What is Code Mode, and when should I turn it on?

With Code Mode on, saying the name of a symbol types the symbol. "Const total equals price star quantity semicolon" becomes const total = price * quantity; instead of that sentence written out in words. It is off by default, and it is meant to be turned on while you are writing code and off again afterwards.

#Turning it on

There are two switches, and they are the same switch.

• Open Settings → Code Mode and turn on the top toggle.
• Or click the Dictate Safe icon in the menu bar and tick Code Mode.

#Three things change while it is on

These are forced, not offered, and they all go back to how you had them the moment you turn Code Mode off.

• AI cleanup is skipped. Cleanup is built for sentences, and it would turn your brackets back into words. See what cleanup fixes and what it does not.
• Live typing is paused. Nothing appears while you speak. Code editors auto-close brackets and pop up autocomplete against half-finished text, so text arriving word by word gets mangled by the editor before the symbols have been worked out. See live typing, and when to turn it off.
• The careful speech model is used. Ordinary dictation uses a faster model, which is as accurate as the careful one on plain speech but noticeably worse on symbol names. On the same recordings the careful model takes roughly two to three times as long. See choosing a speech model.

#It stays on until you turn it off

Code Mode survives quitting and reopening Dictate Safe, so a session of writing code needs one click at the start and one at the end rather than a click per line. Turn it off when you go back to ordinary writing, from either the menu bar or Settings.

#What to read next

The two reference pages are how to dictate brackets, quotes and operators and how to dictate a name like getUserName. The full list also lives inside the app, under Settings → Code Mode → What to say, generated from the same table the feature itself uses.