When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Heres how it works.

What you oughta know

you’re free to say goodbye to Windows speech recognition.

Microsoft announced the deprecation of the feature recently.

Image of the Razer BlackShark V2 HyperSpeed wireless gaming headset.

Going forward, Windows speech recognition will not be actively developed and will be replaced by voice access.

“Windows speech recognition is deprecated and is no longer being developed.

This feature is being replaced with voice access.

Copilot button on a Windows laptop

Speech recognition first shipped with Windows Vista to improve accessibility.

Voice access is a relatively new feature that replaces Windows speech recognition while also having significantly more capabilities.

Voice access entered testing among Windows Insiders late in 2021 and rolled out to general users in 2022.

Windows App

The feature is available on PCs running Windows 11 version 22H2 or later.

While systems on older versions of Windows do not support voice access, speech recognition should still work.

Microsoft has stopped development of the feature, but it has not removed it from older versions of Windows.

Windows Copilot key

Since adding voice access to Windows 11, Microsoft hasimproved the feature.

Several commands have been added over time as well.

The tech giant announced afive-year commitment to help people with disabilitiesback in 2021.

Windows Dev features

The updated Copilot app for Android on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 (2024).

Windows 11 system features

Windows 11 Start menu

Windows 11 battery usage

Copilot Vision for Windows announcement

Lenovo IdeaPad 5x 2-in-1 deal

Promotional screenshot of characters from Zenless Zone Zero

A closeup shot of the MSI Claw 8 AI+�s ABXY buttons.

The Crew

Promotional screenshot of a superpowered football kick in Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road