Set up Vox on your iPhone

The whole first-run setup, including the Shortcut that makes dictation work.

This is the same flow the app walks you through on first launch. Use it if you skipped a step or would rather read than click.

Setting up a Mac instead? See Set up Vox on your Mac.

1. Turn on and connect

1. Hold the black button for 2 seconds

   Vox vibrates when it turns on. Keep it in front of you rather than on your chest for now, so you can see the buttons and lights while you set up.

2. Keep holding for 5 seconds more to enter pairing mode

   Only needed the first time, or when adding a new device.

3. Pair it in Settings

   Open Settings, then Bluetooth, and select Vox. Keep the device near your iPhone.

More detail in Turning on and pairing.

2. Wear it

Like a necklace, tucked under your shirt so the silicone ring touches your skin.

3. Take notes anywhere

On iPhone, every button gesture captures a note. Press to start, press again to stop. Each note lands in Notes, here and on your Mac.

This works immediately, with no setup. If all you want is capture, you can stop here.

4. Dictating into a text field

Dictation on iPhone needs two more pieces, because iOS does not let an app type into other apps. Vox bridges the gap with a Shortcut and your Action Button.

1. Add the Shortcut

   The app opens Shortcuts pre-filled. Tap Add Shortcut, then come back to Vox.

2. Map your Action Button

   Settings, then Action Button, and pick the Dictate To Text Field shortcut.

Then, to dictate:

1. Tap the field you want to write into

   A timer in the Dynamic Island shows when recording is live.

2. Squeeze the Action Button to start

   Say what you want to write. Whisper or speak out loud, Vox picks you up either way.

3. Squeeze again to finish

   The transcript pastes into the field you tapped.

5. Optional: silence the paste prompt

Because the transcript arrives by paste, iOS asks “Allow Paste?” every time until you tell it not to. To stop the prompt for an app you dictate into often:

Settings, then Apps, then the app in question, then set Paste from Other Apps to Allow.

You have to do this per app. It is worth doing for the two or three you use most.

6. Optional: add your Mac

Vox remembers every device you pair with. Once your Mac is added, a quick press of the black button switches between them.

Set up your Mac

Where the full feature set lives.

What differs between them

Mac and iPhone are not identical.