Qenzo AI Dictation Keyboard vs Gboard and iPhone Dictation

Gboard's voice typing and the iPhone's built-in Dictation are both free, both already installed, and — for most of what people actually use them for — both work well. Qenzo AI dictation keyboard costs money on top of a phone that already dictates. The honest question is not whether the built-in tools work; it's which specific jobs they don't do, and whether those jobs are worth paying for.

What Gboard's voice typing actually does

Google's own help pages describe two tiers. Standard voice typing is a tap of the microphone key that transcribes speech in most places you can type. Punctuation is added by saying it out loud — "period," "comma," "question mark," "new line" — and Google notes that "punctuation might not be available in all languages." Google's documentation does not state that standard voice typing runs on the device.

A newer tier, Advanced voice typing, is limited to Pixel phones (6 and up). In its base form Google is explicit: "the text you speak stays on your device and isn't sent to Google servers," with named exceptions. "Fix it" (Pixel 8 or 8 Pro and later, English, US, and a network connection) corrects typos and grammar in text already on the screen; Google's page doesn't say whether it sends audio or only text. Detailed voice-edit commands (Pixel 8 and later, English US) do send data: "both your voice command transcript and the full text from the input field are sent to Google servers... No audio data is sent." Separately, a set of "writing tools" voice commands — "rephrase the message," "formalize the text," "make my text more casual," and others — needs Pixel 9 (excluding the 9a) or later and works in six languages: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish. Unlike "Fix it" and detailed edits, Google states writing tools run entirely on the device: "all proofreading and rewriting of text via voice happens on the device." Advanced voice typing also has a real Auto punctuation toggle.

Beyond the Pixel 9 writing-tools commands above, nothing in Google's documentation describes automatic removal of filler words or false starts, a way to speak one language and get text in another, or profession-specific vocabulary. And even "formalize" and "make my text more casual" aren't a recipient picker: there's no boss, client or friend to choose, just a tone you ask for by voice after you've already dictated, one message at a time.

What the iPhone's Dictation actually does

Apple's iPhone User Guide is direct about where processing happens: "Dictation requests are processed on your device in many languages — no internet connection is required." It adds two caveats worth keeping: dictating into a search box sends that text to the search provider, and "cellular data charges may apply" in some cases even though the core request is on-device. Dictation is turned on in Settings > General > Keyboard.

Apple's punctuation handling is better than Gboard's default: "In supported languages, Dictation automatically inserts commas, periods, and question marks as you dictate," and that can be switched off. Other marks, like exclamation points, are still added by saying their name. A dictation session stops automatically after 30 seconds of silence.

Apple's own pages say nothing about translating what you say, removing filler or false starts, choosing a tone or a recipient, or a profession-based vocabulary. Dictation follows the keyboard's language — switch to a Spanish keyboard and you can dictate in Spanish — but it does not turn Spanish speech into English text, or the reverse.

Where they land, compared

Axis	Qenzo	Gboard voice typing	iPhone Dictation
Price	Free for 20 actions, 50 more with an email, then Qenzo Pro at $9.99/month or $79/year	Free, built into Android	Free, built into iOS
Works offline	No. Typing, suggestions, autocorrect and transliteration work offline; everything the AI does — cleanup, translation, tone, re-listening — needs a connection	Standard mode: not described as on-device. Advanced voice typing (Pixel, 6 languages for writing tools): stays on-device	Yes, for most languages: Apple states requests are processed on-device and no internet connection is required (search-box dictation and some cellular charges are exceptions)
Punctuation	Automatic, as part of the finished sentence	Spoken by name in standard mode; automatic only in Advanced voice typing on Pixel	Automatic commas, periods and question marks in supported languages; can be turned off
Removes filler and false starts	Yes, by default, every time	No, not automatically. Two separate opt-in voice commands exist after dictating: "Fix it" (Pixel 8+, English, US) fixes typos and grammar; "Rephrase" (Pixel 9, excluding the 9a, and later, six languages) reworks the message	No. What you say, "um" included, is transcribed as said
Output language different from spoken	Yes — 42 languages, chosen per message	No. Recognizes the keyboard's active language; not a translator	No. Follows the active keyboard's language; not a translator
Tone / recipient	Seven tones, eight recipient types, chosen by the person, never guessed	No tone or recipient picker. Pixel 9 (excluding the 9a) and later, in six languages, can be asked by voice — after dictating — to "formalize" or "rephrase," processed on the device, one request at a time	None described
Professional vocabulary	100 professions, up to four vocabularies active, plus a 200-term personal dictionary	Not described on Google's voice-typing pages	Not described on Apple's dictation pages
Privacy of the recording	Never written to disk; private mode leaves no history row	Standard mode: not stated as on-device. Advanced mode: writing-tools commands (Pixel 9) run on-device per Google; "Fix it" and detailed edits (Pixel 8+) send data to Google — detailed edits confirms text only, not audio, while Fix it's data isn't specified beyond needing a network connection	Apple states requests are processed on-device; search-box dictation is sent to the search provider
Where the text lands	Directly in the app you're already typing in — it replaces the keyboard	Directly in the field you tapped — it is the keyboard	Directly at the insertion point — it's a keyboard-level feature

The same messy sentence, two ways

Say you're rushing out and dictate this to a client, out loud, exactly as people actually talk:

"okay so, um, we need to like, push the deadline, I think, maybe to Friday, um, if that's fine with you, uh, sorry for the short notice, thanks"

Gboard's standard voice typing and iPhone Dictation both transcribe close to what was said. Apple's automatic punctuation may add a comma or two at natural pauses; Gboard in standard mode adds none unless you say "comma" out loud. Neither removes "um," "like," or "I think," because neither claims to:

"okay so um we need to like push the deadline I think maybe to Friday um if thats fine with you uh sorry for the short notice thanks"

Qenzo, with the tone set to formal and the recipient set to client, sends:

"We need to push the deadline to Friday, if that works on your end. Sorry for the short notice, and thank you for understanding."

Notice what didn't change: the deadline is still Friday, the apology is still there, and nothing was promised that wasn't said. What changed is the filler, the false start, and the register — dropped, cleaned and formalized, not invented.

What the built-in tools don't try to do

None of this is a defect in Gboard or iPhone Dictation — they're transcription tools, and by Google's and Apple's own descriptions, that's the job they do. Neither claims to translate what you say into another language, rewrite it for a different reader, strip out how people actually talk when they're not being careful, or know that you write as a nurse, a lawyer or a plumber and spell accordingly. Qenzo exists for the dictations where those specific jobs matter — a client email, a message in a language you don't type in, a note that needs to sound like you wrote it sitting down rather than said it half-distracted. For a quick reminder to yourself, the built-in keyboard that's already on your phone, free and largely private by both companies' own account, is the right tool.

On iPhone, Qenzo's own keyboard requires iOS 17 or newer. On Android, Qenzo replaces Gboard the same way any third-party keyboard does, from Google Play.