Using Notes in Wispr Flow for iOS

Available on: iOS (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

Key behaviors

Dictation: Tap the mic button at the bottom-right of the editor, or enter the editor from a widget to auto-start dictation. Tap ✕ to discard or ✓ to stop and process. Backgrounding the app while recording or processing stops dictation and saves the note.
Reading vs. editing: A note with content opens in formatted read mode; tap anywhere or use the toolbar toggle to edit. New or empty notes open in the editor with the keyboard up. The read/edit toggle is hidden while a note is empty or dictation is running.
Cursor-aware insertion: Text is inserted at your cursor, which defaults to the end of the note — tap anywhere to reposition. Appending to a non-empty note adds a line break 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. Without a title, Flow derives one from the first three words of the note's first line; with neither, the editor shows the note's date.
Markdown formatting: Type #, ##, or ### plus a space for an H1–H3 heading; type ---, ***, or ___ on its own line for a divider. The toolbar preview toggle switches between editing and formatted preview, which also renders block quotes, ordered/unordered lists, code blocks with syntax highlighting, and tables.
Ordered list nesting: Nested ordered lists cycle through 5 marker styles — decimal, uppercase letters, uppercase Roman, lowercase letters, lowercase Roman — 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 (first 100 characters) and a 300-character excerpt of each note are indexed on device; tap a result to open and edit the note in Flow.
Auto-open on launch: "Start new note on app open" is on by default and can be turned off in Settings.
Note management: Notes are sorted by most recently modified and grouped by date. Search from the search bar, swipe left for Copy, Share, and Delete, or long-press for Copy, Edit, Share, and Delete. Deleting an existing note always asks for confirmation.
Saving: Autosave runs shortly after your last edit, and the note is force-saved when you leave the editor or the app goes to the background, which also triggers a sync. A note saved with no title and no content is deleted without confirmation.
Sync: Notes sync automatically in the background across signed-in devices, independent of Cloud Sync, which governs only dictation cloud storage (transcripts, audio, dictation history, personalized speech models). Sync requires sign-in and network connectivity. To sync manually, pull down on the notes list or tap the ↺ button in the Notes nav bar.
Dynamic Island and Live Activity: While dictating a note, a Save/stop button in the Dynamic Island and Lock Screen Live Activity saves without returning to the app. Outside note mode, the expanded Dynamic Island offers a stop button plus a note button to start a new note mid-dictation. The Lock Screen banner can show your total word count. On Action Button devices the expanded view may show a "Hold to stop" hint instead of buttons.
Setup banner: If the Flow keyboard isn't installed, a finish-setup banner or empty state opens iOS Settings.

Warning: Notes started from the Lock Screen widget or Control Center open in a full-screen capture view that does not autosave 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:

Long-press your Lock Screen to enter edit mode.
Tap Customize, then select the Lock Screen widget area.
Tap the + button and search for Flow Notes.
Select the circular Flow Notes widget ("Quick access to your notes and dictation") and add it.
Tap the widget from your Lock Screen — a new note opens with dictation ready.

Note: The Lock Screen widget is circular (accessory) only. Flow also offers a Home Screen widget that shows your recent notes.

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:

Open Settings → Control Center.
Scroll to More Controls and find Wispr Flow.
Tap + to add it to your Control Center.

Action Button

On iPhones with an Action Button:

Open Settings → Action Button.
Swipe to the Shortcut option.
Select a Wispr Flow shortcut, for example Dictate a Flow note or Open Flow Notes.
Press and hold the Action Button to confirm it triggers Flow; hold again to stop dictation.

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

To find a note:

Swipe down from the middle of your home screen to open Spotlight Search.
Type any word or phrase from a note's title or content.
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:

Open Wispr Flow on Mac and go to Settings.
Navigate to the Notes (or Scratchpad) settings page.
Turn on the Add to Flow Bar toggle.

Note: If your organization has disabled Scratchpad, the Flow Bar button and its settings are not visible on Mac. Contact your admin if this is unintentional.

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 unavailable when AI features are disabled for your account.

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

Indexing covers only part of each note and can take a few moments to reflect new or edited notes. See Limitations and notes.

Does turning off Cloud Sync stop my notes from syncing?

No. Notes sync independently of Cloud Sync, unless your account has data restrictions (see Limitations and notes).

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, unless your organization has disabled Scratchpad. Open recent notes from the dropdown in Scratchpad; anything you create or edit there saves back to your library.

Why has Scratchpad disappeared on my Mac?

Your organization administrator may have disabled Scratchpad for all members (see Limitations and notes). Your notes are not deleted. Contact your admin for details.

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

Yes. On restricted accounts, AI summaries may be unavailable and note sync may be disabled. See Limitations and notes.

Limitations and notes

Notes and all related features (widgets, Siri Shortcuts, Action Button shortcut, Spotlight) are available on iOS only.
On accounts with data restrictions, AI summaries are hidden when AI is disabled, and the manual sync button and sync status icon are hidden when note sync isn't permitted. Restrictions enforced by an organization administrator cannot be changed by users.
Organization administrators can disable Scratchpad for all members on Mac, removing it from the Hub sidebar, the Flow Bar, and all keyboard shortcuts and settings. Notes are preserved and restored if the policy is re-enabled.
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 (first 100 characters) and a 300-character excerpt, so longer notes may not be fully searchable, and indexing can take a few moments to reflect edits.
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.