The brief asks: where does the mic live? Two viable answers, both push-and-hold, both with live transcription. The right answer depends on whether voice is the primary input or a peer of typing.
A
Floating mic — voice as primary
Bottom-center FAB. Press-and-hold to talk. The most reachable thumb-target on the device.
9:41
Yemaya · Board Prep
Resumed your last thread. What's the question?
Reply to Lisa about the AGM agenda.
Pulled v4 — draft below.
hold to talk · tap for keyboard
Spec
Size64×64pt · 32% larger than standard FAB
PositionBottom-center, 26pt above home indicator
PressPress & hold records · release submits · slide-up to cancel
KeyboardSingle tap reveals a slide-up text field that pushes the mic into a corner
HapticLight tap on press · medium thump on release · error rumble on no-speech
A11yLong-press alternative via Action Button. VoiceOver announces "Mic, press and hold to talk".
Pros
Voice is the obvious primary input
Reachable with one thumb on any iPhone
No keyboard occlusion to worry about
Pairs naturally with the Action Button
Cons
Covers ~64pt of content area
Typing requires an extra tap
Bottom-center collides with iOS back-swipe
Floating element fights with system gestures
B
Embedded mic — voice as peer
Mic lives at the end of the input bar. Voice and keyboard are equal first-class citizens.
9:41
Yemaya · Board Prep
Resumed your last thread. What's the question?
Reply to Lisa about the AGM agenda.
Pulled v4 — draft below.
Ask any expert…
Spec
Size34×34pt mic inside 50pt input bar (Telegram parity)
PositionTrailing end of input · field grows to fill
PressTap field = keyboard · press & hold mic = record · slide-left to cancel · slide-up to lock
MotionSingle ripple ring (subtler than A). On hold, field morphs into a waveform that grows in place.
KeyboardSame bar holds keyboard — no mode-switch tap. Mic stays available the whole time.
HapticSame triplet as A. Lock-slide gets its own selection-tick.
A11yMic and field are sibling controls in the accessibility tree. Switch Control lands on field first, mic second.
Pros
Familiar — iMessage, Telegram, WhatsApp do this
Voice and typing are 1 tap apart
Composer occlusion is honest — no surprise FAB
Slide-to-lock and slide-to-cancel are well-known
Cons
Mic is smaller — easier to miss while walking
Less "voice-first" feeling visually
Less reachable for one-handed iPhone Plus use
Where Jonas's brief lands.
Front Desk wants voice as the primary input — voice-in / voice-out is the whole point for casual users like Lisa. Variant A makes that explicit. Variant B is safer and matches platform conventions, but it puts voice on equal footing with typing — diluting the "concierge you speak to" model.
Recommendation: ship A on first run. Let users move to B via Settings → "Compact input bar" once they've internalized the gesture. The Action Button gets bound to A's gesture regardless.