Nothing’s Essential Voice Is a Dictation Tool That Actually Makes Sense

AI dictation apps are everywhere now. Wispr Flow, Superwhisper, Willow, Monologue — new ones pop up every week. So when Nothing dropped its own version called Essential Voice this week, my first reaction was “not another one.”

But after looking at what it actually does, I’m less skeptical. Essential Voice works in any app, turns speech into formatted text, and strips out filler words like “um” and “ah” automatically. That’s table stakes at this point. What caught my attention is the system-level integration.

Most dictation tools are apps you have to open separately or keyboard extensions that feel tacked on. Nothing built Essential Voice directly into the OS. On the Phone (3), you press the dedicated Essential key. On other models coming later this month and next, you trigger it from the keyboard. That’s a much smoother experience than switching contexts.

Custom voice shortcuts are where it gets practical. You can map a phrase like “my address” to your full home address, or create shortcuts for links, templates, and repeated phrases. This is the kind of thing that saves real time if you dictate a lot, and it’s higher than I expected for a first release.

Nothing claims the feature supports over 100 languages at launch, with direct translation between languages. That’s ambitious, and I’ll believe the quality when I test it myself, but the scope is impressive. They’re also planning app-based custom styling later, so you can set different tones for work messages versus personal chats.

The timing is interesting. Superwhisper just released a similar feature for iPhone that maps the action button to dictation. Google also recently showed off offline dictation. Nothing isn’t the first to do this, but being one of the first with system-level integration on Android gives them an edge — at least until Google bakes it into Pixel.

Right now, Essential Voice is available on Phone (3), with Phone (4a) Pro getting it later this month and Phone (4a) next month. If you’re on one of those devices, it’s worth trying. If you’re not, this is another sign that voice input is finally becoming a first-class citizen on phones, not just a gimmick.