Using an iOS device?  If yes, then it’s probably safe to say that you aren’t too fond of the long loading times that you have to suffer whenever you use the voice input feature. Fortunately, one of iOS users’ pet peeves might soon be resolved, as Apple is said to be testing an offline dictation tool that will eliminate loading times altogether.

At present, when you use voice input in your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, the device uploads your speech to the cloud where Apple’s software can convert this to text.  This results in long turnover times, errors, and even unwanted data charges since you need an internet connection to connect.

By having an offline dictation tool, everything happens on your device and you won’t be hindered by a lack of internet connection to be able to use the tool.

Sound familiar?  It should.  Android devices have long had this capability, so you could say this is another feature that Apple has copied from Google.  iOS 7 is looking more and more like Android, don’t you think?

Changes Spotted in iOS 7 beta

According to  Hamza Sood, the person who first discovered evidence of this offline dictation tool, the code lies deep in the iOS 7 beta version.  The offline dictation tool is currently not active in public-facing builds, but sources claim that devices internal to Apple have the feature up and running already.

Image source: 9to5mac.com

It’s not hard to see why Apple would want this present on its devices, as the Cupertino company is getting pretty desperate to attract more users.  Also, Apple already has the tool available for Maverick, its latest Mac OS X version that’s soon to be released, by way of a downloadable package. Apple has a knack for making almost every functionality available in both platforms to give users a seamless experience.

Image Source: 9to5mac.com

What Else is Coming to the iPhone 5S?

This new rumor also hints at a few other things that Apple is planning for September.  In the past, Apple has introduced new voice features in its “S” phones.  The Voice Control feature was introduced on the iPhone 3GS, followed by Siri on the iPhone 4S, so Offline Dictation would be a logical addition to the next iPhone. Based on Apple’s history, that phone could well be the ‘iPhone 5S.’

The next iPhone, if indeed there is one, is rumored to have a more powerful processor than the A6 chip currently used in the iPhone 5.  Of course, this would almost certainly make the device more power hungry, so it makes sense that it would also come with a bigger and more powerful battery.