Dictation Station — Support

Dictation Station is a voice recorder built so that someone with very low vision can dictate their life story on their own: giant buttons, spoken feedback, and a book of numbered stories that can never be lost by accident.

Setting it up (done once, by a family member)

1. Create an OpenAI API key at platform.openai.com (pay-as-you-go; recording and listening typically cost a few cents per hour). A spending limit on the account is a good idea.
2. Open the app and follow the first-run setup: allow the microphone and paste in the key.
3. Pick a read-back voice and speed in the settings area (the gear in the top corner) if you'd like.
4. Optional but recommended: sign the device in to iCloud so stories sync to other devices, and connect a family storage bucket in Settings → Family backup for an extra copy the family owns.

Using it (the storyteller)

Tap the red block and talk. Tap the screen to stop. The app writes the story down; keep it with the green block or redo it with the orange one. The blue block reads any story aloud. Everything speaks.

Common questions

A story won't write itself down. The recording is safe — the app saves audio first and retries writing it down when the internet comes back. If it persists, check the key in Settings; a "Needs attention" section appears there when something is wrong.

Something was deleted by mistake. Nothing the storyteller does destroys a recording. Look in Settings → Thrown away stories to restore it, and every earlier take of a story is kept in that story's history.

The app doesn't talk. Check the ring/silent switch and volume. Story read-back always plays; the extra spoken descriptions of buttons are a toggle in Settings called "Speak Screen".

Contact

Email abrown@elementengineering.org — happy to help with setup.