Using Notes in Wispr Flow for iOS

Last updated: September 19, 2026

Available on: iOS 18.3 or later.

Capture thoughts by voice in Scratchpad, then edit, save, and find your notes on iPhone.

Create and save a note

Your first note requires the Flow keyboard; Finish setup opens Flow’s iOS Settings page. Existing notes still allow adding notes without the keyboard.

If Scratchpad is locked during onboarding, dictate in another app to unlock it.

  1. Open the Scratchpad tab.

  2. Tap Create a note for your first note, or the add-note button for another.

  3. Tap the mic at the editor’s bottom-right to dictate.

  4. Tap ✓ to stop; text appears after processing, not word by word.

  5. Tap the back chevron to return to your saved notes.

Clear Search notes if the add-note button is hidden during search.

In-app edits autosave about 2 seconds after your last change and when you leave the editor or background Flow.

Dictation ✕ cancels without inserting text, even during processing. Backgrounding Flow stops recording or processing.

The Flow keyboard is unavailable inside note editors and returns when they close; use the editor’s mic.

Edit your note

  • Read/edit: Non-empty notes open formatted; tap the body or toolbar toggle to edit. New or empty notes open for editing. The toggle is hidden while empty, recording or processing. When dictation is idle, losing focus returns non-empty notes to read mode.

  • Insertion: Dictation inserts at the cursor, initially at the end, or replaces selected text. Tap to reposition the cursor; appending to existing text adds a line break.

  • Titles: Tap the title while dictation is idle to edit it. Save applies immediately; Clear appears only for an explicit title and immediately restores automatic naming. Automatic titles use the first three words of the first non-empty line, without Markdown markers; an empty note shows a date only in the editor.

  • Formatting: Markdown renders in read mode, not while typing. Use # through ###### plus a space for H1–H6 headings.

Quick capture options

Warning: Lock Screen and Control Center capture never autosaves, including when backgrounded. Top-left X discards immediately without confirmation; you cannot swipe capture closed. Save is unavailable during recording, processing or saving.

Flow Notes on your Lock Screen or in Control Center opens full-screen capture and starts dictation.

  1. Finish dictation using the controls above.

  2. Tap Save (top-right) to save, attempt sync and close.

Capture has no title editor or formatted preview; reopen the saved note from Scratchpad for these.

Lock Screen widget

Only the circular Flow Notes widget is available.

  1. Long-press your Lock Screen.

  2. Tap Customize.

  3. Select the Lock Screen widget area.

  4. Search for Flow Notes.

  5. Select the circular Flow Notes widget to add it.

Control Center

Choose Flow Notes, not Toggle Flow, which starts or stops general recording.

  1. Open Control Center.

  2. Enter edit mode.

  3. Tap Add a Control.

  4. Select Flow Notes from the controls gallery.

Note: Siri and Action Button capture save a note only when the Flow keyboard is not active; otherwise, note-specific Live Activity controls are unavailable.

Siri

After installing Flow, say "quick dictate to notes with Flow" or "save note with Flow" to record in the background; no shortcut setup is required.

During note dictation, tap the Dynamic Island stop button or Lock Screen Live Activity’s Save note to save without reopening Flow.

Action Button

Available on iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max, all iPhone 16 and iPhone 17 models, including iPhone Air.

  1. Open iOS Settings → Action Button.

  2. Swipe to Shortcut.

  3. Select Wispr Flow’s Quick Dictation to Notes—not the walkthrough’s Quick Dictation to Clipboard.

  4. Hold the Action Button until dictation starts, then release and speak.

  5. Hold and release it again to stop.

Find and manage notes

Notes are grouped by date, newest modified first. Search notes matches titles and full content regardless of capitalization.

Warning: Explicit Delete actions ask for confirmation and cannot be undone; deletion applies across synced devices. Clearing both title and text deletes an existing note on save without confirmation. Completely empty new notes are not created.

Swipe left for Copy, Share or Delete; long-press also offers Edit. Copy and Share send raw Markdown, not formatted output.

Spotlight search

When available for your account, Spotlight indexes the first 100 title characters and 300 content characters on-device. New or edited notes may not appear immediately.

  1. Swipe down from the middle of the Home Screen.

  2. Search using text within those limits.

  3. Tap a Wispr Flow result to open the note without starting dictation.

Sync notes

Sync requires sign-in, network access and account eligibility. On iOS, it is independent of Cloud Sync.

Note: Data-restricted accounts (signed HIPAA BAA or Privacy Mode) can use Notes locally. Sync, AI summaries, Spotlight indexing and Siri note suggestions are unavailable unless enabled for that account. When unavailable, the AI button, manual sync button and sync-status icon are hidden in the Scratchpad list. Users cannot change organization-enforced privacy controls.

Warning: Signing out deletes all locally stored notes on this device.

Pull-to-refresh and Refresh notes from cloud remain available when sync is blocked, but do not sync notes.

  1. Pull down on Scratchpad or tap its top-right Sync notes circular arrow.

  2. Use Settings → Data & Privacy → Refresh notes from cloud for a full re-sync if notes remain outdated.

Check Search notes after each attempt; contact support if the full refresh leaves notes missing or outdated.

FAQs

Can Flow open a new note automatically?

Settings → General → Auto open note is off by default. Turning it on opens a new editor whenever Flow becomes active, including returning from the background, but only from the Notes list—not another tab or an open note.

Still need help?

Contact support for a missing saved note or widget/Siri capture, Spotlight or sync failures after these steps. Include your iOS version, iPhone model, Flow version and steps tried.