Anthropic, the AI research company behind the Claude chatbot, has officially begun rolling out a new voice mode for its mobile app, enabling users to engage in fully spoken conversations with its AI assistant.

The feature, currently launching in English over the coming weeks, represents a major expansion of Claude’s interactivity and places it in direct competition with other AI voice assistants such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini Live, and xAI’s Grok.

The company made the announcement via its official X (formerly Twitter) account and updated documentation on its support website. According to the release, voice mode is powered by Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet 4 model by default and offers users an immersive, hands-free AI interaction.

“Voice mode… enables you to speak to Claude and hear responses through voice, making it easier to use Claude when your hands are busy but your mind isn’t,” Anthropic wrote in an official support article. “Voice mode transforms how you interact with Claude by… displaying key points on-screen as Claude speaks and allowing you to speak to Claude and hear Claude’s voice responses.”

What Voice Mode Offers

The new feature includes a range of user-centric enhancements. Users can choose from five different voice options, allowing a personalized conversational experience. Voice mode supports back-and-forth discussions not only about simple prompts but also about more complex content such as documents and images. The app also allows real-time switching between voice and text input, and it generates transcripts and conversation summaries for easy follow-up and reference.

This flexible design aligns with Anthropic’s emphasis on safety and clarity in AI interactions. During or after a conversation, Claude users will be able to view key discussion points highlighted on the screen, making it easier to follow longer or more complex voice exchanges.

Limited Access and Usage Caps

Voice mode is initially being made available to users in phases, with a full English rollout expected in the coming weeks. However, not all features are accessible to everyone. The capability to connect voice mode with tools like Google Calendar and Gmail via the Google Workspace connector is limited to paid Claude users. Integration with Google Docs is available exclusively to Claude Enterprise plan subscribers.

Additionally, voice conversations are counted against a user’s overall usage cap. According to Anthropic, most free-tier users can expect to have between 20 and 30 conversations using the new feature before hitting their limit.

A Competitive Feature in a Crowded Field

The launch of voice mode is a strategic move that brings Claude closer to competing on equal footing with major AI platforms that have prioritized natural speech interaction. OpenAI offers a robust voice experience through ChatGPT’s mobile app, including Whisper-powered speech recognition and voice synthesis. Google’s Gemini Live allows for natural speech exchanges and has integrated tightly with Android. Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s xAI recently introduced voice functionality for its Grok assistant on X.

By bringing voice functionality to Claude, Anthropic is signaling its intent to compete in this increasingly popular AI application area—where convenience, responsiveness, and personalization are key user expectations.

The rollout follows an earlier confirmation by Anthropic’s Chief Product Officer, Mike Krieger, who revealed in a March interview with the Financial Times that the company was developing voice capabilities. Krieger noted that Anthropic was exploring collaborations with Amazon—one of its major investors—as well as voice-focused startup ElevenLabs, known for synthetic voice technology.

While it’s unclear which of those partnerships materialized for the current release, the voice mode’s launch demonstrates Anthropic’s growing ambition to push the Claude platform into more intuitive, real-world applications.

A Step Toward Mainstream AI Utility

The introduction of voice mode is more than just a user interface update—it reflects a broader shift in how AI assistants are expected to operate. The ability to communicate naturally, without the need for typing, is fast becoming a baseline expectation for AI systems intended for everyday use, whether on smartphones, in vehicles, or integrated into smart home systems.

Jared Kaplan, Anthropic’s Chief Science Officer, has previously suggested that voice and multimodal capabilities are part of Claude’s roadmap toward being a more useful, capable AI assistant.

With voice mode, Claude moves a step closer to that goal.

Availability

The new voice mode is currently rolling out to users of the Claude mobile app in English. Full availability is expected within the next few weeks, with no official announcement yet on additional languages or regions.

Anthropic’s Claude voice mode is available to both free and paid users, though advanced integrations and usage caps vary by plan. The Claude mobile app can be downloaded from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Claude’s voice mode adds to the growing list of tools empowering users to engage with AI in more natural, seamless ways as conversational AI continues to evolve, reaffirming that the future of AI may very well be spoken.