How to setup Flow Styles

Last updated: July 30, 2026

Available on: Mac, Windows, iOS, Android

Pick a tone for each kind of app — formal for email, casual for personal messages — and Flow formats your dictation to match. This guide walks you through setting up Flow Styles on every platform in about a minute.

Note: Flow Styles work best when your dictation language is English. On Android, a persistent banner reads "Styles currently apply in English only."

How to set up Flow Styles

Mac and Windows

Follow these steps to set your style on desktop:

  1. Open Wispr Flow and click Styles in the left sidebar.

  2. Click a category tab: Personal messages, Work messages, Email, or Other. Each tab describes which apps use that style.

  3. Click the style card you want. Each card shows a preview of how your text will look.

  4. Verify by dictating a short phrase in any app in that category. If the text matches the style you selected, setup is complete.

Note: The four category tabs remain visible before you complete personalization onboarding. The area below the tabs shows a "Make Flow sound like you" banner in place of the style cards until you finish setup.

iOS

The Styles tab on iOS is rolling out gradually. If you don't see a Styles tab in the bottom bar, update to the latest version and check again later.

  1. Open Wispr Flow on your iPhone.

  2. Tap the Styles tab in the bottom bar.

  3. Tap a category tab at the top: Personal, Work, Email, or Other.

  4. Tap a style card to select it.

  5. Verify by dictating a short phrase in any app in that category. If the text matches the style you selected, setup is complete.

Android

Follow these steps to set your style on Android:

  1. Open Wispr Flow on your Android device.

  2. Tap the Style tab in the bottom navigation bar.

  3. Select a category — Personal, Work, Email, or Other — using the segmented picker at the top, or swipe horizontally between categories.

  4. Tap the style card you want. A panel opens from the bottom showing style options.

  5. Tap Save to apply your choice.

  6. Verify by dictating a short phrase in any app in that category. If the text matches the style you selected, setup is complete.

Warning: Style changes on Android are not applied until you tap Save. Navigating away discards unsaved changes.

Note: On Android, the tab label is singular — Style — while on desktop and iOS the label is plural (Styles).

Temporarily switch styles on iOS

On iOS, a style pill on the keyboard shows your currently active style. Tap it to choose a different style for your current session without changing your saved preferences.

  1. Tap the style pill on the keyboard. A menu opens with all available styles; the currently active style has a checkmark on the right.

  2. Tap the style you want to use for this session.

  3. Verify by dictating a short phrase. If the text matches the style you selected, the override is active.

Note: The keyboard override applies only to your current dictation session and does not change your saved per-category styles. The style pill is hidden while the Start Flow button is shown, and dimmed (not tappable) while Flow is recording or processing.

Available styles

  • Formal: Available for all app categories on all platforms.

  • Casual: Available for all app categories on all platforms.

  • Very Casual: Available for the Personal category on all platforms.

  • Excited: Available for Work, Email, and Other categories on all platforms.

Defaults differ by platform:

  • iOS and Android: Personal defaults to Casual; Work, Email, and Other default to Formal.

  • Mac and Windows: During personalization onboarding, no style is pre-selected — you pick one for each category. If you skip onboarding, Flow uses Formal as the fallback until you make a selection.

Teach Flow your writing style

You can help Flow learn your voice by adding writing samples. Samples are tied to a specific polish prompt.

  1. Open Wispr Flow and go to the Polish page.

  2. Open the settings for the polish prompt you want to configure (Custom Prompt or Prompt Engineer).

  3. Go to the Writing Examples section.

  4. Add a writing sample. Each sample must be between 50 and 500 words.

  5. Repeat for up to 5 samples. You can edit or delete any sample at any time.

Warning: Writing samples are tied to the prompt they were added under. Renaming a custom prompt moves its samples with it, but deleting a custom prompt or resetting your settings removes its samples. Samples linked to default polish prompts are not affected.

Note: In Custom Prompt, the Writing Examples section only becomes available once you've set the prompt name, shortcut, and instructions. In Prompt Engineer, Writing Examples is available immediately.

Note: When privacy mode (or Zero Data Retention) is enabled, writing samples stay on your device and are not uploaded to Wispr's servers. In all cases, samples are stored locally on the device where they were added.

Common issues

Bugs fixed in recent iOS updates

The following issues on iOS were fixed in recent updates. Update Wispr Flow to the latest version to resolve them.

  • Style pill border lagging after switching styles: The style pill's border could take a moment to update after switching styles. The border now updates immediately.

  • Inconsistent style descriptions: Very Casual and Excited showed different description text on the onboarding style selector than on the Text Styles settings tab. The descriptions now match in both places.

  • Style picker visible when text was selected: When you select text, the style picker is now temporarily hidden. If the word can be added to your dictionary, an Add to Dictionary button appears instead.

  • Keyboard override overwriting saved styles: Choosing a style override from the keyboard incorrectly overwrote saved per-category styles. Overrides now stay session-only.

Bugs fixed in recent Android updates

The following style issues on Android were fixed in recent updates. Update Wispr Flow to the latest version to resolve them.

  • Email web apps treated as work apps: Apps like Outlook Web were sometimes categorized as Work instead of Email. Flow now correctly identifies these as Email apps.

  • Per-category style ignored: Flow was not correctly identifying which app you were dictating into, so Personal, Work, and Email styles were ignored and the Other style was applied instead. Flow now applies the right per-category style across a wide range of apps.

  • Style change not taking effect immediately: If you changed your style and immediately started dictating, the previous style could still be used. Style changes now take effect on your next dictation.

  • Very Casual applying as Casual: Selecting Very Casual incorrectly applied the Casual style. Very Casual now applies exactly as selected.

  • Style reverting to Casual after app restart: A selected style could revert to Casual after restarting the app. Local style choices are now protected from being overwritten when the app syncs.

  • Default styles applied before onboarding: Default style categories could be applied before users completed onboarding. Styles are now only set once you choose them during personalization.

  • Style lost after a failed sync: If saving a style fails, Flow shows a "Could not save your selection. Please try again." message. Your choice is applied locally in the meantime and retries on the next connection.

Bugs fixed in earlier Android updates

The following style issues on Android were fixed in earlier versions. Update Wispr Flow to the latest version to resolve them.

  • Style lost after a failed sync: If a sync attempt failed, style settings could be lost. Failed syncs now recover automatically on the next sync.

  • Style not applied during transcription: A configured style was sometimes silently ignored when dictating. Configured styles now apply consistently.

FAQs

My dictated text doesn't look different after I change the style

Styles only apply to new dictations. Test with a fresh dictation in the app category where you changed the style, and make sure you're running the latest version of Wispr Flow.

I want to use Very Casual for email, but I don't see it

Very Casual is only available for Personal messages. For Email, use Formal, Casual, or Excited.

I don't see the Styles option in my app

Flow Styles are designed to work when your dictation language is English. If your language is set to English and you still don't see Styles, update to the latest version, then check the location for your platform:

  • Mac and Windows: Look for Styles in the left sidebar.

  • iOS: The Styles tab is part of a gradual rollout and may not be visible to all users yet.

  • Android: Look for the Style tab in the bottom navigation bar.

What is the "Make Flow sound like you" card?

It's an invitation to personalize your writing style. On Mac and Windows, it appears on the Styles page with a Start now button that opens the style setup flow. On Android, it appears inside each Styles category page and on the home screen as an action card, until you complete personalization.

I changed my style on Android but it didn't save

When you select a style on Android, a panel opens from the bottom of the screen. Tap Save to confirm your choice — changes are not applied until you save.

How does Flow know which style to apply?

Flow detects which category (Personal, Work, Email, or Other) the app you're dictating in belongs to, and applies the style you've chosen for that category. The default category assignments are:

  • Personal messages: Messages, WhatsApp, WeChat, Messenger.

  • Work: Slack, Microsoft Teams.

  • Email: Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, Superhuman.

  • Other: everything else.

You can add more apps yourself. On Android, when an app could fit more than one category, the order of precedence is: Personal → Email → Work → Other. Web versions of these apps are detected via URL. A temporary keyboard style override, if set, takes precedence for that session.

Do my style preferences sync across devices?

Style preferences sync across all your devices automatically. When you change a style on one device, other devices update shortly after. If two devices save different styles around the same time, the most recent save wins.

What's the difference between Flow Styles and writing examples?

Flow Styles let you choose a preset tone (like Formal or Casual) for each app category. Writing examples go further: by adding samples of your own writing within a prompt's settings, you teach Flow your personal voice so it matches your style more closely when polishing with that prompt. Styles set the general tone; writing samples fine-tune the output.

My writing samples aren't syncing

Writing samples sync automatically unless privacy mode is enabled. With privacy mode on, samples stay on your device and do not sync. To sync them, disable privacy mode in Settings.

I deleted a custom prompt and now my writing samples are gone

Writing samples are tied to the prompt they were added under. When a custom prompt is deleted or your settings are reset, its writing samples are also removed. Samples linked to default polish prompts are not affected.

Limitations and notes

  • Flow Styles are designed to work in English. On Android, a persistent "Styles currently apply in English only" banner is pinned to the bottom of the Styles screen.

  • Style preferences only take effect after you complete the initial style setup.

  • On iOS, per-category style selection is part of a gradual rollout. Some users may see a single-style picker layout instead of per-category tabs.

  • On iOS, the style pill is disabled while recording or processing. You can only change styles when the keyboard is idle.

  • On Android, per-category style selection and automatic app detection are part of a gradual rollout.

  • On Android, style preferences persist across app restarts and network interruptions. Failed syncs retry when connectivity is restored.

  • Style preference changes propagate to your other devices shortly after saving. The most recent save wins on conflict.

  • Writing samples are managed within Custom Prompt or Prompt Engineer settings. You can add up to 5 samples per prompt, each between 50 and 500 words.

  • Writing samples do not sync when privacy mode is enabled.

Still stuck?

If your styles still aren't behaving the way you expect, reach out to support. Most issues are resolved in one reply. Please include:

  • Your platform (Mac, Windows, iOS, or Android) and Wispr Flow version.

  • The category and style you selected, and the app you were dictating in.

  • A short example of the output you got versus what you expected.