsending, reactions, and replies all work the same way.

If the transcript looks wrong.

Edit it in the input before sending — voice-to-text isn't perfect, and a quick fix is usually faster than re-recording. If the whole thing missed badly, tap the mic again to record a fresh take.

Not the same as the coach voice modes.

This is dictation for Family Chats — what you say goes to your co-parent, not to the AI coach. If you want a hands-free conversation with the coach (where Happyly listens, replies aloud, then listens again), see voice-realtime-mode.