I wrote this article on the 101 freeway during the morning rush hour. To be completely honest I did some light editing and added links afterwards, but the bulk of the material was drafted while I was behind the wheel.
Before I go too far, there are some risks to multitasking while driving even when you use my completely hands-free approach. You can’t really pay attention to everything all at once. If you don’t believe me just look at the first video on this link and tell me how many times the players in white pass the ball to each other.
That said, if you are determined to take make the most of your daily commute by taking detailed notes-to-self, it’s important to find a tool that is as frictionless as possible. And with the iPhone you have two options – one is bad and the other is worse.
The Bad – Hey Siri Take a Note
Apple’s “Hey Siri take a note” functionality is good in theory but terrible in practice. It’s easy to invoke – just yell “Hey Siri…take a note” at your phone and your iPhone becomes an instant amanuensis, taking your speech and transforming it into words then reading it back to you for confirmation.
The problem is that Apple has to send the information to it’s server in order to parse your spoken words into written text and then send it back to your phone. Siri interprets any pause as an end to the dictation session. This probably saves you some data charges for dead air but it’s incredibly frustrating to use.
The Worse – The Microphone Button
Let’s say you use something like Drafts or DevonThink To Go or pretty much any writing app as your primary note-taking application. You can invoke Siri’s transcription services by pressing (and holding) the microphone button on the keypad. (No, it’s not an icon of hotdog in a wine glass.)
The problem is that you have to open a note, hold the button down and then save the note. Not exactly hands-free. And take it from someone who knocked off a driver’s side mirror by hitting a snow marker while fiddling with iPhone buttons – this is not a road you want to travel.
I mention the microphone button for two reasons. First, it is a great way to enter a lot of text when you are NOT driving. Second, I’m wondering if the upcoming Siri Shortcuts app might make Siri inside of apps more accessible when you’re behind the wheel. We’ll have to wait and see.
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The Third Way – Google Voice
Determined to find something that works better than Siri take a note I remembered that Google Voice does a bang-up job of transcribing voice mail messages. Google Voice is a free phone number and voicemail service that you can use for placing calls or texts, receiving calls and texts…pretty much anything you would use your phone to do.
One great thing you can do is send voicemail to yourself while you are driving. Google will record the message, transcribe it and email it back to you. One of the best things about this is that your cell phone provider will treat this like an ordinary phone call…it won’t count against your data usage the way Siri does.
With Google Voice you get about three or four minutes of message time before Google abruptly says “GOODBYE” and cuts you off. Note above where it says “transcript ends here”…that’s about how much you can dictate with one call on Google Voice.
As I said earlier Google will email the transcription to you so that you can cut-and-paste it into Ulysses or Bear or whatever app you do your writing in. Sometimes Google won’t include the transcription in the email, I’m not sure why. Possibly length. If that happens you can access your Google Voice account online and find the transcript there.
I still use Siri for reminders when I’m driving and longer notes when I’m walking. But when I want to capture a longer set of thoughts and I’m behind the wheel, Google Voice works great for me.
