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

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. Press your Flow keyboard shortcut to toggle the bar on. Typing on your keyboard can also reveal the bar when it's idle.

3. Check permissions. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility and confirm Wispr Flow is enabled. Then check System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone. If you toggle either permission, restart Flow.

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

5. Test in a different browser (Safari, Chrome, or Firefox). If the bar appears in one but not another, the issue is browser-specific — 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. Press your Flow keyboard shortcut to toggle the bar on. Typing on your keyboard can also reveal the bar when it's idle.

3. Check permissions. Open Windows Settings → Privacy & security and make sure Flow is allowed to run in the background and interact with apps. If you toggle a permission, restart Flow.

4. Disable any third-party tools that may block overlays, such as window managers or security utilities.

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, the issue is browser-specific — 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

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

1. Open Wispr Flow from your app drawer. If the bubble was stopped by the system, Flow restarts it automatically when you bring the app to the foreground. 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 for 10 minutes. Shake your device once firmly to end snooze early, or tap End snooze now on the home screen card. The bubble reappears the next time you tap into a text field.

4. Reset the bubble opacity. Open Wispr Flow Settings → Flow Bubble Opacity. If the slider is set very low, the bubble appears faint or nearly invisible. Tap Reset to restore the default 80% opacity.

5. Check whether the bubble has shrunk. Open Wispr Flow Settings → Bubble Size. If Shrink the bubble when not in use is enabled, the bubble minimizes after 5 seconds of inactivity. Tap or long-press the minimized bubble to restore it, or turn off the toggle to keep the bubble at full size.

6. Check Accessibility permissions. Go to Settings → Accessibility → Installed apps → Wispr Flow and confirm the accessibility service is enabled. On some devices this permission can be silently turned off — look for a "Wispr Flow needs attention" notification and tap it to jump straight to the right settings page.

7. Check overlay permissions. Go to Settings → Apps → Wispr Flow → Display over other apps and make sure it's enabled.

8. Exempt Flow from battery optimization. Go to your device's battery settings and add Wispr Flow to the "Never sleeping" or "Autostart" list. Flow guides you to the right settings page for your device.

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.

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:

• 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 got stuck on a loading spinner after a Polish or Transform returned no changes. The bar now dismisses the loading indicator when a Polish or Transform completes with an empty result.

• 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 App Nap. Flow now recognizes when the system was frozen and avoids unnecessary restarts.

• Flow Bar disconnected or restarted unexpectedly during use. The background process now detects 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.

• Flow Bar didn't show progress while Polish was running. The bar now displays a progress animation with live stage text and shows "Polished! See what's changed" when complete.

• Flow Bar didn't indicate that Polish was available when text was highlighted after dictation. The bar now detects highlighted text and visually signals that Polish is ready. The detection window has been extended from 1 minute to 3 minutes.

• Waveform animation kept moving when the microphone wasn't picking up sound. The waveform now goes flat after 5 seconds of silence. After 15 seconds, a "Microphone is not working" notification appears with a "Select microphone" button. If audio recovers, the waveform resumes and notifications clear automatically.

• Status bubble showed an unfamiliar message during auto-polish. The status bubble now displays "Polishing X words…" or "Transforming: [name]…" while your text is being processed.

• Flow Bar tooltip showed the wrong message during push-on push-off dictation. The tooltip now reminds you how to complete your dictation while recording.

• 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:

• Flow Bubble didn't automatically 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. If accessibility permission was also revoked while Flow was stopped, the app takes you directly to the recovery screen to re-grant it.

• 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. Fixed in v1.8.8.

• Flow Bubble briefly shrank then snapped back to full size when tapping to start dictation. The bubble now stays at a consistent size throughout the transition into recording, and the waveform bars animate correctly from the first frame. The Cancel and Done buttons are also tappable immediately when recording begins. Fixed in v1.8.8.

• On certain devices (including Pixel 8a running Android 15 and OnePlus devices), the Flow Bubble appeared clipped during recording, showing only the waveform with the Cancel and Done buttons cut off. This could also happen right after a fresh install or clearing app data. The bubble now reliably displays at its 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 on OnePlus devices. Fixed in v1.8.5.

• Onboarding buttons were misaligned or different widths on tablets and foldables. The primary and secondary buttons on onboarding screens now display at a consistent width on tablets and foldable devices. Fixed in v1.8.5.

• Editing a snippet or dictionary word left a duplicate entry. Editing now updates the existing entry correctly without creating duplicates. Fixed in v1.8.5.

• Flow Bubble buttons could be clipped or cut off during a recording session. The recording bubble now renders with all buttons fully visible in every state. Fixed in v1.8.4.

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

• Entering the same word as both a dictionary entry and a snippet trigger caused silent conflicts. Flow now shows a validation error when you try to add a word that's already used in the other list, matching how this works on desktop. Fixed in v1.8.2.

• The "+" button on the Dictionary and Snippets screens overlapped the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen. The button now sits above the navigation bar and is always fully accessible. Fixed in v1.8.2.

• Flow Bubble and floating bar could resize incorrectly or jump position when docked on the right side of the screen. The bubble and bar now resize smoothly regardless of which side they're docked on. Fixed in v1.8.2.

• Accessibility permission was silently turned off on some devices (OnePlus, Xiaomi, Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, Samsung), causing the Flow Bubble to stop working without warning. Flow now detects when this happens and sends a notification you can tap to go directly to the accessibility settings page and re-enable it. Fixed in v1.8.2.

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

• Flow Bubble briefly flashed off-screen when switching between ready, recording, and processing states while docked on the right side of the screen. The bubble now transitions smoothly regardless of which side it's docked on.

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

• Flow Bubble behaved unexpectedly on some Android 12+ devices from certain manufacturers. Touch handling is now more reliable on Android 12 and later, including on devices with stricter system builds.

• Back button on the Dashboard didn't behave as expected. The back button now closes the side menu if it's open, dismisses the keyboard when you're on a non-home tab (and returns you to the Home tab on a second press), and behaves normally when you're already on the Home tab. Fixed in v1.7.5.

• Side menu and keyboard could overlap. The keyboard now collapses whenever the side menu opens. Fixed in v1.7.5.

• Feedback dialog disappeared when rotating the device during submission. The dialog now stays visible through device rotation and feedback 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 is truly disabled, dismisses immediately when you tap "Turn Back On," and clears on its own once the bubble is running. Fixed in v1.7.3.

• Shaking the device revealed the Flow Bubble even when no text field was active. Shaking now only ends an active snooze — the bubble won't reappear until you tap into a text field. Fixed in v1.7.2.

• Dictation service could fail to restart after signing back in. The dictation service now restarts reliably after you sign back in. Fixed in v1.7.2.

• Flow Bubble became detached or invisible mid-session. Flow now detects this and rebuilds the bubble on its own. Fixed in v1.7.0.

• Flow Bubble disappeared on its own, especially on Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, and Samsung devices. Flow now runs a background monitor that restarts the bubble when it stops unexpectedly. Fixed in v1.7.0.

• Revoking "Display over other apps" left a stuck or invisible overlay on screen. Flow now detects when this permission is removed and immediately cleans up. Fixed in v1.7.0.

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

• "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. These sub-options are now grayed out and disabled whenever the main shrink toggle is off. The bubble also more reliably minimizes and restores when you move in and out of search fields.

• 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 app switches.

• Stale browser URL was incorrectly paired with activity in a non-browser app. Flow now only uses a browser URL as context when it has been freshly confirmed.

• 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. Flow now reduces background processing when context awareness is turned off, improving stability.

• Dictated text sometimes failed to insert correctly. Text insertion is now faster and more reliable. Flow tries up to three times to place your text, then automatically copies it to your clipboard and shows a notification with a copy button if insertion still fails.

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

• 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 Android 16. Flow now handles cases where Android 16 updates multiple parts of the screen at the same time.

• Dictated text failed to appear in apps using Android 16's newer 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. Fixed in v1.5.0.

• Dictated text failed to appear in Gmail and other web-based fields, particularly on Samsung devices. Flow now inserts text correctly in Gmail and similar apps on Samsung devices. Fixed in v1.5.0.

• 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. Fixed in v1.6.2.

• 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 in v1.6.0 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 entire 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.

How do I bring back a hidden Flow Bar on desktop?

Press your Flow keyboard shortcut to toggle it back on. Typing on your keyboard can also reveal the bar when it's idle.

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 5 seconds of inactivity. Control this in Wispr Flow Settings → Bubble Size:

• Shrink the bubble when not in use: Collapses the bubble to a small icon after 5 seconds of being 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.

Why does the Flow Bubble briefly fade in when I start or stop dictating?

When the bubble switches between states — from ready to recording, or from processing back to idle — it fades in smoothly instead of appearing all at once. This is intentional and helps the bubble resize cleanly between states.

How do I switch languages from the Flow Bar?

When the Flow Bar is in its ready state, hover over the language indicator. A dark pill expands to the left, revealing a chevron button. Click the main circle to cycle through your selected languages — it loops back to "all languages" (a globe icon) after the last one. Click the chevron to open the full language picker.

What do the animations and labels in the Flow Bar mean when Polish is running?

When Polish is processing your text, the Flow Bar shows a progress animation along with a label such as "Polishing…", "Clarifying…", or "Shortening…". When it's finished, the bar shows Polished! See what's changed. Click that to open a side-by-side view of what was added, removed, or reworded.

What does "Polishing X words…" or "Transforming: [name]…" mean in the status bubble?

These messages appear when Auto-Polish After Dictation is active. "Polishing X words…" means the Default polish is being applied before your text is pasted. "Transforming: [name]…" means a custom prompt or saved transform is running. Once done, your polished text is pasted automatically. If the transform takes too long or encounters an error, your original unpolished text is pasted as a fallback.

Why does the waveform in the status bubble go flat during dictation?

A flat waveform means Flow isn't receiving audio from your microphone. This can happen if your mic is muted, another app has taken control of your audio input, or your system volume is set to zero. After 5 seconds of silence the waveform flattens, and after 15 seconds a "Microphone is not working" notification appears with a Select microphone button. If audio comes back on its own, the waveform resumes and the notification clears automatically.

Why does the Flow Bar light up after I highlight text?

After you finish dictating, the Flow Bar watches for you to highlight text and visually signals when Polish is available to refine it. This detection stays active for up to 3 minutes after dictation ends.

What is the link icon on the Flow Bar?

The link icon sits to the left of the bubble on the Flow Bar. Clicking it opens a dropdown showing links you've recently copied to your clipboard. Flow tracks URLs you copy and displays them with readable labels — for example, a Notion page title parsed from the URL, or a friendly name for services like Claude or Loom. Clicking any link in the dropdown copies it back to your clipboard.

Links are stored locally on your device for up to 14 days from when you last copied them, and Flow tracks how often you've copied each link. Flow skips links that could be privacy-sensitive — including local addresses, password manager sites, and URLs that contain login or authentication tokens. Flow also pauses clipboard tracking during dictation so it never captures links it copies itself.

What is the "Flow Bubble Disabled" card on the home screen?

If the Flow Bubble has been turned off while all required permissions are still active, a Flow Bubble Disabled card appears on the Wispr Flow home screen. Tap Turn Back On to restart it. The card only appears when the bubble is truly disabled, and dismisses immediately once the bubble is running again.

What is the Wispr Flow notification in my notification shade?

You may see a system notification related to the "display over other apps" permission that Android requires for the Flow Bubble to appear on screen. This is a standard Android system notification and cannot be removed while the overlay permission is active. Wispr Flow does not show any additional persistent notifications of its own.

What is the copy button that appears next to the Flow Bubble after dictation?

After a dictation, a copy-to-clipboard button may appear next to the Flow Bubble. It shows when Flow cannot confirm the text was inserted. Tap it to copy your last transcribed text to the clipboard. The button appears on the side of the bubble facing the center of the screen and disappears after 10 seconds, when you start a new dictation, or when the Flow Bubble is dismissed.

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

To adjust the bubble's size and minimize behavior, go to Settings → Bubble 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 Settings → Flow Bubble Opacity. Use the slider to set any opacity from 20% to 100% — the bubble updates live as you drag. Tap Reset to restore the default 80% opacity.

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.