Fix "Taking longer than usual" and transcription errors

Mac / Windows

1. Click the Flow menu bar icon (top-right on Mac, system tray on Windows).

2. Select Check for Updates.

iOS

1. Open the App Store and search for Wispr Flow.

2. Tap Update if available.

Android

1. Open the Google Play Store and search for Wispr Flow.

2. Tap Update if available.

Mac

1. Go to System Settings → Network → Firewall.

2. Confirm Wispr Flow is listed and allowed.

Windows

1. Go to Settings → Privacy & security → Windows Security → Firewall & network protection.

2. Click Allow an app through firewall.

3. Confirm Wispr Flow is listed and allowed.

iOS

1. Go to Settings → General → Background App Refresh.

2. Confirm Wispr Flow is enabled. (iOS uses Background App Refresh in place of a firewall allow-list.)

Mac

1. Press Cmd + Q to quit Flow.

2. Reopen Flow from your Applications folder or Spotlight.

Windows

1. Right-click the Flow icon in the system tray (bottom-right corner of the taskbar).

2. Select Quit.

3. Reopen Flow from the Start menu.

iOS

1. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen (or double-click the Home button).

2. Swipe up on Flow to close it.

3. Reopen Flow from your home screen.

Android

1. Open recent apps (swipe up and hold, or tap the square button).

2. Swipe away Flow to close it.

3. Reopen Flow from your home screen or app drawer.

Mac / Windows

1. Open Flow and go to History.

2. Find the failed transcript (look for Error or Empty status).

3. Click Retry. Retry works on failed transcriptions (Error or Empty status) that are 5 seconds or longer and less than 14 days old. For dismissed or still-processing transcriptions, click Recover instead — no minimum duration, only the 14-day limit applies.

4. Wait for the loading animation to complete. For recordings longer than 2 minutes, Flow shows an estimated wait time.

iOS

1. Tap a failed transcription directly to retry it.

2. Or swipe left on a failed transcription in History to access the Retry action.

Android

1. Open Flow and go to History.

2. Find the failed transcript. Audio may be available if the entry has not been replaced by newer recordings.

3. Tap Retry transcript from the three-dot menu.

Bugs fixed in recent updates

The following issues were fixed in recent versions. Update Flow to resolve them:

• On iOS, when dictation failed during the "try it yourself" steps in onboarding, Flow would fail silently with no explanation. Flow now shows a message at the top of the screen describing what went wrong — for example, if your mic wasn't heard, if there was a connection problem, or if another app was using the microphone.

• On Mac and Windows, when the microphone couldn't be accessed at the start of a dictation, Flow would stay in a "Listening" state for up to 24 seconds before showing a generic "Transcript failed to load" error. Flow now dismisses the session immediately and shows a specific notification explaining what went wrong.

• On Mac and Windows, canceling dictation and quickly pressing the hotkey to start again could cause the microphone to take 8–30 seconds to activate, with each retry taking progressively longer. The microphone indicator light also stayed on briefly after canceling. Both issues are now fixed.

• On Android, longer dictations (over 500 characters) could be incorrectly detected as failed, causing Flow to fall back to clipboard-based pasting and show false failure warnings.

• Dictated numbers could be deleted or cut off from transcripts.

• Clicking Retry while actively dictating could destroy the in-progress recording. The Retry button is now disabled during active dictation.

• On Windows, dictation could get stuck showing "Processing" if antivirus software or a file indexing service had locked a file, or if the disk was full.

• On Android, when server processing took around 2 seconds or longer, dictated text could be inserted twice or fail to insert at all.

• Background tasks like sync and update checks could run during active dictation, causing slowdowns.

• A pending app update could cause Flow to quit mid-dictation.

• Flow could stop capturing audio mid-dictation while still showing a "listening" status, causing empty or incomplete transcriptions.

• Canceling or dismissing a dictation session could generate unnecessary error messages.

• Custom dictionary words were sometimes not recognized at the start of a dictation.

• Text could sometimes be missed or duplicated during active dictation.

• In Google Docs and Gmail, dictated text could be inserted multiple times.

• Proper nouns and other words were sometimes not correctly extracted during dictation due to a parsing error.

• Retrying a long transcription from History could time out too quickly.

• On Android, dictated text was inserted twice in WhatsApp, Telegram, and other apps (fixed in v1.3.3).

• On Android, transcription history could be lost when the app was closed.

• Users upgrading from older app versions could experience transcription data issues due to database compatibility problems.

• On Android, the Flow Bubble had a noticeable delay before dismissing after dictation completed.

• Longer dictations had an extra delay of approximately 500ms before text appeared.

• On Android, failed transcriptions did not always preserve the audio recording, making it impossible to retry them.

• Pressing the Wispr Lens shortcut while a transcription was still processing could start a conflicting session.

• Error messages about lost audio chunks appeared even though transcription was working correctly.

• Audio recording could be lost when connection dropped mid-dictation.

• Audio file in transcription history was missing or showing the wrong recording.

• "Transcript failed to load" after a silent dictation.

• Transcribed text appeared duplicated.

• Blank text appeared during streaming dictation.

• App crashed during voice transcription.

• Consecutive dictation attempts failed or app hung.

• Retrying a failed transcription created duplicate history entries.

What does "Taking longer than usual" mean?

This message appears when Flow's servers need extra time to process your audio. Common causes include temporary server load, slow internet, or VPN/firewall interference. To hide this notification permanently, click Don't show again.

Flow automatically routes your dictation to the nearest available transcription server, which reduces delays — particularly outside the US. If you see this message frequently, make sure you're on the latest version.

On Android, you'll see a toast message instead: "Taking longer than usual. Your audio is saved in the app." Your recording is preserved and can be retried from History.

What does "Flow was processing your last transcript" mean?

This appears when you try to start a new dictation or Wispr Lens session while a previous transcription is still processing. Click Cancel to dismiss the pending transcription, or wait for it to finish.

What does "Transcript currently processing" mean?

This appears when you press the dictation shortcut while a retry from History is still being processed. Wait for the retry to complete, then start your new dictation.

What do the microphone error notifications mean on Mac and Windows?

If Flow can't access your microphone when you start dictating, it dismisses the session immediately and shows one of the following:

• No microphone detected: Flow couldn't find a connected microphone. Click Open Settings to check your system's audio input devices.

• Selected microphone is unavailable: The microphone you previously selected in Flow is no longer connected. Click Choose Microphone to pick a different one.

• Microphone unavailable: Another app may be using the microphone exclusively, or there's an audio driver issue. Click Troubleshoot for next steps. If the problem is transient, try dictating again — Flow only shows this notification if the issue occurs twice in a short period.

• Microphone error: An unexpected problem prevented microphone access. Click Troubleshoot for next steps. As above, this only appears on a repeated failure.

What do the error messages mean during iOS onboarding?

When you try dictation for the first time during iOS setup, Flow shows a message at the top of the screen if something goes wrong. Here's what each message means:

• "Oops, we didn't hear you.. Get closer to your mic!": Flow didn't pick up any audio. Move closer to your microphone and try again.

• "Poor connection! Tap the mic to try again": Flow couldn't reach the transcription server due to a weak or dropped connection. Check your internet and tap the mic to retry.

• "Your mic is being used by another app. Close other apps and try again!": Another app has exclusive access to your microphone. Close other apps and try dictating again.

• "Enable microphone access to use Flow": Flow doesn't have permission to use your microphone. Go to Settings → Privacy → Microphone and enable access for Wispr Flow.

• "Oops, something went wrong.. Tap the mic to try again!": An unexpected error occurred. Tap the mic button to try again.

Why are filler words like "um" missing from my transcripts?

Flow's Smart Formatting removes filler words by design. To get raw transcription, turn off Smart Formatting in Settings.

Why do transcripts fail?

• Network timeout: Your internet dropped or was too slow.

• Server processing error: Rare, but occasionally the server can't process audio.

• Audio quality issues: Very quiet, distorted, or noisy audio may not process correctly.

What happens if I lose connection during dictation?

• Before dictating: Flow blocks the session from starting and shows a "No Internet" notification. No audio is captured.

• While dictating: Audio that was already being recorded may be preserved in History (it is saved in parallel during recording). Check History after reconnecting.

• iOS fallback: If the streaming connection drops mid-dictation, Flow automatically attempts a fallback transcription using the audio already captured.

• Android: Network connectivity monitoring is not currently active — Flow does not block dictation when offline. If the connection is lost, the transcription may fail silently, and you can retry from History.

What's the maximum recording length?

• Mac and Windows: 20-minute maximum. At 19 minutes, you'll see a warning that your session is almost up. At 20 minutes, the session automatically stops and your transcription is submitted.

• Android: No fixed session limit. Recording continues until you stop it manually. For very long content, consider breaking it into multiple sessions for best results.

What does the Android Flow Bubble show during errors?

• Retry button: Appears when transcription fails. Tap to try again.

• Paste button: Appears when text fails to paste. Tap to retry pasting.

• Loading spinner: Appears during push-to-talk processing.

• Cancel button: During push-to-talk processing, appears after 3 seconds alongside the loading spinner.

• Toast messages: "Failed to transcribe. Saved in the app." or "Couldn't paste text. Saved to clipboard."

• Loading states: While retrying, the bubble shows "Retrying..." During paste retry, it shows "Pasting..."

What is Android automatic timeout recovery?

On Android, if Flow appears stuck during initialization or processing, it automatically recovers: stuck initialization times out after 10 seconds, stuck processing after 20 seconds, and error states auto-reset after 5 seconds.