Dictation session time limits on Android
Last updated: November 10, 2026
Available on: Android
A long Android dictation can end mid-sentence at Flow's 5-minute session limit. Here's what the warning and cutoff do, how to continue in a new session, and how to recover text that wasn't pasted.
How the Android limit works
The 5-minute limit cannot be changed or disabled, and there is no remaining-time display. Time counts from when the microphone starts recording, not from the bubble press. Hold-to-dictate and tap/hands-free sessions share the same limit, warning, and outcome.
At 3 min 59 s: A pop-up reads “1 minute left before you reach the 5-minute limit.” Devices with vibration hardware give one heavy vibration, and recording continues.
At 4 min 59 s: Flow stops and submits automatically, showing “Session ended, 5-minute limit reached”, with no vibration at the cutoff.
The cutoff submits, transcribes, and pastes your recording as a manual stop would, with the normal stop sound; it does not discard it.
Note: To mute the “Session ended” notification, turn off the “Session Limits” category in Android Settings → Notifications for Wispr Flow. The pop-ups, warning vibration, and automatic submission still happen.
Continue a longer dictation
Wrap up your thought when the warning appears.
Stop recording before the cutoff to submit at a natural stopping point.
Wait until processing finishes and the text is submitted; presses on the bubble body are ignored while text is processing.
Press the Flow bubble again to start a new session. Each recording gets a fresh 5-minute limit; time does not accumulate across sessions.
If a new session does not start
Offline: A tap or long-press shows an offline message instead of recording; reconnect before trying again.
Microphone access: Without permission, a start press opens the permission prompt or settings instead; allow access before retrying.
Retry in progress: While the error card's Retry is running, a start press shows “Still retrying your last dictation. Try again in a moment.” Wait for it to finish.
Rapid presses: Wait at least half a second between repeated start taps or long-presses; faster repeats are ignored without an error. Releasing a hold-to-dictate press still submits.
Recover your transcript
If text cannot be pasted, Flow saves it in history and copies it to the clipboard.
Open Flow's home screen.
Find the session in transcript history.
Select Copy, then paste the transcript into your app.
Failed and empty transcriptions are saved too, but show an error instead of text, with Report and Delete and no Copy. Sessions with no captured audio are hidden from history, so you cannot copy or retry them there.
Transcripts are stored locally per device and do not sync across devices. They are excluded from Google cloud backup and device-to-device transfer, so a restored or new phone starts with empty history; your settings, dictionary, snippets and styles still restore.
Warning: Delete opens a “Delete transcript” confirmation; confirming permanently deletes the transcript and its audio.
Retry a transcript
“Retry Transcript” appears for entries linked to a recording, including successful ones, and can still appear after the recording is gone — retry needs the audio file itself.
Warning: A successful retry replaces the entry's text.
Open the entry's overflow menu.
Select Retry Transcript.
While a retry runs, Retry Transcript is hidden so the same recording can't be retried twice. After success, copy and paste the updated text using the steps above. If the recording contained no speech, the retry still succeeds and the entry is saved as an empty transcription.
“Retry failed. Audio file not found.” means the recording is no longer available; a message that the recording is too long to retry means the audio is oversized and can't be sent again.
Still need help?
Contact support if a submitted Android dictation is missing from both your app and history after these checks. Include your device, the message you saw, and what you tried.