Dictating in Notification Reply Boxes and Browser Address Bars

Last updated: November 2, 2026

Available on: Android

Use the Flow Bubble, Flow's floating dictation control, to write notification replies without opening the messaging app, or to dictate URLs and searches into a browser address bar.

Before you start

Complete Flow's setup and keep the overlay ("draw over other apps"), accessibility and microphone permissions enabled; the bubble cannot appear before setup is complete, and these fields need no additional permissions. Home checks permissions when you return and shows a card for any missing permission.

By default the bubble appears when the on-screen keyboard is up and hides when you dismiss it, even if the field stays selected. The optional setting to show the bubble without the keyboard lets a selected editable field alone reveal it.

Dictate into the field

Use a standard inline reply box in the system notification shade, such as WhatsApp's, or a browser address bar in Chrome, Firefox or Edge; other browsers can work with standard URL fields. Custom notification reply interfaces and nonstandard address bars may not work.

Warning: Avoid dictating passwords, PINs or 2FA codes into notification replies. Ordinary in-app password, PIN, phone-number and numeric-only fields hide the bubble, but notification replies and address bars can override this protection. Other system text dialogs can also show it on password-type fields when the keyboard is up and no app window is selected.

  1. Open a notification's inline reply box or your browser's address bar.

  2. Tap the field to bring up the keyboard.

  3. Tap the Flow Bubble and dictate; tapping a shrunken bubble also restores it.

  4. Check the field for your text; if it wasn't inserted, use the clipboard recovery below.

Notification replies must be readable as empty; recognized placeholders can count as empty, but placeholder recognition varies. Flow leaves other existing text untouched, and if the reply already contains your transcript it does not insert it again.

Chrome's address bar can reject dictated text even when the bubble appears; use clipboard recovery below. Text already in an address bar is not read as dictation context, because URLs can contain session tokens.

Dictation has a time limit here as anywhere else: a warning at about four minutes says "1 minute left before you reach the 5-minute limit," and at about five minutes recording stops and submits automatically with a toast and a Session Limits notification. Ended recordings are unaffected.

If text isn't inserted

When insertion fails — a non-empty or unreadable reply box, a sensitive field, or an insertion that takes too long — Flow copies the transcript to your clipboard and shows "Text copied to clipboard" rather than risk replacing text or pasting twice. Switching apps during transcription can also send text to the clipboard, because Flow refuses to insert into an unrelated app.

  1. Tap the field where you want the transcript.

  2. Paste from your clipboard, then check the inserted text.

The bubble's Copy to clipboard button re-copies the transcript but does not paste it into the field; it disappears automatically and shows "Nothing to copy" if the transcript is no longer available. Pasting still works offline.

If transcription fails

"Failed to transcribe. Saved in the app." means the failure is saved in history and the audio is kept for retry.

  1. Tap Retry for one fresh attempt, or retry from in-app history after the error bubble clears.

  2. Check for the transcript after retrying.

No new dictation can start while a retry runs: pressing the bubble shows "Still retrying your last dictation. Try again in a moment." If the saved audio is gone, Flow returns to ready without retrying.

If the Flow Bubble is missing

  1. Open Flow's Home screen and follow any missing-permission card.

  2. Tap Turn Back On if Home shows Flow Bubble Disabled while all permissions remain enabled.

  3. Return to the reply box or address bar and open the keyboard; if the bubble appears, resume dictating.

On Android 12 and later, opening Flow's Home screen restores the bubble when Flow is fully backgrounded. In apps with custom interfaces, and in a notification reply when Android cannot provide information about the active screen, the bubble may appear late or not at all — dismiss and re-tap the field to recover it.

Bubble is snoozed

Dragging the ready-to-dictate bubble onto the snooze target hides it for 10 minutes; opening the keyboard or typing does not end snooze.

  1. Tap End snooze now on Home's Bubble is snoozed card, or shake twice while the phone is unlocked.

  2. Return to the text field; the bubble returns to its default position.

Restoring by shake vibrates and shows "Wispr Flow is back!" In selected banking and financial apps Flow silently hides the bubble regardless of field type, and reply or address-bar exceptions do not bypass this; shaking there shows "Flow Bubble is disabled inside banking apps." Apps outside that list are not automatically excluded.

Wispr Flow needs attention

This notification means accessibility permission needs restoring; with app notifications off, a toast says "Re-enable accessibility for Wispr Flow to keep working."

  1. Tap the notification or the bubble's warning triangle to open Flow's in-app accessibility repair screen.

  2. Follow the repair screen to re-enable accessibility.

Flow isn't responding

If accessibility is still enabled and this notification appears, its body says "Tap to restart Wispr Flow." With app notifications off, the toast says "Wispr Flow isn't responding. Open the app to restart it."

  1. Open Flow, or tap the notification to open Home.

  2. Tap Restart Flow on the Flow isn't responding card.

Alternatively, tap the bubble's retry icon to reconnect directly; it does not open the permission screen.

Wispr Flow stopped

If this notification appears while Accessibility settings still show Flow as on, follow its instruction: "Turn Wispr Flow off and on again in Accessibility settings." With app notifications off, the toast says "Wispr Flow stopped. Turn it off and on again in Accessibility settings."

  1. Tap Fix in Settings to open a floating guide over Accessibility settings.

  2. Turn Wispr Flow off in Accessibility settings.

  3. Turn Wispr Flow on again.

The notification also offers Open app.

The repair bubble appears only with a selected text field, not during active dictation. Snooze is unavailable while accessibility needs attention, and an existing snooze ends automatically if repair is needed. After repair, return to the field and dictate a short phrase to confirm the bubble works.

Still stuck?

Contact support if the bubble remains missing after these checks, text is neither inserted nor copied, or Flow stops again after recovery. Include your device model, Android and Flow versions, the affected app or browser, and the steps you tried.