How-to guide · Communication Draft a text message by voice

Actioncompose_sms
Audience Motor Privacy
Time Under 10 seconds
Permissions None — Aside opens an SMS draft; nothing is sent until you tap send
What this is: A spoken or typed request that opens your phone’s SMS app to a draft message with the recipient and body already filled in. Aside never sends a text. The draft just appears, ready for you to read, fix, and send if you choose.
Try it now

Open Aside on your phone, then say or type (replace Sam with whoever you’re writing to):

“Text Sam that I’m on my way.”

Aside confirms in the chat history and the SMS app opens with the message pre-filled. Add the phone number if Aside doesn’t know one for that contact, then tap send when you’re ready.

Step by step

  1. Open Aside

    Tap the Aside icon, or trigger your assist gesture if you’ve set Aside as your default assistant. Aside opens to the orb in its idle state with the prompt “Tell me everything,” beneath it.

    The Aside main screen at idle on a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. Across the top: the word ‘Aside’ with a red dot, a small mono status pill reading ‘● IDLE’, the cost counter ‘$1.796 today’, and a ‘NEW’ link top-right. Centered in the screen is a large warm-paper-colored orb with a soft brown core, slowly breathing. Below the orb, in large bold type: ‘Tell me everything,’ and below that ‘Tap the orb or type below.’ Near the bottom is a clay-colored ‘Make Aside my assistant’ pill button and a row of four mono pills: ‘history’, ‘type’, ‘muted’, ‘memory · 3’.
    Aside open at idle. The orb breathes; nothing else is happening.

  2. Say (or type) the recipient and the message

    Hold the orb to talk and say “Text Sam that I’m on my way,” or tap the type pill at the bottom and type the same phrase, then send. Use whatever name fits the person you’re writing to. Phrasings that all work: “text…”, “send a text to…”, “message… saying…”, “SMS…”.

    Text Sam that I’m on my way.
    The Aside main screen with the chat history bottom sheet covering the lower half of the screen. The status pill at the top reads ‘● READY’ and the cost counter has ticked up to ‘$1.830 today’. Behind a slight scrim the orb is dimmed; the words ‘Tell me everything,’ and ‘Tap the orb or type below.’ are still partially visible. Inside the bottom sheet: a small mono label ‘YOU’ above ‘Text Sam that I%27m on my way.’ (the apostrophe arrived URL-encoded from the test harness); and a label ‘ASIDE’ above ‘I still need Sam’s phone number to send that text. Can you provide it?’.
    Aside confirms it’s opening a draft only — and asks for the missing phone number rather than guessing. Nothing was sent.

  3. Your SMS app opens with the message pre-filled

    A moment later your phone’s default SMS app opens. The To field shows the recipient name (or a phone-number prompt if Aside doesn’t know one yet for that contact). The Message field reads “I’m on my way.” Nothing has been sent. The send arrow is sitting there waiting for you.

    The Google Messages SMS app full-screen on the Galaxy S23 Ultra in dark mode. At the top: a back arrow, a generic gray-circle contact avatar, the recipient ‘555-0148’, and on the right a phone-call icon and a three-dot overflow menu. Below: a large mostly-empty conversation pane with a centered timestamp ‘10:13 a.m.’ followed by ‘Texting with 555-0148 (SMS/MMS)’. At the bottom, the input row: a ‘+’ attachment button, the message field reading ‘I am on my way.’ with a smiley emoji and image-picker icon to its right, and a round blue circular ‘SMS’ send button at the far right. The keyboard is hidden. The message has not been sent.
    SMS app open with the recipient and the message pre-filled. Nothing leaves your phone until you tap the send arrow.

  4. Read, edit, and send — or back out

    Read the draft. Tap into the message field to fix wording or add detail. When you’re sure, tap the send arrow to send. To not send, tap the back arrow at the top — the SMS app discards the draft and nothing leaves your phone. Aside cannot send a text on your behalf, ever. The send button is the only way the message goes out, and that button is always under your finger.

Why doesn’t Aside just send? A text is the most casual way to make a serious mistake — wrong recipient, autocorrected nonsense, a thought you’d rather rephrase. Aside drafts; you decide. It’s the same safety stance as email and dial: the system app does the actual sending, you tap the actual button.
Note: Aside doesn’t yet read your contacts to look up phone numbers from a name — that’s on the roadmap. For now, if Aside doesn’t know the number for the name you said, the SMS app opens with the message pre-filled and asks you to pick or type the recipient.