Sample CodeiOS, iPadOS, Mac CatalystReviewed 2026-07-21View on Apple Developer

Recognizing speech in live audio

At a glance

Item Summary
Purpose Perform speech recognition and transcription on audio captured from the microphone of an iOS device.
App architecture A Swift sample with the source-visible chain AppSceneDelegateViewControllerIsolatedCaptureSessionSpeech APIs.
Main patterns View-controller organization, Delegate or data-source callbacks, Actor isolation
Project style 4 scanned source file(s) across Swift, organized around ranked entry, type, and file boundaries.
Execution model Source-visible boundaries: @MainActor, async declaration or closure, Sendable or @Sendable, MainActor.run, Task; none alone proves a background thread.
State/event model No structured observation or publisher-scheduling marker indexed.
Key frameworks/packages Speech, UIKit, Foundation, SwiftUI, Synchronization; these are source dependencies, not architecture labels.

Project structure

Source bundle/
├── SpokenWord/
│   ├── AppSceneDelegate.swift
│   ├── ViewController.swift
│   ├── Transcription.swift
│   ├── Base.lproj/
│   │   └── Main.storyboard
│   └── Info.plist
├── datagenerator/
│   └── main.swift
├── Configuration/
│   └── SampleCode.xcconfig
└── SpokenWord.xcodeproj/
    ├── .xcodesamplecode.plist
    └── project.pbxproj

Structure observations

  • Architecturally prominent files are ranked from entry points and role-named declarations; resource-only paths are omitted.
  • Primary languages: Swift.
  • The verified tree contains 5 project/configuration file(s) and 7 source declaration(s).

Overall architecture

Reference code

SpokenWord/AppSceneDelegate.swift:10 — architecture anchor

@main
class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {
}

Interpretation

The arrows summarize the source-visible entry, role-named types or folders, and framework direction; when nodes come from structural folders, the sequence is a high-level interpretation rather than proof that every adjacent node calls the next. Ownership is claimed only where the next section cites a stored property or assignment. The diagram is intentionally limited to the dominant path into Speech.

Ownership and state

Ownership evidence

SpokenWord/AppSceneDelegate.swift:15 — stored dependency or nearest verified ownership anchor

class SceneDelegate: UIResponder, UIWindowSceneDelegate {
    var window: UIWindow?
}
Owner Object or state Relationship Mutation authority
SceneDelegate UIWindow (window) stores or receives App/module collaborators
main DictationTranscriber (locale) stores or receives Initialized by the owner; the binding is immutable
main SFCustomLanguageModelData (data) creates and retains Initialized by the owner; the binding is immutable
ViewController UITextView (textView) stores or receives App/module collaborators

Composition arrows indicate a source-visible construction expression or locally owned value state; aggregation means the owner stores or receives a dependency without proving exclusive lifetime ownership.

Concurrency, scheduling, and thread safety

Evidence limit: actor isolation, async/await, or Task creation does not by itself prove background-thread execution; Sendable conformance alone does not prove thread-safe mutation.

Concern Source mechanism Verified placement or handoff Evidence
Main isolation @MainActor The cited annotation marks its attached declaration or closure as main-actor isolated. SpokenWord/Transcription.swift:51
Suspension boundary async declaration or closure The source declares or crosses an asynchronous boundary; it does not by itself establish background execution. SpokenWord/Transcription.swift:65
Transfer contract Sendable or @Sendable The source declares a sendability boundary; this alone does not synchronize mutable state. SpokenWord/Transcription.swift:114
Main isolation MainActor.run The cited operation explicitly enters a main-actor-isolated region. SpokenWord/Transcription.swift:123
Task creation Task The source creates an unstructured task; surrounding context determines inherited actor isolation. SpokenWord/ViewController.swift:154

@MainActor/MainActor.run, DispatchQueue.main, and RunLoop.main are reported as distinct isolation, queue, and event-loop mechanisms. A plain Task is kept separate from Task.detached; neither is labeled as a background thread.

Reference code

SpokenWord/Transcription.swift:51 — representative execution boundary

@MainActor
final class SpokenWordTranscriber {
    private var transcriber: DictationTranscriber?
    // ...
}

State propagation, frameworks, and dependencies

Evidence limit: an import proves a source-level compilation dependency at the cited line; it does not prove runtime use, architectural adoption, or whether a Swift package is a direct application dependency.

Category Mechanism or module Verified role Evidence
Source import Speech The cited file imports this module; runtime use and architectural role are not inferred. SpokenWord/Transcription.swift:9
Source import UIKit The cited file imports this module; runtime use and architectural role are not inferred. SpokenWord/AppSceneDelegate.swift:8
Source import Foundation The cited file imports this module; runtime use and architectural role are not inferred. SpokenWord/Transcription.swift:8
Source import SwiftUI The cited file imports this module; runtime use and architectural role are not inferred. SpokenWord/Transcription.swift:10
Source import Synchronization The cited file imports this module; runtime use and architectural role are not inferred. SpokenWord/Transcription.swift:11

receive(on:) describes downstream delivery scheduling, while subscribe(on:) describes upstream subscription/request/cancel scheduling. An import Combine alone establishes neither behavior nor a Store, reducer, Redux, or other application architecture.

Class and protocol design

SpokenWord/AppSceneDelegate.swift:11 — representative type boundary

@main
class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {
}
Type Responsibility Depends on or conforms to
AppDelegate Receives callback-driven events UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate
SceneDelegate Receives callback-driven events UIResponder, UIWindowSceneDelegate
ViewController View lifecycle, callbacks, and feature coordination UIViewController
IsolatedCaptureSession Owns a session-scoped interaction Concrete collaborators/imported frameworks
RecordingState Represents mutable feature state Concrete collaborators/imported frameworks
TranscriptionError Represents feature failure conditions Error
SpokenWordTranscriber Owns feature behavior and collaborator lifecycle Concrete collaborators/imported frameworks

No local protocol conformance is claimed as protocol-oriented design; external framework conformances are listed only as dependencies.

Access control

Symbol Access Verified effect Likely rationale
transcriber (SpokenWord/Transcription.swift:53) private Use is restricted to the lexical declaration and same-file extensions allowed by Swift. Inference: keep state mutation or dependency lifetime inside the owning implementation.
analyzer (SpokenWord/Transcription.swift:54) private Use is restricted to the lexical declaration and same-file extensions allowed by Swift. Inference: keep state mutation or dependency lifetime inside the owning implementation.
downloadAssetsIfNeeded (SpokenWord/Transcription.swift:103) private Use is restricted to the lexical declaration and same-file extensions allowed by Swift. Inference: hide an implementation step that is not part of the collaboration surface.
createDictationTranscriber (SpokenWord/Transcription.swift:132) private Use is restricted to the lexical declaration and same-file extensions allowed by Swift. Inference: hide an implementation step that is not part of the collaboration surface.

Reference code

SpokenWord/Transcription.swift:53 — representative boundary

@MainActor
final class SpokenWordTranscriber {
    private var transcriber: DictationTranscriber?
    // ...
}

Swift declarations without a modifier are internal; explicit private, fileprivate, private(set), public, or open entries above are interpreted by language semantics. Objective-C/C samples instead rely on header and implementation boundaries, which are not equivalent to Swift lexical privacy.

Logic ownership and placement

Logic Owning type or file Placement rationale
View lifecycle, callbacks, and feature coordination ViewController The source’s Controller suffix makes this role explicit.
Receives callback-driven events AppDelegate, SceneDelegate The source’s Delegate suffix makes this role explicit.
Owns a session-scoped interaction IsolatedCaptureSession The source’s Session suffix makes this role explicit.

Design patterns

Pattern Source evidence Purpose or tradeoff
View-controller organization SpokenWord/ViewController.swift:11 A controller is the verified coordination boundary; this is MVC-style only where a separate model is present.
Delegate or data-source callbacks SpokenWord/AppSceneDelegate.swift:11 Callback protocols invert event delivery back into the sample’s owner.
Actor isolation SpokenWord/ViewController.swift:329 A declared actor creates an explicit isolation boundary; its executor is not described as a background thread.

Main application flow

Reference code

SpokenWord/ViewController.swift:213captureAndAnalyzeAudio()

    private func captureAndAnalyzeAudio(
        transcriber: SpokenWordTranscriber,
        captureSession: IsolatedCaptureSession,
        audioSequence: any AsyncSequence<AnalyzerInput, any Error> & Sendable
    ) async throws {
        if await captureSession.startRunning() {
            await MainActor.run {
                self.updateUI(captureIsRunning: true)
            }

            // Returns when task is canceled
            try await transcriber.transcribeAudio(audioSequence)

            await captureSession.stopRunning()
            await MainActor.run {
                self.updateUI(captureIsRunning: false)
            }
        }
    }

Naming conventions

  • Types: Controller: ViewController; Delegate: AppDelegate, SceneDelegate; Session: IsolatedCaptureSession.
  • Protocols: no local protocol declaration in the scanned source.
  • Methods: viewDidLoad, viewDidAppear, prepareEnvironment, startRecording, runSession, captureAndAnalyzeAudio, updateTranscription, stopRecording.
  • Files: SpokenWord/ViewController.swift.

Architecture takeaways

  • AppSceneDelegate is the main source-visible entry or composition anchor for this sample.
  • Framework work reaches Speech, UIKit, SwiftUI, Synchronization through a deliberately small high-level chain; the detailed API graph remains inside the cited implementation files.
  • Stored-property evidence identifies lifecycle collaboration; it does not by itself prove exclusive object ownership.
  • Access-control conclusions separate verified language visibility from the likely design rationale.
  • The source does not justify labeling the design protocol-oriented.

Source map

Source file Relevant symbols
SpokenWord/AppSceneDelegate.swift Cited implementation, AppDelegate, UIKit, SceneDelegate
SpokenWord/Transcription.swift Cited implementation, @MainActor, async declaration or closure, Sendable or @Sendable, MainActor.run, Speech, Foundation, SwiftUI, Synchronization, TranscriptionError, SpokenWordTranscriber
SpokenWord/ViewController.swift ViewController, IsolatedCaptureSession, Task, RecordingState
datagenerator/main.swift Feature implementation