Voice entry

The mic key on the Dimensional Calculator lets you say a measurement or a sum instead of typing it. You see what the phone heard, you see what it adds up to, and nothing goes into the calculator until you tap INSERT. Recognition runs on the phone — audio never leaves it.

Step by step

Dimensional Calculator keypad. The bottom row holds diagonal, equal parts, the mic key and the 1/16" fraction menu. — The mic key is in the bottom row of the keypad.

On the Dimensional Calculator, tap the mic key. The VOICE ENTRY sheet opens and starts listening straight away. The first time, iOS asks for speech recognition and then for the microphone.
Say the measurement or the sum the way you would say it to the crew, then stop talking.
Read the transcript. It is exactly what the phone heard.
Check EQUALS. It is the value of what you said, at the calculator's current fraction setting.
Tap INSERT. It appears as soon as what you said reads as a measurement, even while the sheet is still listening. It stops listening and puts in exactly what EQUALS shows, so check that first.

Voice entry sheet: transcript “5 foot 3 and 5/16 plus 12 and a half inches”, EQUALS 6' 3-13/16", INSERT button. The line above reads On-device recognition — audio never leaves your phone. — Transcript, the EQUALS preview, then INSERT.

What INSERT does

Inserting presses the same keys you would have typed. It does not press = for you, so after a spoken sum the calculator shows the sum waiting, not the answer — press =, or end the phrase with the word "equals".

A half-typed number on the display is cleared first, so it cannot run together with the spoken one.
A sum in progress is kept. Type 5 ft +, then speak the second measurement.

What you can say

The vocabulary is small on purpose. English only.

Feet and inches — "five foot three", "twelve feet", "5 foot 3 and 5/16".
Fractions — "three quarters", "an eighth", "five and five sixteenths", "twelve and a half inches", "three quarters of an inch". Halves, thirds, quarters, eighths, sixteenths, thirty-seconds and sixty-fourths are understood.
Decimals — "2.5 feet" or "2 point 5 feet".
Larger numbers — "forty seven", "one hundred twenty".
Sums — "plus", "minus", "times", "multiplied by", "divided by": "3/16 plus 5/8", "8 divided by 2".
Equals — "6 inches plus 6 inches equals".
A foot and a half — "a foot and a half" is 1' 6", "two and a half feet" is 2' 6", "an inch and a half" is 1-1/2".
A question — "what's", "what is" or "how much is" at the start is skipped: "what's 3 sixteenths plus 5 eighths".
Symbols, typed or dictated — + − x × / ÷ =: "3/16 + 5/8", "12 feet x 4". A dash on its own is minus ("10 feet - 3 feet"), except between a whole number and a fraction, where it is the dash key: "6 - 1/2 inches" is 6-1/2".

Use "and" between a whole number and its fraction — it does the job of the dash key.

What it will not take

The parser never guesses. If any word in the phrase is not one it knows, the whole phrase is refused and you are asked to try again.

Any other word — "5 foot 3 whatever" is refused.
"to", "too" and "for" heard in place of two and four. They are not turned into numbers.
Negative numbers.
A sum with a piece missing — "5 plus", or "plus 5".
A number straight after inches with nothing between — "6 inches 3/4". Say "6 and 3/4 inches".
A decimal with a fraction on it — "2.5 and 3/4".
Two whole numbers joined by a dash — "12-4". For minus, put a space each side: "12 - 4".
A second "and" after a unit — "a foot and a half and a quarter".
"clear". Close the sheet and use AC.

Voice entry is part of the Dimensional Calculator, which is free. It does not need Pro.

If it doesn't work

"Speech recognition is off for Housewright Calc…" or "The microphone is off for Housewright Calc…" — the sheet names the permission that was refused. Tap Open Settings on the sheet and turn that one on.
"Voice entry is turned off on this device by Screen Time or your organization." — whoever manages the phone's Screen Time or its company profile has turned speech recognition off. It can't be turned on from the app or from its settings; ask them.
"The microphone isn't available…" — a call or another app has the microphone, or there's no microphone connected. Close the sheet, sort that out, and open it again.
"On-device speech recognition isn't available for…" — the phone has no on-device recogniser for the language it names. The app tries your own English first, then US English. There is no server fallback, because audio never leaves the phone.
"Didn't hear anything" or "Didn't catch that as a dimension" — tap TRY AGAIN. If the transcript shows a word from the list above, rephrase it.
AirPods connected, or a headset came out, while it was listening — it stops and shows what it heard. TRY AGAIN listens again on the microphone you have now.