Use Flow hands-free

Mac & Windows

Start hands-free dictation three ways on desktop, then stop it to paste your text.

Start with a shortcut

1. Place your cursor in any text field.

2. Press your hands-free shortcut. Defaults: Fn + Space on Mac, Ctrl + Win + Space on Windows.

3. Speak after the ping, or when the white bars move on the Flow Bar — that confirms Flow is listening and will keep listening without you holding any keys.

Start from the Flow Bar

1. Place your cursor in any text field.

2. Click the Flow Bar at the center of your screen.

3. Speak when you hear the ping or see the white bars move.

Lock into hands-free from push-to-talk

While dictating with push-to-talk, double-tap your push-to-talk shortcut to lock the session into hands-free — Fn on Mac, Ctrl + Win on Windows, pressed together twice in quick succession. Shortcuts settings displays this hint with your current push-to-talk combination.

Stop and paste your text

1. Press your hands-free shortcut again, or click the stop (■) icon in the Flow Bar. Your transcript pastes into the active text field.

2. Click the X (cancel) icon in the Flow Bar to discard a recording without pasting.

iOS

Keyboard shortcuts aren't available on iOS. Use tap-to-record instead:

1. Open the Wispr Flow app.

2. Tap into a text field so the cursor appears.

3. Tap the microphone icon to start recording.

4. Speak your text, then tap Stop to insert your transcript.

Android

On Android, dictate hands-free using the Flow Bubble:

1. Tap a text field to open the on-screen keyboard. The Flow Bubble appears as the keyboard starts to open.

2. Tap the Flow Bubble to start recording.

3. Speak your text.

4. Tap the Done button (checkmark icon) to stop and insert your transcript.

During the processing animation, the Done button is replaced by a spinner and only Cancel is available. After a successful dictation, a copy-to-clipboard button appears next to the Flow Bubble for a few seconds — tap it to copy your dictated text.

Reveal a snoozed Flow Bubble

If you snoozed the Flow Bubble by dragging it to the bottom of the screen, shake your device rapidly to bring it back early. Snooze lasts 10 minutes, after which the bubble returns automatically. This requires the Wispr Flow accessibility service to be enabled.

Flow Bar elements appeared clipped or cut off during dictation on Windows

On Windows, the onboarding pulsing dot was cut off at the top and bottom, the language selector circle lost a corner (especially during push-to-talk or hands-free dictation), and the Flow Bar tooltip could appear sliced during its fade-in. These surfaces now render fully, and the language picker fades out in place instead of sliding right. Update Wispr Flow to the latest version to get the fix.

Cancelling a shortcut recording closed the dialog or showed a red error

Pressing Escape while recording a new shortcut could close the entire Shortcuts dialog, and cancelling by Escape or clicking away could show a red error banner and change your existing shortcut. Escape now only cancels the current recording and leaves the dialog open, and cancelling via Escape, clicking outside the field, or the Cancel (×) button leaves your shortcut unchanged with no error. Escape still closes the dialog when you're not recording a shortcut. Update Wispr Flow to the latest version to get the fix.

Flow Bar buttons or notifications didn't respond to clicks on Windows

On Windows, Flow Bar buttons — the stop (■) and X (cancel) controls, language and auto-polish pickers, status notifications, and calendar reminders — could intermittently become unclickable; transparent areas around the bar could also swallow clicks meant for the app underneath, and moving in and out of a control could leave stale click-through behavior. All controls and notifications now respond reliably, empty space passes clicks through to the underlying app, and normal Flow Bar interaction resumes after the Notetaker feature tour. Update Wispr Flow to the latest version to get the fix.

Tapping "Start Flow" in the keyboard didn't start dictation

On iOS, tapping "Start Flow" in the keyboard to hand off to the main app could silently fail, requiring multiple taps. "Start Flow" now starts dictation on the first try. Update Wispr Flow to the latest version to get the fix.

Dictation from Action Button, Shortcuts, or widgets was unreliable on iOS

Starting dictation via the Action Button, Shortcuts, or home screen widgets could fail, especially when toggling start/stop quickly or after force-closing the app, and the first dictation after launch could be slow or fail. This is fixed, and back-to-back dictations from these triggers are faster. Update Wispr Flow to the latest version to get the fix.

iOS keyboard mic button became unresponsive after several dictations

After several consecutive dictations with the iOS keyboard, the mic button could stop responding, typically after the app was closed in the background (for example, by Low Power Mode). This is fixed. Update Wispr Flow to the latest version to get the fix.

Dictation reliability issues on Android 16 devices

On Android 16, certain apps use new interface features that could cause Flow to lose its connection to the text field mid-dictation, so text wasn't inserted correctly. Flow now detects this more reliably and recovers faster. Update Wispr Flow to the latest version to get the fix.

"Switch to hands-free" tip appeared while still speaking

Holding push-to-talk for over a minute could pop up a hands-free tip mid-dictation. The tip now waits until you finish speaking and release the key. Update Wispr Flow to the latest version to get the fix.

Double-tap activation only worked once on the Gmail onboarding page

On the Gmail "Try It Yourself" onboarding page, double-tap to start hands-free dictation worked the first time but stopped responding afterward. Double-tap activation now works repeatedly on that page. Update Wispr Flow to the latest version to get the fix.

Push-to-talk input stayed active after cancelling dictation

Cancelling a push-to-talk session without speaking, or pressing Escape, now returns the Flow Bar to its resting (idle) state instead of staying active. Update Wispr Flow to the latest version to get the fix.

Clipboard contents were lost on Mac when a paste attempt had nothing to offer

On Mac, if a dictation failed to paste and there was no transcript to give you — for example, you dictated silence — previously copied clipboard contents could be lost. Flow now clears your clipboard only when it has actually written your transcript there, and shows a "Paste Failed" notice instead. The first Cmd+V after that may paste nothing; the next Cmd+V restores your original clipboard contents. Update Wispr Flow to the latest version to get the fix.

Removing the hands-free shortcut reset to default on restart

Deleting your last hands-free binding was undone the next time you restarted Flow, restoring the default shortcut. The binding now stays removed across restarts. Update Wispr Flow to the latest version to get the fix.

Bugs fixed in recent updates

These issues are resolved. Update Wispr Flow to the latest version to get these fixes:

• Submit button clipped off-screen when switching dictation modes: The submit button could be cut off when switching between push-to-talk and hands-free.

• Copy button remained visible after dismissing the Flow Bubble on Android: The copy button is now dismissed whenever the Flow Bubble is hidden.

• Copy button flashed briefly after successful dictation on Android: The copy button now appears only when text insertion fails.

• Hands-free suggestion showed placeholder text: The notification now shows your configured shortcut instead of generic text.

• Flow Bar tooltip was incorrect during dictation: Hovering over the Flow Bar during active hands-free dictation now shows the correct finish instruction.

Why didn't my text paste after dictation?

Make sure your cursor stayed in a text field while dictating. Check Recent Activity in Flow — if your text appears there but not in your app, try a different app to see whether the issue is app-specific. On Android 16, updating Wispr Flow improves text insertion reliability.

On Mac, if you dictated silence or the paste was suppressed for another reason, Flow shows a "Paste Failed" notice rather than overwriting your clipboard. Your first Cmd+V after that may paste nothing — press Cmd+V once more to restore whatever you had copied before dictating.

My custom shortcut isn't working. What should I check?

Confirm the shortcut isn't already used by your operating system or another app, then pick a different combination in Flow Hub → Settings → General → Shortcuts → Change. Test in a simple text editor like Notepad or TextEdit.

Does "press enter" work with punctuation?

Yes. If you say "Hello world. Press enter," your text pastes as "Hello world." with no extra period before the Enter key is pressed.

Do I need a dedicated hands-free shortcut?

No. Double-tapping your push-to-talk shortcut toggles hands-free mode, so a separate binding is optional. If your shortcut is a key combo (like Ctrl + Win on Windows), press those keys together both times. See Change your hands-free shortcut above to remove or restore it.

Why doesn't tapping the Flow Bubble waveform do anything during dictation on Android?

The waveform area is a visual indicator only and doesn't respond to taps or long-presses. Use the Done button (checkmark) to stop, or Cancel to discard.

Why doesn't clicking the middle of the Flow Bar stop a hands-free session?

The center of the Flow Bar is intentionally not clickable during dictation, so you can't interrupt a session by accident. Use the stop (■) icon to end and paste, the X (cancel) icon to discard, your hands-free shortcut, or Esc to cancel.

What happens if transcription or text insertion fails on Android?

If transcription fails, your audio is saved in the app — tap Retry on the error message. If transcription succeeds but insertion fails, Flow copies the text to your clipboard — tap Paste to insert it manually.