Sidekick for Android

The app’s setup takes you there, or go yourself: in the Settings app, System → Keyboard → On-screen keyboard → Manage on-screen keyboards, turn on Sidekick and tap OK on Android’s notice. Then, with any text field open, tap the keyboard icon at the bottom of the screen (or the globe on your current keyboard) and pick Sidekick. Android keeps the keyboard you picked until you switch again.

Get the app from Google Play and sign in with your OpenCharts account first; the keyboard has no sign-in screen of its own.

With Sidekick as your keyboard, tap the mic at the right of the bar, talk, then tap the check when you are done. The words land at your cursor, cleaned up for wherever you are writing — a chat, an email, a note.

Android lets a keyboard use the microphone while it is on the screen, so every dictation happens where you are typing. The very first tap after a restart shows “Opening…” for a moment while Sidekick gets ready in the background; after that the mic answers at once.

Each of these opens Sidekick ready to listen; the words land on your clipboard, or in the field if the Sidekick keyboard is up when you go back.

• Quick Settings tile. Edit your Quick Settings and add the Sidekick tile. One tap opens Sidekick ready to listen, from any screen.
• App shortcut. Long-press the Sidekick icon on your home screen and choose Talk to start a dictation straight away.

The keyboard never reaches the network itself; it hands your voice to the Sidekick app on the same phone. It reads the text around your cursor so Theo can fit the words in, and sends that along only while Context Awareness is on in Dictation settings; turn that off and only your voice is sent.

A dictation on the keyboard and one in the Sidekick app itself can never run at once — they share the same microphone. Recordings and their transcripts stay on your phone; your dictionary, shorthand, transforms and language picks sync with your account.