Dictate 5.1.0 builds on the 5.0 milestone with a transcription history, long-form dictation, GIF search and a big classic-layout upgrade. Updating from 5.0 shows a new What's-new tour for 5.1; coming from an older version, you'll get the 5.0 tour first and then 5.1 — and every tour stays re-viewable under Settings › About.
🎙️ Transcription & AI
- Transcription history — every dictation is kept in a searchable history. Re-insert a past transcript with a tap, replay the original audio, re-transcribe it, or pin the ones you reuse; a dedicated screen manages everything, including how long audio is retained. (#140)
- Long-form dictation — speak for as long as you like. Long recordings are split into segments and transcribed in the background as you go, so you get your text sooner and never hit a length limit. (#170)
- German offline model — Parakeet German (primeline) transcribes entirely on-device, no internet needed. (#176)
- Claude (Anthropic) joins as a new provider for rewording and formatting your dictations.
- Model downloads run in the background — on-device model downloads keep going when you close the dialog or leave the app, with an ongoing progress notification. (#207)
- Pick the active transcription language directly in settings. (#174)
- The stop button now truly cancels an in-flight transcription or rewording — no more paying for a request you've already stopped. (#192)
- A custom reasoning-effort value for rewording, and it's dropped gracefully when a model doesn't support it. (#186, #184)
⌨️ Keyboard & layout
- GIF search — a fast, Gboard-style GIF picker built right into the keyboard. Search and drop a GIF straight into your chat.
- Classic layout, reworked — a freely arrangeable action row you build by drag & drop, long-form recording controls, one or two prompt rows, an always-available backspace, a character popup on the Enter key, and an optional second "switch keyboard" button for easier one-handed use. (#183, #194, #196, #206)
- Multilingual typing — bilingual users are no longer autocorrected across languages. (#190)
- A show/hide toggle for API-key fields. (#195)
🔧 Settings & polish
- In-app settings search — find any setting by name, jump straight to it and highlight the row. (#187)
- The classic dictation layout now has its own settings category. (#199)
🐛 Fixes
- A malformed (third-party) theme can no longer crash the keyboard with a NaN text size.
- The emoji, clipboard and history panels now keep the keyboard's exact height, so they don't jump when opened.
- The Smartbar "Switch language" button cycles your layouts instead of jumping to another keyboard app. (#200)
- Classic number pad: multiple digits no longer overwrite each other, and the backspace key has the full delete gesture.
- Space/backspace swipes are preserved on the modern keyboard in the legacy swipe mode. (#188)
- Startup crash fixes, a loading indicator for the history panel (#205), shorter settings labels that no longer get cut off (#202), and various smaller fixes.