The microphone in Junie is not picking anything up

Speaking to Junie needs your iPhone's offline dictation model. Here is how to tell if it is missing, and how to get it.

The mic button next to the message box lets you talk to Junie instead of typing. It transcribes entirely on your iPhone, which is why your voice never leaves the device and never reaches us.

That also means it depends on Apple's offline dictation model being installed. If the model is missing, the mic switches itself off and Junie tells you so, usually with an error like this:

The fix that works

Open iOS Settings > General > Keyboard.
Turn Enable Dictation off.
Turn it back on, and accept the prompt.
Come back to plottwist and tap the mic again.

Switching it off and on again is what actually matters. Having Dictation already enabled is not enough on its own, because the offline model can be absent even when the setting looks correct. Toggling it makes your iPhone fetch the model again.

If that did not do it

Check Settings > General > Keyboard > Dictation Languages and make sure your language is ticked.
Stay on Wi-Fi and turn Low Power Mode off. It holds back background downloads like this one.
Give it a few minutes. The model downloads in the background and is not instant.
Try the keyboard's own mic key once, in Notes. Using it can be what prompts your iPhone to fetch the model.

How to tell whether the model is really there

Turn on Airplane Mode, open Notes, and use the mic key on the keyboard. If words appear with no connection, the offline model is installed. If nothing happens, it is not, and the steps above are what you need.

One thing that is not a fault

The mic closes itself after a few seconds of quiet. That is deliberate, so it is never sitting open listening to the room, and everything you said stays in the box. Tap it again to carry on and the new words are added to what is already there.

You can also pause mid-thought without losing anything. Say a sentence, stop to think, and keep going: both parts are kept.

Nothing is broken in your account if this happens, and no part of it reaches us. You can always type to Junie instead.