Voice Typing Without the "Um": Turn Messy Speech Into Clean Phone Messages

If voice typing on your phone gives you messages full of "um", "uh" and half-finished corrections, use a voice keyboard that cleans up as it types. YOURIO is a voice keyboard that works in any app. Its Magic · Standard mode removes filler words, keeps only the final version when you correct yourself and adds punctuation. It runs on your phone, works offline and is free with no word limit.

Twelve unread chats and four minutes before the next client

You're walking from one appointment to the next. WhatsApp has a dozen unread chats: a client asking when the viewing is, a colleague asking for the keys, your kid asking who's picking them up. Typing each reply with one thumb while you walk is slow, and you make typos. So you try the microphone on your keyboard.

The words come out, but so does everything else. "Um, so the viewing is tomorrow at 3, no wait, 4, and uh, bring your ID." Plain dictation types exactly that: the "um", the "uh", the 3 you took back and the 4 you meant. Now you either send a message that sounds like you were thinking out loud, or you stop and fix it by hand, which is what you were trying to avoid.

Why typing faster or plain dictation doesn't fix it

Built-in dictation does what it's designed to do: write down what it heard. That's the right behavior for a transcript, but people don't speak in finished sentences. We pause, fill the pause with "um", and change our mind halfway through. A transcript of that is accurate and still not something you'd send a client.

The other options cost time. Saying every message twice, slowly and perfectly, isn't faster than typing. Cleaning up afterwards on a small screen means moving the cursor, deleting words and adding commas. Copying the text into a chatbot app and back works, but it's three app switches for a two-line reply.

What YOURIO's Magic · Standard does to what you say

YOURIO turns your speech into text with your phone's own on-device recognizer. The audio is never saved and never sent to YOURIO. Before the text lands in your chat, Magic · Standard runs a set of rules on the phone:

• Filler words go. "Um", "uh" and hesitation sounds at the start are removed.
• Only your final correction stays. When you say "3, no wait, 4", the 3 and the correction words are removed and the 4 stays.
• Punctuation is added. You get sentences with commas and full stops instead of one run-on line.

The rules are written separately for each language, so the fillers and correction words Magic looks for in English ("um", "I mean") aren't the same ones it looks for in Spanish or Japanese. Because nothing goes to a server, Magic · Standard works with no signal and costs nothing, however much you talk. The full story of how corrections are handled is in Correct yourself mid-sentence and keep only the final version.

What Magic · Enhanced adds

Some messages need more than a cleanup. Magic · Enhanced sends the text (never the audio) to a cloud AI, which rewrites it into what you meant while keeping your tone:

• reorders thoughts you said in the wrong order ("actually, call Mom first" moves to the top);
• fixes words the recognizer misheard;
• turns a spoken list into bullet points (more in Think out loud, send a tidy list);
• writes in the style of the app you're in, so a chat reply reads like a chat message.

Every Enhanced result goes through a fact check before it's typed. The AI may not add numbers, names or a "not" you didn't say, and anything you took back must be gone. If the result fails, YOURIO types the rule-cleaned version instead, so the AI never gets to change what your message says.

Enhanced works two ways. Sign in to use YOURIO AI, with 2,000 free words a week, or YOURIO Pro at US$2.99 a month for 1,000,000 words. Or add your own API key (OpenAI, Claude, Gemini and others), and requests go straight to that provider with no limit from us. See pricing.

It's a keyboard, so it works in every app

YOURIO is a voice keyboard, not a separate app you copy from. Switch to it in WhatsApp, Messages, Gmail or your CRM, tap the microphone, talk, and the cleaned text is typed into the field you're in. On Android you switch back to your usual keyboard for typing by hand. On iPhone, the keyboard needs Full Access, and the YOURIO app stays ready in the background so the keyboard can listen.

Two more things help on busy days. If a reply you've already written sounds too blunt, select it and say "make it more polite" (how Edit works). And if you can't remember what you told a client last week, Memory keeps the text of what you said with YOURIO on your phone (how to find it again).

Honest limits

• Magic cleans what the phone heard. Recognition is done by your phone's own recognizer. If it mishears a word on a loud street, Magic · Standard can't know that. Enhanced can fix some misheard words, and names you use often can go in the personal dictionary.
• Corrections need a cue word for the rules to catch them. "No", "no wait" and "I mean" work. A change of mind with no cue word is something only Enhanced can sort out.
• It's for talking, not typing. YOURIO doesn't replace your keyboard for typing by hand.
• Enhanced needs a connection and sends text to the cloud AI you chose. If that's not OK for your work, stay on Magic · Standard, which never leaves the phone.
• Which languages you can speak depends on your phone. YOURIO uses your phone's on-device recognizer, so the list of languages it can recognize comes from your phone's system.

Try it in five minutes

1. Install YOURIO (download links are at the end of this article).
2. Open the Speak tab and download the language you speak, so recognition works offline.
3. Turn on the YOURIO keyboard in your phone's settings (on iPhone, also allow Full Access).
4. In WhatsApp, switch to the YOURIO keyboard, turn on Magic and say your reply the way you'd say it out loud.
5. Optional: sign in or add your own API key, then switch Magic to Enhanced in the AI tab.

Switching from another AI dictation app? Here's how YOURIO compares with Typeless. If you speak more than one language, see Speak your language, type another.

Frequently asked questions

How do I stop voice typing from writing "um" and "uh"?

Use a voice keyboard that removes filler words before the text is typed. YOURIO's Magic · Standard removes "um", "uh" and similar fillers, keeps only your final correction and adds punctuation. It runs on your phone, works offline and is free with no word limit.

Does YOURIO work in WhatsApp and other chat apps?

Yes. YOURIO is a keyboard, so it works in any app where you can type: WhatsApp, Messages, Telegram, email, notes and so on. You switch to the YOURIO keyboard, tap the microphone and speak, and the cleaned text is typed straight into the chat.

Is voice typing with YOURIO free?

Voice typing, real-time translation, Memory and Magic · Standard are free with no account and no word limit. Magic · Enhanced, Edit and Ask Memory use cloud AI: 2,000 free words a week with YOURIO AI, YOURIO Pro at US$2.99 a month, or your own API key with no limit from us.

Does YOURIO send my voice to the cloud?

No. Speech is recognized on your phone and the audio is never saved or sent to YOURIO. Only Magic · Enhanced, Edit and Ask Memory send text, never audio, to the cloud AI you chose.