Use Flow hands-free

Last updated: April 16, 2026

Available on: Mac, Windows, iOS, Android

Hands-free mode lets Flow listen continuously without holding down a key — speak naturally and your text pastes when you're done. Ideal for longer dictations or keeping your hands off the keyboard.

How to start hands-free dictation

Mac

Start hands-free with a shortcut

  1. Place your cursor in any text field.

  2. Press your hands-free shortcut — Fn + Space by default.

  3. Wait for the ping sound or watch for the white bars moving on the Flow Bar.

  4. Speak normally — Flow keeps listening without you holding any key.

Note: If your Mac doesn't have an Fn key, your default shortcuts may be Ctrl + Opt (push-to-talk) and Ctrl + Opt + Space (hands-free).

Tip: The home screen may show a banner with your current shortcut. You can always find it in Flow Hub → Settings → General → Shortcuts → Change.

Start hands-free from the Flow Bar

  1. Place your cursor in any text field.

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

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

Note: During hands-free dictation, clicking the Flow Bar does not stop your recording. Use the stop or cancel buttons, or press your shortcut key to end the session.

Stop and paste your text

  1. Press Fn once, or click the red stop icon in the Flow Bar.

Your transcript pastes into the active text field. Dictate a short phrase — if text appears in Recent Activity, it's working.

Note: Desktop dictation sessions have a maximum duration of 20 minutes — you'll receive a warning at 19 minutes, and recording automatically stops at 20 minutes.

Windows

Start hands-free with a shortcut

  1. Place your cursor in any text field.

  2. Press your hands-free shortcut — Ctrl + Win + Space by default.

  3. Wait for the ping sound or watch for the white bars moving on the Flow Bar.

  4. Speak normally — Flow keeps listening without you holding the keys.

Tip: The home screen may show a banner with your current shortcut. You can always find it in Flow Hub → Settings → General → Shortcuts → Change.

Start hands-free from the Flow Bar

  1. Place your cursor in any text field.

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

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

Note: During hands-free dictation, clicking the Flow Bar does not stop your recording. Use the stop or cancel buttons, or press your shortcut key to end the session.

Stop and paste your text

  1. Press Ctrl + Win, or click the red stop icon in the Flow Bar.

Your transcript pastes into the active text field. Dictate a short phrase — if text appears in Recent Activity, it's working.

Note: Desktop dictation sessions have a maximum duration of 20 minutes — you'll receive a warning at 19 minutes, and recording automatically stops at 20 minutes.

iOS

Keyboard shortcuts are not available on iOS, but you can dictate hands-free using tap-to-record:

  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.

Tip: You can also dictate hands-free using Siri. Say "Quick dictate to notes with Flow" or "Save note with Flow" to start Flow's live audio transcription for higher-quality dictation. Alternatively, say "Save Flow note" — Siri asks what the note should say and saves it as text (this uses Siri's speech recognition, not Flow's).

Android

  1. Tap a text field to open the on-screen keyboard — the Flow Bubble appears automatically when the keyboard is visible.

  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.

After tapping Done, you'll see a brief processing animation. During this time, only the Cancel button is available — the Done button is replaced by a spinner until transcription completes.

After a successful dictation, a copy-to-clipboard button appears next to the Flow Bubble for 5 seconds. Tap it to copy your dictated text — useful when you want to paste it somewhere else immediately.

Note: In some apps where direct text insertion isn't supported (such as certain Slack fields), a Copy button appears so you can paste your text manually.

Note: The Flow Bubble only appears when the on-screen keyboard is visible. If you're using an external keyboard or the soft keyboard is collapsed, the bubble won't appear.

Warning: Dictation sessions on Android may have a 5-minute time limit (if enabled for your account). At around 4 minutes, you'll see a warning. At 5 minutes, the session automatically stops and submits — your dictated audio is preserved and transcribed normally.

Reveal a hidden Flow Bubble

If the Flow Bubble is hidden and idle, shake your device rapidly (a quick back-and-forth motion) to reveal it. A single gentle shake may not be enough — the gesture requires a rapid shaking motion. This requires the Wispr Flow accessibility service to be enabled.

Note: The shake gesture only works when the bubble is idle — it does not work during active recording.

Press Enter without touching the keyboard

Say "press enter" at the end of your dictation and Flow automatically presses the Enter key after pasting your text — useful for sending messages or submitting prompts without touching the keyboard. The words "press enter" are stripped from your transcript.

Note: "Press enter" is only recognized at the very end of your dictation. If you say it in the middle of a sentence, it appears as regular text.

Tip: The first time Flow detects "press enter," it shows a notification explaining the feature — including that it will automatically send your messages or prompts — but does not press Enter yet. Tap Great to dismiss it, then enable the feature in Flow Hub → Settings → Experimental. If you later disable it, "press enter" appears as regular text.

Change your hands-free shortcut

  1. Open Flow Hub → Settings → General → Shortcuts → Change.

  2. Find the Hands-free section and set your preferred key combination.

  3. Test the new shortcut in a text field — if Flow starts listening, the new shortcut is working.

You can bind up to 4 different key combinations for each action. Use Reset to default at the bottom of the Shortcuts dialog to restore original shortcuts. If your hands-free shortcut overlaps with your push-to-talk shortcut, you'll see a conflict warning.

Common issues

Push-to-talk input stayed active after cancelling dictation

When using push-to-talk mode, cancelling a dictation session without having spoken any text — or pressing Escape — could leave the input field in an active state instead of returning to the "double-tap to start" prompt. This is now fixed. Update Wispr Flow to the latest version to get this 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, resulting in text not being inserted correctly. This was fixed in a recent update — Flow now detects this more reliably and recovers faster. Update Wispr Flow to the latest version to get this fix.

Bugs fixed in recent updates

The following issues have been resolved. Update Wispr Flow to the latest version to get these fixes:

  • Submit button was clipped off-screen when switching between push-to-talk and hands-free modes (fixed in v1.5.1): The submit button could be cut off when switching between dictation modes due to the UI not refreshing correctly. This is now fixed.

  • Copy-to-clipboard button appeared for too long after successful dictation on Android (before v1.5.0): The copy button now appears for 5 seconds (previously 10 seconds) after a successful dictation.

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

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

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

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

FAQs

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 if the issue is app-specific. On Android 16 devices, updating to the latest version of Wispr Flow improves text insertion reliability.

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

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

Does "press enter" work with punctuation?

Yes. Flow handles punctuation intelligently — if you say "Hello world. Press enter," your text pastes as "Hello world." with no extra period added before the Enter key is pressed.

Can I dictate on iOS without touching my phone at all?

Yes. Say "Quick dictate to notes with Flow" or "Save note with Flow" to start Flow's live audio transcription. Alternatively, say "Save Flow note" — Siri asks what the note should say and saves it (this uses Siri's speech recognition, not Flow's).

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

This is intentional. Tapping or long-pressing the waveform area is blocked during active dictation to prevent accidental interruptions. Use the cancel or stop buttons instead.

What happens to my audio if the 5-minute session limit is reached on Android?

Nothing is lost. When the session automatically stops at 5 minutes, all dictated audio is preserved and transcribed normally — exactly as if you had stopped the session yourself.