Retry and recover a failed transcription

Last updated: September 23, 2026

Available on: Mac, Windows, iOS, Android

If a dictation failed, came back empty, or pasted without formatting, Retry re-transcribes the audio saved on the device you recorded on. If the text exists but never pasted, use the paste controls instead.

Before you retry

  • Reconnect to the internet. Retry needs a connection.

  • Audio that was never captured cannot be recovered. On desktop, use the notification's Select microphone, Troubleshoot or Grant Permission action, then record again.

  • Hold push-to-talk. Dismissed recordings under 0.5 seconds are not saved and cannot be recovered.

Mac and Windows

Wait a few seconds for automatic recovery to finish. A dictation you start right away waits for the first to finish, then pastes and saves to History as usual; one you dismiss with Escape while it waits is discarded without an error notification.

  1. Finish any active dictation. New dictations are blocked during a retry: "Transcript currently processing".

  2. Choose Retry on the notification to retry and paste, or Open History to recover there. A cancellation notification instead offers Undo, which re-transcribes and pastes the saved audio.

  3. Select Retry, Recover or ⋯ → Retry transcript on the History entry. Failed dictations also appear in Recent Activity with a Retry row.

  4. Copy the recovered text and paste it — History retries update the entry without pasting.

Within 14 days, History's inline Retry requires failed or empty audio lasting at least 5 seconds; Recover handles dismissed or interrupted processing entries without that minimum. If no text returns, check the audio and recovery limits below.

Text exists but did not paste

The Copy notification copies text only after it appears, at most once per dictation; otherwise your clipboard is left unchanged.

Warning: using Paste Last Text during processing cancels the in-progress transcription first.

If a notice asks you to click a textbox, click it and use the Paste Last Text shortcut: Ctrl + Cmd + V (Mac), Alt + Shift + Z (Windows), or your custom binding. The notice itself writes nothing to the clipboard. The shortcut retries cancelled, failed or unintentionally unformatted last transcripts.

iPhone

If no working Retry is available, dismiss the error, reconnect, and open History on Flow's Home tab.

Warning: cancelling a recording permanently deletes its History entry and audio, so nothing can be retried. Cancelling processing keeps the audio.

  1. Swipe left on the failed entry, or long-press it.

  2. Choose Retry. A failed entry also retries when you tap it, even if it already has text; empty entries that did not fail do nothing. Retry and Delete are unavailable only on the entry currently being retried.

  3. Tap a successful entry's text or timestamp area to copy it, then paste manually — History retries do not paste for you.

Note: a silent dictation can show "transcript is empty". That is not a transcription error, so no retry action appears.

If notifications are already allowed and the keyboard is inactive, a failed dictation's "Tap to retry" notice opens Home and retries that entry; it appears once and excludes silent and cancelled dictations. Interruption and 5-minute-limit notices instead open Home and copy the text when there is no paste target. On weak connections, enable Settings → General → Low data mode (Optimize for slow or limited networks).

Recover from the Flow Keyboard

Offline, a no-network screen replaces the error controls; reconnect first.

  1. Tap the orange triangle to the left of the microphone.

  2. Choose Retry for server or processing errors, or for cancelled processing. Network and audio-capture errors offer only Dismiss, which clears the message.

If no text returns, use History. For capture errors, tap the microphone; if it repeats, quit and reopen Flow. New dictations require Full Access, microphone permission and remaining weekly words.

Android

Tap Retry on the Flow Bubble to resend the saved audio; this may only redisplay the bubble. Failures are saved in History with their captured audio.

  1. Open Flow's home screen if the error bubble is gone, including after inactivity.

  2. Find the failed or empty-result card.

  3. Choose ⋯ → Retry Transcript. The card updates when it succeeds.

If Retry is greyed out, reconnect — offline it looks grey while Paste stays normal. Without saved audio, Retry Transcript may be missing, and "Retry failed. Audio file missing." or "Retry failed. Audio file not found." means the audio is unavailable. A failed History retry can show "Retry failed. Please try again."; if the failure is sign-in related, sign in again before retrying.

When automatic insertion fails, Flow copies the text to your clipboard. Tap Paste, or long-press a text field and select Paste; if Paste fails, the text stays on the clipboard for manual pasting. The Wispr icon dismisses paste errors without clearing the clipboard, but starts a new dictation on transcription failures.

Saved audio and recovery limits

Mac and Windows: History audio playback and extraction expire after 14 days; the transcript text remains. Before then, use ⋯ → Extract audio to save a .wav. Missing audio shows "Cannot retry transcription as audio is no longer available (older than 14 days)". Interrupted or timed-out retries can also return no text.

Warning — desktop: storage settings can remove text and audio sooner. Never-store saves no audio and removes local History; a 24-hour setting deletes entries older than one day. Enterprise Zero Data Retention disables retry because no audio is stored.

iPhone: audio stays until you delete it or Auto-delete transcripts removes it. Signing out deletes all local transcripts and audio, so recover anything you need first. With Settings → Data & Privacy → Auto-delete transcripts on, previous days' transcripts and audio are removed at sign-in and whenever Flow returns to the foreground; today's remain. Organizations can require auto-deletion regardless of your toggle.

Android: low storage and history limits remove older entries and audio, which prevents retry. Full storage blocks new recordings; free space with Manage Storage on the Low Storage notice. Confirming Delete transcript permanently deletes the entry and its audio, and switching accounts wipes all local transcription history and audio.

Transcripts and audio do not sync between devices. After a desktop crash, the recorded audio is in History; on mobile, recovery requires the audio to have reached device storage before the crash.

Reaching your weekly word limit is not a transcription failure and offers no Retry. Service-incident notices offer View status instead of Retry; on iPhone, Service incident → View incident opens the status page.

Still need help?

Contact support if retry keeps failing while you are online, a recent failed transcription is missing within its retention window, or you see an unexplained error. Include your platform, device, the exact error and what you tried.

  • Desktop: Flow tray menu → Talk to support; on Mac, also Help → Talk to support.

  • iPhone: sidebar → Talk to support.

  • Android: drawer → Report an issue.