Using Notes in Wispr Flow for iOS

Last updated: May 15, 2026

Available on: iOS (with Scratchpad integration on Mac)

Capture thoughts by voice from your Lock Screen, Control Center, Siri, or Spotlight — without opening the app. Dictate, organize, and search notes on iPhone, and pick them up later from Scratchpad on Mac.

What it is

Notes is a dedicated note-taking surface inside Wispr Flow for iOS. Create notes by typing or dictating — tap the microphone button in the editor toolbar, and Flow inserts transcribed text at your cursor with a live waveform confirming it's listening.

Multiple entry points let you capture notes faster: a Lock Screen widget, Control Center buttons, Siri Shortcuts, an Action Button shortcut, and Spotlight search. Notes also integrate with Scratchpad on Mac — open recent notes from Scratchpad, and any note you create there is saved back to your library.

When to use it

Use Notes when you want to:

  • Dictate a quick thought, idea, or memo without typing

  • Capture notes hands-free using Siri — without opening the app

  • Start a new note directly from your Lock Screen, Control Center, or Action Button

  • Search your notes from the iOS home screen via Spotlight

How it works in Flow

Overview

The note editor opens inside Wispr Flow with a microphone button for dictation. Tap it to start speaking — dictated text is inserted at your cursor, and a live waveform confirms Flow is listening. Notes are indexed in iOS Spotlight so you can find them from your home screen.

Key behaviors

  • Editor toolbar: Contains Done, Dictate, Undo, and Redo buttons. Dictation launches only from the toolbar Dictate button — the note editor uses its own controls rather than the Flow Keyboard extension.

  • Cursor-aware insertion: Dictated text is inserted at your cursor. For new notes or when reopening a note, the cursor defaults to the end. Tap anywhere in the note to reposition before dictating. When appending to a non-empty note, a line break is added before the new text.

  • Dictation controls: While recording, a waveform animation confirms Flow is capturing your voice. Tap Cancel (✕) to discard or Done (✓) to stop and process. During processing, the waveform freezes and a spinner appears until transcription completes.

  • Note titles: Each note has a title field separate from the body. Tap the pencil icon in the toolbar to add or edit the title. Titles appear in the navigation bar, the notes list preview, and Spotlight results.

  • Markdown formatting: Type #, ##, or ### followed by a space to create a heading (H1–H3). Type ---, ***, or ___ on its own line to insert a horizontal divider. These work when typing or pasting markdown and are preserved when you save and reopen a note.

  • Read/preview mode: Tap the preview toggle in the toolbar to switch between editing and viewing a formatted markdown preview. Switch back to editing at any time.

  • AI summary: A summary button appears on each note for eligible accounts. Tap it to generate a condensed summary of the note's content.

  • Spotlight indexing: Note titles and content are indexed in iOS Spotlight. Search from your home screen, then tap a result to open and edit the note in Flow.

  • Auto-open on launch: The "Start new note on app open" setting (off by default) opens a new note automatically when you return to the app while on the Notes tab. Toggle it on in Settings to skip the notes list.

  • Note management: Notes are sorted by most recently modified. Use the search bar to find notes by title or content. Swipe left on a note for Share and Delete actions — deleting prompts a confirmation dialog.

  • Auto-save: Changes are auto-saved after 2 seconds of inactivity, and again when the app goes to the background. If you delete all text from a note and save, the note is removed. A display-only sync status icon (syncing, synced, or offline) appears in the toolbar.

  • Sync: Notes sync automatically when the app comes to the foreground and when you open the Notes tab. To sync manually, pull down on the notes list or tap the refresh button in the navigation bar. Local edits are never overwritten by a server sync. Images pasted into notes on any device upload to the cloud and sync to all your other signed-in devices.

Warning: Notes created via the Lock Screen widget or Control Center open in a full-screen capture view that does not auto-save. Tap Save to keep the note — dismissing without saving discards it.

Best practices

  • Add a descriptive title to each note — tap the pencil icon in the toolbar. Titles appear in the notes list and Spotlight results for faster searching.

  • Use heading shortcuts (#, ##, ###) to organize longer notes into sections as you type.

  • Use the preview toggle to check how your formatted markdown looks before sharing.

  • Tap the AI summary button on longer notes to get a condensed overview of key points.

How to set up widgets and shortcuts

Lock Screen widget

Add the Wispr Flow widget to your Lock Screen for one-tap note capture:

  1. Long-press your Lock Screen to enter edit mode.

  2. Tap Customize, then select the Lock Screen widget area.

  3. Tap the + button and search for Wispr Flow.

  4. Select the circular Wispr Flow widget and add it to your Lock Screen.

  5. Tap the widget from your Lock Screen to open a new note with dictation ready.

Note: The Wispr Flow Lock Screen widget is available as a circular widget only.

Control Center buttons

Wispr Flow offers two Control Center controls:

  • Flow Notes: Opens a new note with dictation.

  • Flow Toggle: Starts or stops Flow recording. Shows a stop icon when active and a record icon when inactive.

To add either:

  1. Open Settings → Control Center.

  2. Scroll to More Controls and find Wispr Flow.

  3. Tap + to add it to your Control Center.

Action Button

On iPhones with an Action Button, assign a Wispr Flow shortcut:

  1. Open Settings → Action Button.

  2. Swipe to the Shortcut option.

  3. Select a Wispr Flow shortcut (for example, Start Dictation or Open Flow).

  4. Press and hold the Action Button to confirm it triggers Flow.

Siri Shortcuts

Wispr Flow exposes the following Siri voice commands:

  • "Start Dictation": Starts Flow dictation.

  • "Stop Dictation": Stops Flow dictation.

  • "Open Flow": Opens the Wispr Flow app.

All shortcuts are available as soon as Wispr Flow is installed — no setup required. You can also add them to the Shortcuts app to customize their names or include them in automations.

Spotlight search

Spotlight indexing is enabled automatically for eligible accounts. To find a note:

  1. Swipe down from the middle of your home screen to open Spotlight Search.

  2. Type any word or phrase from a note's title or content.

  3. Tap a Wispr Flow result to open and edit that note in the app.

Common issues

Bugs fixed in recent updates

The following issues were resolved in recent versions of Wispr Flow for iOS. To apply the fixes:

  1. Update Wispr Flow to the latest version from the App Store.

  2. Restart the app after updating.

  • Images not appearing in synced notes: Images pasted into a note on one device showed as broken image markers on other devices. Images now sync automatically across all signed-in devices.

  • Notes missing after a launch problem: Wispr Flow could crash when it had trouble loading local storage on launch. It now recovers automatically and opens in a limited mode — synced notes, dictionary words, and transcriptions continue to work, though notes created offline and not yet synced may not be available.

  • Live Activity widget showed garbled text: A localization bug caused the widget to display raw placeholder text (for example, "wordsTotal 55" instead of "55 words"). Translated labels now display correctly.

Examples

Dictating a quick meeting recap

You say: "Met with the design team, agreed on the new dashboard layout, next step is to finalize the color palette by Friday."

Flow types: Met with the design team, agreed on the new dashboard layout, next step is to finalize the color palette by Friday.

Starting a note from the Lock Screen

Action: Tap the Wispr Flow widget on your Lock Screen.

Result: A full-screen capture view opens with dictation ready. Speak your note, then tap Save to store it.

FAQs

Why don't I see the AI summary button on my notes?

AI summaries are disabled on accounts with data restrictions (see Limitations and notes). If you're on a standard account and still don't see it, update Wispr Flow to the latest version.

My notes aren't showing up in Spotlight. Why?

Spotlight indexing is disabled on accounts with data restrictions (see Limitations and notes). On a standard account, create a new note and wait a few moments for indexing to update.

Can I use Siri Shortcuts without setting anything up?

Yes. All Wispr Flow Siri Shortcuts are available as soon as the app is installed. Say the phrase to Siri — no additional setup required.

My notes seem out of date across devices. How can I force a refresh?

Pull down on the notes list, or tap the refresh button in the navigation bar. For a full re-sync, go to Settings → Data & Privacy → Refresh notes from cloud. Local edits are never overwritten.

Can I access my notes from Scratchpad on Mac?

Yes. Scratchpad on Mac integrates with your iOS notes library. Open recent notes from a dropdown in Scratchpad, and any note you create or edit there is saved back to your library.

I have a HIPAA/BAA account — can I use Notes?

Yes. Notes work normally, but they are stored locally on your device and will not sync across devices. The Notes tab shows a notice explaining this, and the manual refresh and sync buttons are hidden.

Limitations and notes

  • Notes and all related features (widgets, Siri Shortcuts, Action Button shortcut, Spotlight) are available on iOS only.

  • Accounts with data restrictions — including HIPAA BAA-signed accounts and accounts with Privacy Mode turned on — have AI summaries and Spotlight indexing disabled. These restrictions cannot be changed by individual users when enforced by an organization administrator.

  • HIPAA BAA-signed accounts can create and use Notes, but notes are stored locally only and will not sync across devices. The manual refresh and sync buttons are hidden for these accounts.

  • Lock Screen widgets require iOS 16 or later. Control Center customization requires iOS 18 or later. The Action Button is available on iPhone 15 Pro and later.

  • Spotlight indexes note titles and the first 300 characters of each note's content. Longer notes may not be fully searchable via Spotlight.

  • Spotlight indexing updates may take a short time to reflect newly created or edited notes.

  • AI-generated summaries are not saved — they are generated on demand each time.

  • Scratchpad integration between iOS and Mac (recent notes dropdown, new note button) is available on Mac only.

  • Heading markdown shortcuts support H1–H3 only (#, ##, ###).

  • Ordered list nesting uses standard decimal numbering only; nested ordered lists do not switch to letters or Roman numerals.

  • In rare cases where the app has trouble loading local storage on launch, notes created offline and not yet synced may be lost. Synced notes are always recoverable.