Using Notes in Wispr Flow for iOS

Last updated: August 17, 2026

Available on: iOS (with Scratchpad integration on Mac)

Capture thoughts by voice from your Lock Screen, Control Center, Siri, the Action Button, or Spotlight — without opening the app. Notes support markdown, sync across your signed-in devices, and open later in Scratchpad on Mac.

When to use it

Use Notes when you want to:

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

  • Capture notes hands-free with Siri, the Lock Screen widget, Control Center, or the 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. Tap the mic button at the bottom-right to dictate; text is inserted at your cursor.

Key behaviors

  • Dictation: Tap the floating mic button at the bottom-right of the editor. Dictation auto-starts when you enter the editor from a widget. Tap Cancel (✕) to discard or Done (✓) to stop and process.

  • Cursor-aware insertion: Text is inserted at your cursor, which defaults to the end of the note — tap anywhere to reposition. When appending to a non-empty note, a line break is added first.

  • Note titles: Tap the pencil icon in the toolbar to add or edit a title. Titles appear in the navigation bar, notes list, and Spotlight results.

  • Markdown formatting: Type #, ##, or ### followed by a space for a heading (H1–H3); type ---, ***, or ___ on its own line for a horizontal divider. Tap the preview toggle in the toolbar to switch between editing and formatted preview.

  • Ordered list nesting: Nested ordered lists cycle through 5 marker styles — decimal (1, 2, 3), uppercase letters (A, B, C), uppercase Roman (I, II, III), lowercase letters (a, b, c), then lowercase Roman (i, ii, iii), repeating from level 6.

  • AI summary: Tap the summary button on a note to generate a condensed summary of its contents.

  • Spotlight indexing: Note titles and content are indexed in iOS Spotlight. Tap a result to open and edit the note in Flow.

  • Auto-open on launch: Turn on "Start new note on app open" in Settings to open a new note automatically when you return to the Notes tab.

  • Note management: Notes are sorted by most recently modified and grouped by date. Use the search bar to find notes, swipe left for Share and Delete, or long-press for Copy, Edit, Share, and Delete.

  • Saving: Changes save automatically as you work and when the app goes to the background. A note saved with no title and no content is deleted without confirmation.

  • Sync: Notes sync automatically in the background, and local edits are never overwritten by a server sync. To sync manually, pull down on the notes list or tap the circular arrow (↺) button in the Notes nav bar. Sync requires sign-in and network connectivity, and is unavailable for HIPAA and Privacy Mode accounts.

  • Dynamic Island and Live Activity: While dictating a note, a Save/stop button in the Dynamic Island and Lock Screen Live Activity lets you save without returning to the app. When not in note mode, the expanded Dynamic Island offers a stop button plus a note button to start a new note mid-dictation.

Warning: Notes created from the Lock Screen widget or Control Center open in a full-screen capture view that does not auto-save and cannot be swiped away. Tap Save (top-right) to keep the note, or X (top-left) to discard. Save is disabled while dictation is recording or processing — stop dictation first.

Best practices

  • Title every note — titles make it findable in the notes list and Spotlight.

  • Use heading shortcuts to split longer notes into sections as you type.

  • Check the preview toggle before sharing a formatted note.

  • Tap AI summary on longer notes for a condensed overview.

How to set up widgets and shortcuts

Lock Screen widget

Add the circular Flow Notes widget for one-tap 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 Flow Notes.

  4. Select the circular Flow Notes widget ("Quick access to your notes and dictation") and add it.

  5. Tap the widget from your Lock Screen — a new note opens with dictation ready.

Note: Flow Notes is a circular Lock Screen widget only. There is no Home Screen widget of any size.

Control Center buttons

Two Control Center controls are available:

  • Flow Notes: Opens a new note with dictation.

  • Flow Toggle: Starts or stops recording, and reads as "recording" or "idle" so you can check status from Control Center.

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:

  1. Open Settings → Action Button.

  2. Swipe to the Shortcut option.

  3. Select a Wispr Flow shortcut, for example Dictate a Flow note or Open Flow Notes.

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

Hold the Action Button again to stop dictation started this way.

Siri Shortcuts

Four Siri Shortcuts work as soon as Wispr Flow is installed — no setup required:

  • Dictate a Flow note ("take Flow note", "dictate with Flow") — starts dictation.

  • Quick Dictation to Clipboard ("quick dictate with Flow", "dictate to clipboard with Flow") — dictates to your clipboard.

  • Toggle Flow on/off ("turn on off Flow") — starts or stops recording.

  • Open Flow Notes ("Create note with Flow", "Create Flow note", "open Flow note") — opens the app to a new note.

Add them to the Shortcuts app to rename them or use them in automations.

Spotlight search

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.

Scratchpad button in the Flow Bar (Mac)

The Scratchpad button is off by default. To add it:

  1. Open Wispr Flow on Mac and go to Settings.

  2. Navigate to the Notes (or Scratchpad) settings page.

  3. Turn on the Add to Flow Bar toggle.

The button appears in the Flow Bar immediately. Turn the toggle off to remove it.

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 Flow Notes 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).

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.

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.

Can I access my notes from Scratchpad on Mac?

Yes. Open recent notes from the dropdown in Scratchpad; anything you create or edit there saves back to your library. To add a Scratchpad button to the Flow Bar, see the setup steps above.

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

Yes, with restrictions: notes are stored locally only and AI summaries are unavailable. See Limitations and notes.

Limitations and notes

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

  • Accounts with data restrictions — HIPAA BAA-signed accounts and accounts with Privacy Mode on — have AI summaries and Spotlight indexing disabled. When an organization administrator enforces these restrictions, individual users cannot change them.

  • On HIPAA BAA-signed accounts, notes are stored locally only and do not sync. Pull-to-refresh and the manual sync button remain visible but have no effect.

  • The Lock Screen widget, Control Center controls, and Live Activity require iOS 18.3 or later. The Action Button is available on iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max, all iPhone 16 models, and all iPhone 17 models (including iPhone Air).

  • Spotlight indexes note titles and a portion of each note's content, so longer notes may not be fully searchable. Indexing updates can take a few moments to reflect new or edited notes.

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

  • Scratchpad integration with your iOS notes (recent notes dropdown, new note button) is available on Mac only. The Flow Bar button is opt-in via the Add to Flow Bar toggle in Settings on Mac.

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

Still need help?

Reach out to our support team if:

  • Spotlight, the Lock Screen widget, or a Siri Shortcut isn't working after following the setup steps above

  • Notes aren't syncing between iOS and Scratchpad on Mac on a standard (non-restricted) account

  • A note you created is missing from your notes list

Include your iOS version, iPhone model, Wispr Flow version, and what you tried. Most issues are resolved in one reply.