Longer dictation sessions — now up to 20 minutes

Last updated: May 13, 2026

Available on: Mac, Windows

Dictation sessions now run up to 20 minutes on desktop — a major increase from the previous limit. Whether you're drafting a long email, capturing meeting notes, or thinking through an essay out loud, Flow keeps up the entire time.

What it is

The maximum length of a single dictation session is now 20 minutes on Mac and Windows. There's nothing to configure — start dictating and Flow handles the rest.

How it works in Flow

Key behaviors

  • One-minute warning: At 19 minutes, an in-app status overlay tells you less than a minute remains before the 20-minute limit, so you can wrap up your thought naturally.

  • Automatic submission at 20 minutes: Flow ends the session, transcribes what you said, and pastes it into your active text field. A notification confirms the session ended and includes a Recover text option to re-paste if needed.

  • Start another session right away: Once the previous transcript finishes processing (usually a few seconds), press your dictation hotkey again. There is no cooldown.

  • No content lost on long dictations: For longer sessions, Flow processes your text in chunks. If an issue occurs at the end of that process, Flow pastes either your full unformatted transcript or a combination of the formatted portion and the raw remainder — so your words are never silently dropped.

Best practices

  • Speak naturally — Flow handles pauses, filler words, and corrections.

  • Use voice commands like "new line" or "new paragraph" to structure your text as you go.

  • Wait a moment between sessions. If you trigger dictation while the previous transcript is still processing, Flow shows a notification — let processing finish, then start the next session.

Common issues

Pasted text was cut off at the end of a long dictation

In previous versions, dictations over roughly 30 seconds could result in the end of your text being silently dropped if a formatting step failed on the last chunk. This was fixed in a recent update — Flow now ensures your full dictation is always pasted, even if some of it appears unformatted. Update Wispr Flow to the latest version to get this fix.

FAQs

Does this apply to all plans?

Yes. The 20-minute session limit applies to both Basic (free) and Pro plans on Mac and Windows.

What about iOS and Android?

This update applies to desktop only. On iOS, the session limit is 5 minutes. Android does not enforce a maximum session duration.

Can I dictate for longer than 20 minutes?

Yes. Start a new session as soon as the previous one finishes processing — there's no cooldown.

Limitations and notes

  • This update applies to Mac and Windows only. Mobile session limits are unchanged.

  • Basic (free) plan customers still have a weekly word limit, independent of session length: 2,000 words per week on desktop and 1,000 words per week on iOS. Dictation may slow after reaching this limit.

  • A hard cap (5,000 words on desktop, 1,500 on iOS) blocks dictation entirely until the weekly limit resets.