Voice Input for Expenses & Invoices — Now on iPhone Too

Voice Input for Expenses & Invoices — Now on iPhone Too

Lagos, Nigeria — February 2026

You asked for it, and we built it: voice input for expenses and invoices is now available on TaxHQ, and it works on every device — including iPhone and iPad.

Why Voice Input?

If you've ever tried to log an expense while stuck in Lagos traffic, you know the struggle. Typing on a small screen is slow. Voice is faster.

With TaxHQ voice input, you just say:

> "Spent 5k on Bolt to the island yesterday"

And we'll extract the amount (₦5,000), vendor (Bolt), category (transport), date (yesterday's date), and even mark it as tax-deductible. One tap to confirm, and the expense is logged.

Now for Invoices Too

We've extended voice input to invoice creation. On the New Invoice page, tap "Speak or type your invoice" and say something like:

> "Invoice Ade for 3 website banners at 25k each, due in 2 weeks"

TaxHQ will extract the customer name, create line items with quantities and prices, and set the due date. Select your customer from the dropdown, review the details, and you're done.

The iOS Problem (and Our Fix)

Here's something most people don't know: Apple's Safari browser doesn't support the Web Speech API. That means voice-to-text features that work perfectly on Chrome and Android simply break on iPhone.

We solved this with a two-path approach:

1. Chrome/Android: Uses the native SpeechRecognition API (instant, no server round-trip)

2. iPhone/iPad: Records audio using MediaRecorder, sends it to our server, and transcribes it using Groq's Whisper AI model

The result? Voice input works everywhere. On Chrome it's instant. On iOS there's a 2-3 second delay for the server transcription, but it works reliably.

Technical Details for the Curious

• Audio is recorded as MP4 on iOS Safari (the only format it supports) and WebM on Chrome
• Server-side transcription uses Whisper large-v3-turbo via Groq for fast inference
• 30-second recording safety cap to keep file sizes small (~480KB max)
• Microphone stream is properly released in all exit paths — no lingering permissions

What It Understands

Our AI parser understands Nigerian English conventions:

• **"5k"** = ₦5,000
• **"N35,000"** or **"₦35,000"** = ₦35,000
• **"yesterday"**, **"last Friday"**, **"two weeks ago"** = actual dates
• **"Uber"**, **"MTN"**, **"Shoprite"**, **"EKEDC"** = auto-categorized
• **"due in 30 days"** or **"net 14"** = calculated due dates for invoices

It also handles Pidgin: "I spend 2k for fuel" works just fine.

How to Use It

Voice Expenses

1. Go to Accounting → New Expense

2. Tap Speak (or type in the text box)

3. Say your expense naturally

4. Review and confirm

Voice Invoices

1. Go to Accounting → New Invoice

2. Tap "Speak or type your invoice"

3. Describe your invoice

4. Review extracted items, select customer, and create

What's Next

We're working on:

• **Voice input for receipts** — speak what's on the receipt, we'll match it to the photo
• **Hausa and Yoruba** language support for voice input
• **Recurring voice commands** — "Log my weekly diesel expense, 15k"

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Voice input is available now for all TaxHQ users. Try it at taxhq.ng/accounting/transactions/new.

*TaxHQ is building the financial tools Nigerian businesses deserve — and making them work on every device.*