Troubleshooting the Flow Bar (Desktop) and Flow Bubble (Android)

Last updated: June 7, 2026

Available on: Mac, Windows, Android

If the Flow Bar (desktop) or Flow Bubble (Android) isn't appearing when you tap a text field, disappears unexpectedly, or flickers during use — this guide walks you through fixing it. Most issues resolve in under 2 minutes.


Quick checks

  • Is Flow running? Look for the Flow icon in your menu bar (Mac), system tray (Windows), or notification shade (Android). If it's missing, open Wispr Flow.

  • Was the bar hidden? On desktop, the Flow Bar can be temporarily hidden via "Hide for 1 hour" in the right-click menu, or permanently from Settings. If the bar is visible, right-click it to manage visibility, or open Settings to unhide it permanently.

  • Does the bar or bubble appear in other apps? Try a different app or browser. If it works there, the issue is app-specific. If it doesn't appear anywhere, follow the platform-specific steps below.


Troubleshooting steps

Mac

Work through these steps in order. The most common fixes come first.

  1. Confirm Flow is running. Look for the Flow icon in the menu bar at the top of your screen. If it's not there, open Wispr Flow from your Applications folder.

  2. Check whether the bar was hidden. If the bar was hidden via "Hide for 1 hour", right-click the bar (if visible) or wait for it to return. To unhide permanently, open Settings.

  3. Check permissions. Open System SettingsPrivacy & SecurityAccessibility and confirm Wispr Flow is enabled. Then check System SettingsPrivacy & SecurityMicrophone. If you toggle a permission, Flow detects the change automatically and resumes once permissions are granted.

  4. Exit full-screen mode if you're in it. Some full-screen modes hide floating UI elements like the Flow Bar. If the bar reappears outside full screen, the issue is mode-specific.

  5. Test in a different browser (Safari, Chrome, or Firefox). If the bar appears in one but not another, check for ad blockers or security extensions that may block overlays.

Dictate a short phrase in a text field. If the bar appears and text is transcribed, you're done.

Windows

Work through these steps in order. The most common fixes come first.

  1. Confirm Flow is running. Look for the Flow icon in the system tray near the clock. Click the ^ arrow to see hidden icons if needed. If it's not there, open Wispr Flow from your Start menu.

  2. Check whether the bar was hidden. If the bar was hidden via "Hide for 1 hour", right-click the bar (if visible) or wait for it to return. To unhide permanently, open Settings.

  3. Check permissions. Open Windows SettingsPrivacy & security and make sure Flow is allowed to run in the background and interact with apps. If you toggle a permission, Flow detects the change automatically and resumes once permissions are granted.

  4. Disable third-party tools that may block overlays, such as window managers or security utilities. If the bar reappears, re-enable those tools one at a time to identify the conflict.

  5. Exit full-screen mode if you're in it. Some immersive modes hide floating UI elements like the Flow Bar.

  6. Test in a different browser (Chrome, Edge, or Firefox). If the bar appears in one but not another, check for ad blockers or security extensions that may block overlays.

Dictate a short phrase in a text field. If the bar appears and text is transcribed, you're done.

Android

Note: The Flow Bubble appears when your on-screen keyboard opens and hides when it closes. If you're using an external keyboard, the on-screen keyboard typically stays closed, so the bubble won't appear. Open the on-screen keyboard manually to use Flow. The bubble is also intentionally hidden in banking and financial apps, and in password, numeric, and phone number fields for privacy and security.

Work through these steps in order. The most common fixes come first.

  1. Open Wispr Flow from your app drawer. If the accessibility service was stopped and couldn't reconnect automatically, Flow shows a Repair tap target on screen — tap it to restore the Flow Bubble. If the bubble reconnects successfully, you'll see a brief "Flow Bubble reconnected" message. If accessibility permission was also revoked, Flow takes you directly to the screen to re-grant it.

  2. Check the home screen for a Flow Bubble Disabled card. If you see it, tap Turn Back On to restart the bubble.

  3. End snooze if the bubble is snoozed. Dragging the bubble to the bottom of the screen puts it in snooze mode. Shake your device twice firmly to end snooze early, or tap End snooze now on the home screen card. When snooze ends, a brief Toast confirms: "Flow Bubble is back and will appear next time you are in a text box." The bubble may not reappear until you tap a text field.

  4. Reset the bubble opacity. Open Wispr Flow SettingsFlow Bubble Opacity. If the slider is set very low, the bubble appears faint or nearly invisible. Tap Reset to restore the default opacity.

  5. Check whether the bubble has shrunk. Open Wispr Flow SettingsBubble Size. If Shrink the bubble when not in use is enabled, the bubble auto-minimizes after a short period of inactivity. If Shrink the bubble in search fields is on, it minimizes immediately when entering a search field. Tap or long-press the minimized bubble to restore it — both gestures restore the bubble and immediately start dictation. To keep the bubble at full size, turn off the toggle.

  6. Check Accessibility permissions. Go to SettingsAccessibilityInstalled appsWispr Flow and confirm the accessibility service is enabled. If you see a "Wispr Flow needs attention" notification, tap it to jump straight to the right settings page. If you see a warning triangle on the Flow Bubble itself, tap it to go directly to the accessibility permission screen.

  7. Check microphone permission. Go to SettingsAppsWispr FlowPermissionsMicrophone and make sure it's allowed. If the bubble is visible but you see a prompt to re-grant microphone access, follow the on-screen steps — the bubble stays on screen to guide you through re-granting it.

  8. Check overlay permissions. Go to SettingsAppsWispr FlowDisplay over other apps and make sure it's enabled. If you re-grant either this or the accessibility permission from a home screen error card, Flow returns to the foreground automatically once permission is granted.

  9. Exempt Flow from battery optimization. Flow guides you to the right setting for your device. Settings vary by manufacturer — for example, Samsung uses "Never sleeping apps"; Xiaomi, Redmi, POCO, and Vivo use "Autostart"; Oppo uses "Allow Auto-Launch" and "Allow Background Activity"; Huawei and Honor use "App launch" toggles; Realme and OnePlus use battery optimization exclusions; Motorola and Transsion (Tecno, Infinix, itel) use "Don't optimize".

Important: Aggressive battery optimization on Samsung, Xiaomi, Redmi, POCO, Vivo, Oppo, OnePlus, Motorola, Huawei, Honor, Realme, and Transsion devices is the most common reason the Flow Bubble disappears in the background. Don't skip the battery exemption step above.

Tap a text field in any app to open the on-screen keyboard. If the bubble appears, you're done. If it still doesn't appear, update Wispr Flow to the latest version and try again.


Common issues

Bugs fixed in recent desktop updates

The following issues have been fixed in recent versions of Wispr Flow for desktop. Update to the latest version to get these fixes:

  • Alert notifications couldn't be dismissed. The close button is now responsive, and hovering over a notification cancels the auto-dismiss timer.

  • Right-clicking the Flow Bar showed an animated waveform instead of the microphone icon. Right-clicking now correctly displays the static microphone icon.

  • Flow Bar or floating bubble briefly flashed when dictation was triggered by voice activation or an external source. The bubble no longer double-flashes or briefly disappears when dictation starts from an external trigger.

  • Flow Bar overlay could become unstable when switching audio inputs or during app restarts. The overlay now handles these transitions reliably.

  • Flow Bar disappeared after signing out and back in. The bar now reappears after signing back in, including when signing out and back in quickly.

  • Flow Bar flickered or showed layout glitches when switching states or screen sizes rapidly. The bar now transitions smoothly without flickering or positioning artifacts.

  • Flow Bar became briefly unavailable after waking from sleep, or disconnected and restarted unexpectedly during use. Flow now recognizes when the system was temporarily frozen and avoids unnecessary restarts.

  • Keyboard shortcuts and dictation triggers were delayed or dropped. Keyboard shortcuts now respond reliably.

  • Flow Bar got stuck in a recording state after cancelling dictation. The bar now returns to its idle state whenever dictation is cancelled.

  • Switching between Push-to-Talk and press-once-press-once dictation caused the dictation bubble to display incorrectly. The dictation bubble now fully resets between sessions.

  • Microphone stayed on after the Flow Bubble was hidden. The microphone now stops immediately when the bubble is hidden.

  • Language switcher on the Flow Bar didn't respond as expected. The language indicator has been redesigned — hover to reveal a chevron button. Click the main circle to cycle through languages, or click the chevron to open the full language picker. Cycling is only available when 2+ languages are selected; with a single language configured, both controls open the full language picker.

  • Waveform animation kept moving when the microphone wasn't picking up sound. The waveform now goes flat after a short period of silence. If silence continues, a "Microphone is not working" notification appears with a "Select microphone" button. The escalated notification remains until you stop dictation or take an action — it does not auto-clear on audio recovery.

  • Status notifications sometimes didn't disappear after clicking an action button. Notifications now dismiss after you click an action.

  • Notification text wrapped or appeared glitchy during transitions. Notification animations have been refined so text displays cleanly.

  • Visual glitch appeared on the avatar image while it was loading. The loading spinner no longer causes a visual flicker.

  • Demo videos stopped playing after navigating away and back. Videos now continue playing correctly, and Picture-in-Picture mode works properly again.

Bugs fixed in recent Android updates

The following issues have been fixed in recent versions of Wispr Flow for Android. Update to the latest version to get these fixes:

  • When the accessibility service was stopped and the app couldn't reconnect automatically on the next launch, there was no clear way to recover. Flow now detects this on startup and shows a Repair tap target so you can restore the Flow Bubble in one tap. A "Flow Bubble reconnected" message confirms when recovery is successful.

  • The Flow Bubble was cut off or partially hidden when the device was rotated to landscape or reverse-landscape orientation. The bubble now stays fully visible in all landscape orientations.

  • Dictation didn't work in Chrome and Chromium-based browser search boxes. Tapping into a Chrome search box and dictating now works correctly.

  • The Flow Bubble was clipped or invisible on the right edge when the device was in landscape orientation. The bubble now stays fully visible when docked on the right side in landscape and reverse-landscape orientations, including when shrunk to a dot.

  • After the accessibility service was interrupted, the Flow Bubble was slow to begin recovering. The bubble now enters recovery mode immediately, so it reconnects or prompts you to re-enable accessibility much faster.

  • The Flow Bubble could disappear entirely if microphone permission was revoked at an inopportune moment. The bubble now stays on screen when microphone permission is revoked and guides you through re-granting it, so you never lose the overlay mid-session.

  • The accessibility repair prompt didn't appear until after the app fully connected, and could be dismissed prematurely. The repair prompt now appears immediately when you open the app if accessibility is disabled — even on a fresh start. It stays on screen until accessibility is restored. Attempting to snooze the bubble while the repair prompt is showing displays a message that snooze is unavailable until accessibility is restored.

  • A "Flow Bubble reconnected" message appeared the first time the bubble connected in a session, even though there was no prior connection to restore. This message is now suppressed on first connect and only appears when the bubble genuinely reconnects after losing its connection.

  • A warning triangle or pulsing loader appeared on the Flow Bubble with no way to recover. Flow now shows a Repair screen when the accessibility service loses its connection or its permission is revoked. The pulsing loader appears while Flow tries to reconnect automatically. If reconnection takes too long or accessibility permission has been revoked, a warning triangle appears — tap it to go directly to the accessibility settings and re-enable Flow.

  • The bubble didn't stay hidden after snoozing when the keyboard opened. Snooze now persists correctly when the on-screen keyboard appears — the bubble remains hidden until snooze ends.

  • Shaking the device to end snooze stopped working. Shake-to-unsnooze now works correctly again.

  • The "Bubble is snoozed" card on the home screen remained visible after a force-stop or service restart. The snooze state is now cleared correctly after a force-stop or service restart — snooze does not survive these events.

  • When a search field was focused, the bubble took too long to shrink to a dot instead of shrinking immediately. The bubble now shrinks to a dot instantly when you tap into a search field.

  • The bubble appeared in the wrong position after rotating between portrait and landscape. Bubble positioning now updates correctly when you rotate your device.

  • Text insertion could stall for a long time on some devices, making the app appear unresponsive. Flow now uses a faster, more responsive retry strategy when inserting text, reducing delays.

  • Flow didn't start automatically after a device reboot even when accessibility was already enabled. Flow now starts up on its own after a reboot, as long as accessibility permission is active.

  • Revoking microphone permission caused the app to repeatedly crash on newer versions of Android. The Flow Bubble now continues running after microphone permission is removed and prompts you to re-grant it.

  • The accessibility re-grant prompt didn't appear if the bubble was snoozed when accessibility permission was lost. The prompt now appears regardless of whether the bubble is snoozed when Flow detects that accessibility access has been revoked.

  • The bubble moved to the wrong position after shaking the device while the keyboard was open. Shaking the device with the keyboard open now returns the bubble to the correct position.

  • The Flow Bubble appeared active but text stopped being inserted, with no warning shown. This could happen on Samsung One UI devices and phones with aggressive deep-sleep modes. Flow now automatically detects this and attempts to reconnect, showing a pulsing loading indicator while it does. If reconnection doesn't succeed or accessibility permission has been revoked, the bubble shows a warning triangle — tap it to go directly to the accessibility settings screen and re-enable Flow.

  • Flow Bubble sometimes didn't appear after enabling the accessibility service. The bubble now appears reliably as soon as the accessibility service is enabled.

  • Flow Bubble flickered or behaved erratically when tapping into text fields. Focus changes when tapping a text field are now handled correctly, eliminating the flicker.

  • Flow Bubble could misbehave after the app restarted. The bubble now recovers reliably after a restart.

  • Flow Bubble didn't appear in notification reply boxes or in browser address bars. The bubble now appears in notification reply fields — including on Samsung, Xiaomi, OPPO, OnePlus, Vivo, and Asus devices — and in the address bar of supported browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Brave, Samsung Internet, and others). Dictated text is inserted at your cursor position, preserving anything you've already typed. Password, numeric, and phone fields remain excluded.

  • Error bubble stayed on screen indefinitely after a failed transcription or paste. The error bubble now dismisses automatically after a short period of inactivity. You can also tap the Wispr icon to dismiss it manually.

  • Re-granting overlay or accessibility permissions from a home screen error card didn't return you to the app. The app now comes back to the foreground after you grant the permission.

  • Flow Bubble briefly shrank then snapped back to full size when tapping to start dictation. The bubble now stays at a consistent size when you tap to record, and the waveform starts correctly from the first frame. Cancel and Done are tappable immediately.

  • Recording bubble appeared too narrow on some devices, causing controls to be misaligned or cut off. The recording bubble now displays at the correct width on all devices.

  • Flow Bubble didn't recover after being stopped by the system (battery manager, low memory, or a crash). Flow now silently restarts the bubble the next time you open the app, as long as you're signed in and accessibility permission is still granted.

  • On certain devices (including some Pixel and OnePlus models), the Flow Bubble appeared clipped during recording. The bubble now reliably displays at full width with all controls visible across all devices.

  • Picture-in-Picture screen appeared blank on OnePlus devices. The Picture-in-Picture display now renders correctly.

  • Onboarding buttons were misaligned or different widths on tablets and foldables. Primary and secondary buttons now display at a consistent width on these devices.

  • Editing a snippet or dictionary word left a duplicate entry. Editing now updates the existing entry without creating duplicates.

  • Flow Bubble buttons could be clipped during a recording session. The recording bubble now renders with all buttons fully visible.

  • Flow Bubble displayed unwanted scale, fade, or movement animations on Samsung and Motorola devices. The bubble now transitions cleanly without extra system-level animations.

  • Entering the same word as both a dictionary entry and a snippet trigger caused silent conflicts. Flow now shows a validation error, matching desktop behavior.

  • The "+" button on the Dictionary and Snippets screens overlapped the navigation bar. The button now sits above the navigation bar and is always accessible.

  • Flow Bubble and floating bar could resize incorrectly or jump position when docked on the right side. The bubble and bar now resize smoothly regardless of which side they're docked on.

  • Accessibility permission was silently turned off on some devices (OnePlus, Xiaomi, Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, Samsung). Flow now detects this and sends a notification you can tap to go directly to the accessibility settings page and re-enable it.

  • Toggling languages in the language selector didn't work reliably. The selected state now displays correctly, and toggling works as expected.

  • Flow Bubble briefly flashed off-screen when switching states while docked on the right side. The bubble now transitions smoothly regardless of dock side.

  • Tapping the minimized bubble sometimes didn't register. An invisible area above the icon was intercepting taps. Taps now respond correctly.

  • Flow Bubble behaved unexpectedly on some newer Android devices. Touch handling is now more reliable, including on devices with stricter system builds.

  • Back button on the Dashboard didn't behave as expected. It now closes the side menu if open, dismisses the keyboard on a non-home tab (and returns you to Home on a second press), and behaves normally on the Home tab.

  • Side menu and keyboard could overlap. The keyboard now collapses whenever the side menu opens.

  • Feedback dialog disappeared when rotating the device during submission. The dialog now stays visible through rotation and submission completes reliably.

  • "Flow Bubble Disabled" card didn't always appear correctly, and sometimes appeared even when the bubble was working. The card now appears only when the bubble service isn't running and all required permissions are granted. Tapping Turn Back On starts the service; the card clears as soon as the service is running, and a brief Toast confirms.

  • Shaking the device revealed the Flow Bubble even when no text field was active. Shaking now only ends an active snooze.

  • Dictation service could fail to restart after signing back in. The dictation service now restarts reliably after sign-in.

  • Flow Bubble became detached or invisible mid-session. Flow now detects this and rebuilds the bubble on its own.

  • Flow Bubble disappeared on its own, especially on Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, and Samsung devices. Flow now restarts the bubble automatically when it stops unexpectedly.

  • Revoking "Display over other apps" left a stuck or invisible overlay. Flow now handles the case where Display over other apps is revoked mid-session. When the system blocks the overlay, the bubble exits gracefully.

  • Brief visual flash when long-pressing a minimized bubble to start recording. The bubble now expands smoothly to full size, matching tap behavior.

  • "Shrink the bubble when not in use" toggle didn't stop shrinking in search fields. The master toggle now disables all shrink behavior, including in search fields.

  • Shrink sub-options could be turned on even when the main toggle was off. Sub-options are now grayed out and disabled whenever the main toggle is off.

  • Flow Bubble didn't reappear after a device reboot or app update. Most common on Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, and Samsung devices. Flow now actively restarts the bubble after a reboot or update.

  • Dictation bubble flickered when switching between recording, processing, and idle. State transitions now use a smooth fade-in.

  • Dictation overlay showed the wrong controls during Push-to-Talk or press-once-press-once sessions. The overlay now always shows the correct buttons — checkmark for press-once-press-once and auto-submit for Push-to-Talk.

  • Dictated text was sometimes attributed to the wrong app when switching apps. Flow now tracks which app you're dictating in, even when the keyboard remains visible across switches.

  • Stale browser URL was incorrectly paired with activity in a non-browser app. A browser URL is no longer mistakenly carried over as context into a different, non-browser app.

  • Dictation context could be lost if Android shut down the app in the background. Flow now saves your dictation context immediately when you switch apps.

  • Flow Bubble could crash on lower-end devices. Stability on lower-end devices has been improved, especially when context awareness is turned off.

  • Dictated text sometimes failed to insert correctly. Text insertion is now faster and more reliable. If Flow can't insert your text, it automatically copies it to your clipboard and shows a Paste action button directly on the Flow Bubble. Tapping the icon dismisses the error; your text remains on the clipboard so you can paste it manually.

  • Persistent "Wispr Flow Service Status" notification cluttered the notification tray. Flow no longer shows its own persistent service notification.

  • Flow Bubble stopped working after Wispr Flow crashed and restarted in the background. The bubble now recovers correctly after a crash.

  • Wispr Flow could crash during dictation on the latest Android version. Flow now handles cases where Android updates multiple parts of the screen at the same time.

  • Dictated text failed to appear in apps using newer Android interface elements. Flow now detects more quickly when the connection to a text field is interrupted and re-establishes it faster.

  • Wispr Flow took longer than expected to start, or became unresponsive after reboot. App startup is now faster and more reliable.

  • Dictated text failed to appear in Gmail and other web-based fields, particularly on Samsung devices. Flow now inserts text correctly in these apps.

  • Copy button remained visible after the Flow Bubble was dismissed. The copy button now disappears together with the bubble.

  • Flow Bubble failed to reappear after navigating away from a text field and back. The bubble now reappears whenever you tap back into a text field.

  • Dictated text was sometimes inserted twice, or fell back to a clipboard paste, when processing took longer than expected. Text now inserts correctly regardless of processing time.

  • Flow Bubble disappeared on devices with aggressive battery management (Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo). Flow now runs with a persistent "Quick Actions" notification that keeps it active in the background.

  • Flow Bubble failed to reappear after switching apps and tapping a text field. The bubble now shows up when you return to any text field across apps.

  • Microphone stayed on after the Flow Bubble was hidden. Additional protections were added to ensure the microphone stops reliably whenever the dictation bubble is hidden.

  • Flow Bubble didn't appear while the on-screen keyboard was sliding into view. The bubble now appears as soon as the keyboard starts opening.

  • Flow Bubble stayed in the "Ready" state after dismissing the keyboard. The bubble now updates its state correctly when you close the keyboard.

  • Copy button in the floating bar appeared misaligned. The copy button now displays correctly.

  • Flow Bubble could disappear right after tapping it to start dictating. The bubble now stays visible throughout the dictation initialization process.

  • Flow Bubble got stuck on screen after dismissing the keyboard. The bubble now hides when you close the keyboard, even if the text field is still active.

  • Wispr Flow could crash in apps with complex layouts (TikTok, WeChat, Xiaohongshu). Flow now handles these apps without crashing.

  • Flow Bubble sometimes didn't appear after tapping into a text field. Several scenarios where the bubble failed to show have been fixed, including keyboard slide-in timing and delayed text field detection.

  • Dictated text silently failed in WhatsApp or Telegram after switching chats. Flow now detects when these apps recycle their input field and re-establishes its connection.

  • Bubble disappeared after the accessibility service restarted. The bubble now reappears correctly after these events.

  • Flow Bubble appeared offline when a connectivity issue was detected. The bubble now always appears online and remains fully interactive regardless of network status.

  • Tapping Paste or Retry after an error started a new recording instead. These buttons now work correctly when recovering from an error.

  • Transcription history was lost when the service restarted. History is now preserved across service restarts.

  • Bubble lingered over the home screen after swiping home. The bubble now hides correctly when you leave an app.


FAQs

The bar appears in apps but not in browsers — what's wrong?

Some browsers require specific permissions or have extensions that block overlays. Try a different browser to isolate the issue, and check that no ad blockers or security extensions are interfering.

The bar suddenly stopped showing — what happened?

Restart Wispr Flow. If that doesn't help, check whether a recent system update changed your privacy or accessibility settings.

Why did the Flow Bubble shrink to a small icon or dot on Android?

The bubble has a "shrink when not in use" feature that minimizes it after a short period of inactivity. Control this in Wispr Flow SettingsBubble Size:

  • Shrink the bubble when not in use: Collapses the bubble to a small icon when it's idle. Turn this off to keep the bubble at full size.

  • Shrink to a dot: Makes the bubble shrink to an even smaller dot. Only available when the main shrink toggle is on.

  • Shrink the bubble in search fields: Minimizes the bubble whenever you tap into a search field. Only available when the main shrink toggle is on.

To restore the bubble at any time, tap or long-press it.

What does the pulsing loader or warning triangle on the Flow Bubble mean?

These indicators appear when Flow has lost its connection to the accessibility service — most common on Samsung One UI and devices with aggressive battery management:

  • Pulsing loader: Flow detected a problem and is automatically trying to reconnect. Wait a moment and the bubble returns to normal once the connection is restored. A brief "Flow Bubble reconnected" message confirms when it's back. The pulsing loader itself is not tappable.

  • Warning triangle: Reconnection has stalled or accessibility permission has been revoked. Tap the warning triangle to go directly to the accessibility settings screen and re-enable Wispr Flow.

If accessibility is already disabled when you open the app, Flow shows a Repair tap target immediately — before you tap any text fields. Tap it to restore the Flow Bubble. The prompt stays on screen until accessibility is restored. If you're in the middle of dictating when this happens, Flow waits until your recording is complete before showing these indicators.

Why can't I snooze the Flow Bubble on Android?

Snooze is unavailable while the accessibility permission repair prompt is showing. You'll see a message saying "Snooze is unavailable while accessibility needs attention." Re-enable the accessibility permission first, and snooze will work normally again. Snooze is also unavailable while the bubble is recording or in any non-Ready state.

What happens when the Flow Bubble shows an error on Android?

If transcription fails or text can't be pasted, the bubble shows an error. It clears automatically after a short period of inactivity. You can also dismiss it sooner by tapping the Wispr icon on the bubble:

  • Failed to paste: Tapping the icon dismisses the error. Your text stays on the clipboard so you can paste it manually.

  • Failed to transcribe: Tapping the icon starts a fresh dictation session.

After the error is dismissed, the bubble returns to its ready state if you have a text field focused, or hides otherwise.

How do I adjust the Flow Bubble's size or opacity on Android?

To adjust the bubble's size and minimize behavior, go to SettingsBubble Size. From there you can set the bubble size and control whether it shrinks when not in use, shrinks to a dot, or minimizes in search fields.

To change the bubble's transparency, go to SettingsFlow Bubble Opacity. Use the slider to set the opacity — the bubble updates live as you drag. Tap Reset on either screen to restore the default.

Tip: If you just completed onboarding, the education cards on the home screen include a short video showing how to resize the bubble.

Why doesn't the Flow Bubble appear when I'm using an external keyboard?

The Flow Bubble appears and hides based on whether your on-screen keyboard is open. With a physical or external keyboard, the on-screen keyboard typically stays closed, so the bubble won't appear. Open the on-screen keyboard manually to use Flow.

Why doesn't the Flow Bubble appear in my banking app, password field, or phone number field?

The Flow Bubble is intentionally hidden in banking and financial apps (including mobile payment apps like PayPal, Cash App, Venmo, and Google Wallet) and in password, numeric, and phone number fields for privacy and security. The bubble reappears when you switch to a standard text field in a non-restricted app.

Can I use the Flow Bubble to reply to notifications without opening the app?

Yes. The Flow Bubble appears in notification reply boxes — for example, when you tap the inline reply button on a WhatsApp or messaging notification in the notification shade. This works on a wide range of devices, including Samsung, Xiaomi, OPPO, OnePlus, Vivo, and Asus. Your dictated text is inserted directly at the cursor, preserving anything you've already typed.

Can I use the Flow Bubble to dictate into my browser's address bar?

Yes. The Flow Bubble appears when you tap the address bar in supported browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Brave, and Samsung Internet.


Still need help?

Reach out to our support team if:

  • Flow is running, permissions are enabled, and the bar or bubble still never appears.

  • The overlay disappears across all apps and browsers.

  • You see an error message not covered in this guide.

Include your platform (Mac, Windows, or Android), device model, and which apps or browsers you tested. Most overlay issues are resolved in one reply.