---
title: "Talk to the assistant"
description: "Dictate messages to the Matchai Assistant, go hands-free while you drive, and what Matchai keeps when you speak instead of typing."
last_updated: "2026-10-21"
lang: "en"
status: "beta"
canonical: "https://matchai.co/docs/guide/assistant/voice"
---

# Talk to the assistant

> Dictate messages to the Matchai Assistant, go hands-free while you drive, and what Matchai keeps when you speak instead of typing.

**In closed beta. This feature is open to a small group of professionals while we finish it, so it may change. It is coming to every account.**

Source: https://matchai.co/docs/guide/assistant/voice

You can speak to the assistant instead of typing. Dictate one message and read it over before you send it, or go hands-free and have a spoken conversation while you drive.

## Dictate a message [#dictate-a-message]

<Steps>
<Step>
In the message box, select the microphone (**Dictate a message**). The first time, your browser asks for permission to use the microphone. Allow it.
</Step>
<Step>
Hold the microphone while you talk, or tap it once to keep recording.
</Step>
<Step>
When you are done, let go, or tap **Stop recording**.
</Step>
<Step>
Your words appear in the message box. Read them over, fix anything, then press **Send**.
</Step>
</Steps>

Nothing is sent while you speak. Stopping the recording puts your words in the box, so you always see them before the assistant does. Matchai also tidies them up, removing hesitations and repeated words.

If it heard nothing, nothing is added to your message. In some browsers, such as Chrome, a line under the message box shows your words as you say them, so you can see it is listening.

If you start a new chat while a voice note is still being turned into text, that voice note is not kept.

## Go hands-free [#go-hands-free]

Hands-free is for when you cannot look at the screen, such as when you are driving between viewings. You talk, the assistant answers out loud, then listens again.

<Steps>
<Step>
In the message box, select the sound-wave button (**Hands-free — it talks back, for when you're driving**).
</Step>
<Step>
Speak. The status line shows **Listening…**, then **Working on it…** while the assistant thinks, then **Speaking…** while it answers out loud.
</Step>
<Step>
Choose **Skip** to cut a spoken answer short, or **Stop** to leave hands-free and go back to typing.
</Step>
</Steps>

While hands-free is on, the message box is replaced by one large status line and its buttons, easy to read at arm's length.

### Approve out loud [#approve-out-loud]

When the assistant needs your approval, it reads the card aloud, including who a message goes to, and listens for your answer. Say yes, no, or what to change.

If it cannot tell what you said, it asks once more. If it still cannot tell, it stops asking and the card waits in the chat until you can tap it. A misheard answer never approves anything. In **Activity**, actions you approved this way say "you approved it out loud".

<Callout title="Why it works this way">
In a car, the microphone hears the radio, a passenger and the road. Asking you twice costs a few seconds. A misheard "yes" could send a message to a client that cannot be taken back. So when in doubt, the assistant waits.
</Callout>

## Call: an early preview [#call-an-early-preview]

**Call**, at the top of the assistant, switches from the chat to a spoken conversation. **Chat** switches back. This is an early preview of a voice assistant: it talks with you about your work and about Matchai, so you can hear how it sounds. It does not act in your workspace. To send, book or change anything by voice, use dictation or hands-free in the chat.

<Steps>
<Step>
Choose **Call**. Pick a voice from **Select voice** if you like.
</Step>
<Step>
Choose **Start demo**. The assistant speaks first, and what you both say appears on screen as you talk.
</Step>
<Step>
Use **Mute** to pause your microphone, and **End** to finish. **Show transcript** shows the whole conversation.
</Step>
</Steps>

To tell the Matchai team what you would want it to do, choose **Message us**. A call uses Matchai Energy while it runs.

## What Matchai keeps [#what-matchai-keeps]

- **Dictation and hands-free.** Your words become text in the chat, like a message you typed, and the assistant's answers are written there too. You find them later in **Past chats**.
- **Calls.** **Past calls** lists your recent calls, each with its transcript and, when one was captured, a short summary.

## Sitemap

- [Every page of Matchai Docs](https://matchai.co/docs/sitemap.md)
- [llms.txt](https://matchai.co/docs/llms.txt)