Support

Write to louissaks@gmail.com. One person answers, usually within a couple of days. Tell us which device and which iOS or macOS version you are on, and what you did right before the problem showed up. That is normally enough to find it.

Three steps, and the app walks you through all of them.

1. Download a speech model in the app. It is a one time download and everything works offline afterwards.

2. Allow the microphone when the app asks. The dictation runs in the main app, because iOS does not let a keyboard record on its own.

3. Add the keyboard: Settings, General, Keyboard, Keyboards, Add New Keyboard, Orbly. Then tap Orbly in that list and switch on Allow Full Access.

The speech model is a file in the app’s shared container, and without Full Access a keyboard extension is not allowed to read that container. Without it there is no model and no dictation.

The keyboard does not record, store or transmit what you type. It has no network code at all. The full detail is in the privacy policy.

The keyboard says the setup is incomplete. Full Access is off, or no model has been downloaded yet. Both are in the steps above.

Nothing happens when I hold the orb. iOS blocks microphone recording inside keyboards on most devices. Orbly notices this and turns the orb into a shortcut that opens the app, where you dictate and then return. That is expected behaviour, not a fault.

A call interrupted my dictation. The recording is dropped and you get a short notice. Just dictate again.

Recognition is poor. Pick a larger model in the settings. Larger models are more accurate and need more memory and time. For German, the small model is the sensible minimum.

The download failed or the model is damaged. Orbly checks every model against a fixed checksum and deletes it if it does not match. Download it again on a stable connection.

Everything Orbly stores stays on your device. Clear the history in the settings, delete downloaded models there too, or delete the app, which removes all of it at once.