Speech-to-Text, also called Dictation Mode, is an incredibly useful feature. If only it would let you swear.
By default, Android's speech-to-text function censors curse words using asterisks. Fortunately for the potty-mouths out there, this is easy to turn off no matter which keyboard your phone uses. Here's how to disable the profanity filter and allow swear words on Android in Gboard and Samsung Keyboard.
Enable Speech-to-Text Swearing in Gboard and Google Voice Typing
Most phones default to using Google's keyboard app for typing and voice typing. Gboard has a lot of great features, but still censors your curses by default. Although it does allow you to swear, it replaces all but the first letter of a word with asterisks.
There are two ways to change that: in the Gboard app and the Google Voice Typing app. Since Gboard is the most common, let's start with that.
First, you need to open the Gboard settings. There are a few ways to do this:
- Open Gboard in any app that allows text input and tap the gear icon on the toolbar. If it isn't visible, long-press the comma, then tap the gear icon when it pops up.
- Alternatively, you can navigate through the Settings menu. Go to Settings > System (or General management) > Languages and input > On-screen keyboard > Gboard.
- Now select the Text correction menu, where you will see an option labeled Block offensive words. Toggle this off.
- This will also allow Gboard to suggest profanity in its predictive text when you're typing, and it also works when you're using speech-to-text.
If you changed your Android Keyboard to a different app, you can still navigate to that app's settings this way.
Allow Swearing in Google Voice Typing
If you use voice typing a lot, you might use the Google Voice Typing app instead. This also censors your curses with asterisks, but you can change that, too.
To select Voice Typing, open an app that allows text input and tap the text entry box (a notes app or even a browser address bar will do). Select the keyboard icon on the navigation bar on the bottom right and tap Google Voice Typing.
- When Google Voice Typing opens, tap the gear icon to the left of the microphone button.
- Toggle-off Block offensive words.
Now speak a few swear words into the app to test it out, and you should see them in all their foul-mouthed glory.
The SwiftKey keyboard uses Google's speech-to-text software, so you'll need to adjust the Google settings to turn off censorship in SwiftKey.
Turn Off Censorship in Samsung Keyboard
On Samsung phones, the default Samsung Keyboard app uses Bixby for dictation, so you need to go into Bixby's settings to change it. However, you won't find them in the system settings menu.
- Get started by opening the speech-to-text feature. To do this, pull up the keyboard in any app and press the microphone to let Bixby start listening.
- While the microphone is up, tap the gear icon to open Voice Settings.
- In the settings screen, un-check Hide offensive words. Bixby will stop censoring your curse words when you dictate.
Now, give it a quick test to make sure it works.
If you do want your keyboard to censor your language—so you can avoid sending a vulgar tirade to your Grandma, for example—simply reverse the steps for all the keyboards above. Beware that it doesn't work flawlessly, though. A few misheard words can still sneak through!
Unblock Offensive Words on Android
Once you've adjusted these settings, you can carry on swearing like a sailor in dictation mode. Just make sure you double-check the accuracy of how the software transcribes your speech to avoid any unfortunate mishaps!
While you're in there, you might want to also save yourself some grief by adjusting the autocorrect, so that you can keep your written text flavorful, as well.
