Reset and restart the Wispr Flow app

Last updated: October 17, 2026

Available on: Mac, Windows, iOS, Android. On iOS and Android, use the restart or reinstall steps below.

If Flow won't respond, reports a storage error, or stops saving your history, restart it first and reset only if support advises it.

Warning: Finish any recording before restarting. On Mac, Windows and iOS, local transcripts do not sync between devices and may not return after a reset or reinstall; desktop history is not restored from your account. Account-synced data can return after you sign in, but do not assume every local record has a cloud copy.

Quick checks

  • Check the symptom: For microphone, network or paste failures, use microphone troubleshooting or text insertion troubleshooting instead of resetting.

  • Check other apps: If every app is slow, restart your device. If only Flow has the problem, continue below.

Restart Flow on desktop

  1. Quit Flow completely, rather than closing its window.

  2. Reopen Flow.

  3. Dictate a short test phrase. If text appears, you're done; if an error returns, see the error guidance below.

Check for desktop updates

An update restart often clears a persistent error.

Warning: Installing a downloaded update quits Flow immediately unless a dictation or meeting recording is active. During recording, Restart to update? warns that unsaved audio may be lost: choose Cancel or Restart anyway.

  1. Open Flow's menu-bar menu on Mac (also available in the Wispr Flow application menu), or right-click its system-tray icon on Windows.

  2. Select Check for updates..., then Update ready, restart now? when the download is ready.

  3. Test a short dictation after updating; stop if Flow works.

A downloaded update can also be installed from the Update button beside the version number at the bottom of the Settings window, which installs it and restarts Flow. If you see Error updating, please restart, restart Flow. On managed devices, Next update check: <date> means manual checking is disabled until that date.

Recover an interrupted desktop dictation

A normal desktop quit — including Windows shutdown or sign-out — tries to save interrupted dictation audio, Scratchpad changes and meeting work; dictation audio is saved only if a recording was active and audio was captured.

Warning: Saving can fail even on a normal quit, and a forced shutdown can cut the save short. Force-quitting or crashing can lose unfinished dictations, which do not resume.

  1. Stop any active dictation before recovering audio.

  2. Select Recover in History if offered after reopening Flow. It is offered for dismissed or unfinished dictations within 14 days, and transcribes saved audio rather than resuming the recording.

If you or your organization use Never store (Settings → Data and Privacy; the stricter personal or organization policy applies), there is no local history or audio to recover. Delete after 24h removes dictation history older than one day, shortening recovery availability.

Respond to a desktop error

Storage notifications offer Restart Flow and Contact us. Restart promptly: dictionary words may not apply and new history may not save until Flow recovers. Contact us opens the in-app Feedback surface in the Hub, not email.

Warning: Storage notifications do not themselves delete data. At startup, confirmed corruption can make Flow delete local data and restart automatically without asking. Cloud-sync software or file permissions can make local storage read-only; Flow first tries to fix this, but if read-only storage still prevents startup, it can delete local data and restart without asking. Other startup failures, including a full disk, leave local data intact.

Message or symptom

Message text

Next step

Local database corruption

Some of your local data is corrupted.

Select Restart Flow.

There was an error (also shown for read-only storage)

Restarting the app should fix it

Select Restart Flow.

Storage Full

You are running out of space on your computer

Free disk space, then restart; resetting is not a substitute for available storage.

Low space during a meeting recording

Storage almost full — About N min of recording left

Free disk space now; the recording continues meanwhile.

A stopped meeting can't finish

Storage full

Free space, then select Retry on the meeting row or note card.

Dictation won't start or load

Flow is having trouble starting / Flow is having trouble loading

Select Restart Flow or Contact us.

The full-window Flow hit a snag screen replaces the Hub after an error or 20 seconds of stalled startup; each new loading attempt starts a fresh wait. Your data is safe: try again before selecting Restart Flow or Contact support, which opens your default email app to support@wisprflow.ai with the subject Flow Desktop Error.

Storage messages appear at most once per minute, and categories muted in Settings → System → Notifications stay hidden. The Notetaker low-space alert is the exception: it appears once per recording, stays for 10 seconds unless you dismiss it sooner, and cannot be muted. Retry a short dictation after each action; if the same error returns, contact support.

Reset the desktop app

Warning: A reset deletes local data, but your dictionary, stats, and settings stay saved and re-sync on restart. Reset only if advised by Flow support.

  1. Contact Flow support and confirm that a reset is the right step.

  2. Follow the reset instructions support gives you for your computer.

  3. Sign in if prompted, then try a short dictation.

Reset removes the local database and related files, not the entire data folder, and requests a fresh sync of cloud-stored notes and meetings on restart; it does not restore a local backup. Flow tries to make read-only files writable and retries temporarily locked files; some files can remain, but Flow restarts regardless, opening the Hub even if normal launches keep it hidden. If the reset fails, an error notification appears instead of a dialog. If the problem continues, restart the computer before reinstalling Flow.

Warning: Desktop sign-out clears local content — history, dictionaries, notes, meetings, all local backups and saved import credentials — plus your voice profile, statistics, calendar state, and Notetaker setup and consent state. Pending meeting and chat changes are sent before local data is cleared.

If Flow does not reopen

Flow shows a dialog and quits for an unsupported macOS release, an Intel version running through Rosetta on Apple Silicon, non-x64 Windows, or a Mac installation outside an Applications folder. Follow the requirement shown in the dialog.

Restart or reinstall on mobile

After each action, test a short dictation.

iOS

Warning: Signing out or reinstalling deletes local Flow data. Startup storage recovery can also delete transcripts, notes, and personal or team dictionaries without asking, even if Flow opens normally. Repeated storage failures can leave Flow unable to save anything between launches with no obvious warning; closing it loses that session's data, and reopening cannot restore it. Contact support before discarding local data you need.

  1. Update Flow from the App Store.

  2. Force-close Flow from the app switcher — only if it is unresponsive — then reopen it and test a short dictation.

  3. Delete and reinstall Flow from the App Store if the problem persists, then sign in.

Android

Work through these in order, testing a short dictation after each.

  1. Update Flow from Google Play.

  2. Open Settings → Apps → Wispr Flow → Force stop, then reopen Flow and test.

  3. Check battery, autostart and background-running settings if Flow stops after a reboot or time in the background; tap Allow on Keep Wispr Flow running to remove battery restrictions.

  4. Uninstall and reinstall from Google Play if it still fails, then sign in.

If Flow isn't responding, tap Restart Flow; after an unresponsive startup that option can take about 60 seconds to appear, and re-granting accessibility afterwards is unnecessary.

If prompts appear after restarting, tap Allow Microphone on We can't hear you, or Go to Settings to allow Display over other apps or turn on accessibility for Flow. If accessibility is revoked, tap the bubble's Tap to re-grant accessibility message, or Wispr Flow needs attention, to restore permission. On Flow Bubble Disabled, tap Turn Back On; the bubble returns next time you enter a text box.

Still need help?

Contact support if Flow does not reopen after a reset, an error returns after restarting, or your history keeps disappearing. Include your platform, device, exact symptom, what you tried, and whether it began immediately after an update.