Urdu
Speak Urdu.
It types Urdu.
Speech to text for Urdu, in any Android app. Tap the bubble floating over whatever app you're in, say your sentence in Urdu, and Urdu script appears in the field that already had your cursor — right to left, punctuated, in the app you were already using. There is no Urdu keyboard to install and no input method to switch between.
Spoken in Urdu, inserted in Urdu, in a right-to-left field.
Step by step
How to type Urdu by voice in WhatsApp.
- Install Speakline from Google Play and allow the microphone, the floating bubble and the accessibility service when it asks. The accessibility service is how the words reach the text field.
- In Speakline's Profile screen, set the dictation language to Urdu.
- Open a WhatsApp chat and tap the message box, as if you were about to type.
- Tap the bubble, say your message in Urdu, and tap the tick. Urdu script appears in the message box, right to left.
- Read it over and press send yourself. Speakline types; it never sends anything for you.
The same four taps work in Gmail, Messages, Chrome, Notes or any other app where a cursor can sit.
اردو میں
اردو میں بولیں، اردو میں لکھیں۔
سپیک لائن ایک اینڈرائیڈ ایپ ہے جو آپ کی آواز کو اردو تحریر میں بدل دیتی ہے۔ واٹس ایپ، جی میل یا کسی بھی ایپ میں اسکرین پر تیرتے بٹن کو دبائیں، اردو میں بولیں، اور آپ کے الفاظ اسی جگہ لکھ دیے جائیں گے جہاں آپ کا کرسر ہے۔ اردو کی بورڈ انسٹال کرنے کی کوئی ضرورت نہیں۔
یہ ترجمہ نہیں کرتی: آپ جو اردو میں بولیں گے، وہی اردو میں لکھا جائے گا۔ پہلے سات دن مفت، کارڈ کے بغیر۔
The important part
It transcribes. It does not translate.
This is the thing people assume wrongly, so it is worth being blunt about: Speakline writes down what you said, in the language you said it. Speak Urdu and you get Urdu. There is no setting that turns your Urdu into English on the way to the text field, and none that turns your English into Urdu.
If you want a translator, Speakline is the wrong app. If you want your own words in your own script, without hunting for a keyboard layout, it is the right one.
Auto mode, honestly
Auto does not cover Urdu.
Speakline has an Auto mode for speech that switches language mid-sentence, and Urdu is not one of the languages it handles. Auto covers ten — English, Spanish, French, German, Hindi, Russian, Portuguese, Japanese, Italian and Dutch — and that list comes from the transcription engine, not from us.
Urdu/English mixing is the obvious reason someone would reach for Auto, which is exactly why it is worth saying plainly rather than letting you find out from a bad transcript. For Urdu, set the language to Urdu and speak Urdu. The app's own Settings screen says the same thing.
Text styles
Urdu always arrives exactly as dictated.
Speakline has four text styles that change how a sentence ends — Clean, Formal, Casual and Excited. They apply to languages written in the Latin alphabet, and Urdu is deliberately left out of them.
The reason is the punctuation. An Urdu sentence ends with ۔, not with a full stop, and a rule that welds a Latin . onto the end of your Urdu would be putting a mark in the middle of your text. So whatever style you have selected, Urdu comes back Clean: your words, your punctuation, untouched.
Where it types
Any Android app with a cursor.
Speakline is not a keyboard, so it never appears in the keyboard picker and nothing has to be switched to and back from. The bubble floats above the app you are already using — WhatsApp, Gmail, Chrome, Notes — and the Urdu goes into the field you were already looking at. If a field refuses typed text, the words go to your clipboard instead and Speakline tells you so, so a dictation is never lost.
Questions
Asked about Urdu, specifically.
Do I need an Urdu keyboard installed?
No. Speakline isn't a keyboard and doesn't appear in the keyboard picker. It types into the field through Android's accessibility service, so whatever keyboard you already have stays where it is.
Will it translate my Urdu into English?
No. Speakline transcribes. Speak Urdu and Urdu script lands in the field. There is no translation step, in either direction.
Does Auto mode handle Urdu mixed with English?
No. Auto mode covers ten languages — English, Spanish, French, German, Hindi, Russian, Portuguese, Japanese, Italian and Dutch — and Urdu is not among them. For Urdu, set the language to Urdu.
Do the text styles work in Urdu?
No, and that is deliberate. The styles change the mark a sentence ends on, and an Urdu sentence ends with a different mark than a Latin-script one. Rather than weld a full stop onto your Urdu, Speakline leaves it exactly as dictated whatever style is selected.
Can I use Speakline for Urdu voice typing on a computer?
No. Speakline is an Android app, for phones and tablets. There is no desktop or browser version, so if you are typing Urdu on a laptop, this is not the tool for that.
How is this different from my keyboard's voice typing?
Keyboard voice typing lives inside the keyboard, so Urdu usually means adding Urdu to that keyboard and switching to it. Speakline doesn't touch your keyboard: the bubble sits above whichever one you use, and the language is set once in the app.
Does Urdu dictation work offline?
No. Speakline transcribes in the cloud and needs a connection every time you speak, in Urdu as in every other language. It doesn't fall back to your phone's built-in recogniser.
