It took computers nearly half a century to catch up with science fiction — think “Open the pod bay doors, HAL.” But today’s dictation or speech-to-text software is now impressively accurate.iPhones and Android devices today understand at least nine out of 10 words spoken to them. And dedicated dictation software recognizes 97% of words on average, no training required. That’s a boon for people with limited hand dexterity or chronic pain, professionals who need to type by voice (without, for example, having to remove gloves). It’s also great for anyone who needs to type while they’re walking, biking, or driving, and for people who want to record their thoughts faster than they can type.After spending over 20 hours testing 19 dictation tools, we found that Wispr Flow is the best dictation software for most people. It’s highly accurate, supports custom vocabulary and formatting commands, and cleans up dictated text without changing what you said. For free, writing-focused dictation, we recommend Microsoft Word’s free Dictate feature, which shows recognized text while you’re talking.