Why Wispr Flow Sometimes Removes or Changes Words on Android (Smart Formatting)

Last updated: September 11, 2026

Available on: Android (always applied, no toggle), Mac and Windows (Settings → System → Extras), iOS (Settings → Personalization).

If Flow on Android drops a leading "so," rounds "one point something percent" to "1%", or rewrites a phrase you said deliberately, that's Smart Formatting. Here's why, and what to do about it.

Quick checks

  • Did you say a punctuation name? "Period", "comma", and "question mark" are dictation commands and insert the symbol instead of the word.

  • Is your app up to date? Update Wispr Flow for Android from the Play Store.

  • Did your dictation stop on its own? Android sessions are capped at 5 minutes, with a warning at 4 minutes ("1 minute left before you reach the 5-minute limit."). Text cut off this way is a length limit, not formatting.

  • Are words missing, or just reworded? Smart Formatting edits text after transcription. Words never captured at all point to a microphone or connection issue — check the Home screen action cards for microphone, display-over-other-apps, accessibility, battery optimization, and snoozed bubble.

What's happening

Smart Formatting turns raw speech into readable text: it infers punctuation, structures sentences, and removes disfluencies like "um" and false starts. It judges filler versus intended content rather than following fixed rules, so it can drop or rewrite words that mattered:

  • A leading "so" that carries conditional meaning ("So this restaurant doesn't serve vegetarian food, right?").

  • A deliberate repetition or emphasis read as redundant.

  • Precision in numbers ("one point something percent" condensed to "1%").

  • A word that doubles as a punctuation command.

It is optimized for English and more aggressive with conversational phrasing, where filler can also be the meaning.

What you can do

Android

There is no toggle. Add words and names to the Custom Dictionary (Dictionary tab in the bottom navigation bar) to improve recognition, rephrase to avoid punctuation command words, and report specific examples from the Home screen.

Pin your dictation languages under Settings → Dictation languages, a multi-select list of 100+ languages. Four variant pairs are mutually exclusive — English and English (British), Hindi and Hinglish, Chinese (Traditional) and Chinese (Simplified), German and German (Swiss) — selecting one deselects the other. All other languages combine freely.

Mac and Windows

Turn Smart Formatting on or off at Settings → System → Extras.

iOS

Turn Smart Formatting off at Settings → Personalization. With it off you get raw transcription only — no punctuation, capitalization, line breaks, lists, or backtracking.

Help us improve it

Before-and-after examples — what you said versus what Flow wrote — are the most useful thing you can send.

  1. Find the affected transcript on the Home screen. Failed transcriptions also appear in history with a Report pill.

  2. Tap Report on that transcript card. The report includes the transcript, its recorded audio when still on the device, and your description.

  3. Describe the problem on the "Report a transcription" screen and tap Send. Send stays disabled until you describe the problem, and the report is still delivered if you navigate away mid-submit.

  4. Use the drawer → Report an issue / Share feedback for general feedback: a Request type dropdown (Issue / Billing / Account management) and one image up to 10MB in PNG, JPEG, BMP or WebP.

Transcripts are stored locally per device and do not sync, so report from the device where the issue happened. Settings → Data & Privacy has "Improve the model for everyone" and "Dictation cloud storage" toggles if you would rather your audio and transcripts not be retained.

Warning: Deleting a transcript also deletes its audio and cannot be undone. Signing out deletes your transcripts from the device.

Messages you may see when a report doesn't send

"Still sending your last report for this transcription." means an earlier report for the same transcript is still uploading, and the description field is locked. "Couldn't sync that transcription, so your report wasn't sent." means the report failed — retry.

FAQs

Is this the same as my words not being captured at all?

No — that points to a microphone or connection issue. Transcription requires an internet connection on every platform.

On Android, if connectivity drops mid-dictation, Flow shows "Taking longer than usual. Your audio is saved in the app." and blocks the Flow Bubble; the failed transcription appears in history on the Home screen, where you can report or delete it. A separate failure toast reads "Failed to transcribe. Saved in the app."

Starting dictation while already offline is rejected with an offline toast and recording never begins. Entries that still have recorded audio offer Retry; tapping Retry on the bubble starts a fresh dictation rather than re-running the old audio.

Can I turn Smart Formatting off on Android the way I can on desktop or iOS?

No — there is no Android setting for this today. See What you can do for the Mac, Windows, and iOS controls.

Why does the end of a long dictation sometimes look less polished or appear in a different script?

For dictations of roughly 2 minutes or longer, Flow formats the audio in parts. If one part cannot be formatted, Flow keeps everything already formatted and appends the rest as plain transcribed text — your words are always preserved. Hinglish users may see this unformatted tail in Devanagari rather than romanized text. Keep individual dictations under 2 minutes to avoid it.

A failed text insertion shows a transcription error in history — is my transcription broken?

No. History status reflects the transcription result, not whether the text was inserted into your app. A successful transcription shows as formatted regardless of what happened during paste; only genuine transcription failures are flagged as errors.

Still stuck?

If formatting is changing your meaning in a way that matters for your work, contact support with a couple of concrete examples. Include:

  • The phrase you spoke and the text Flow produced.

  • Your device model and Android version.

  • Your Wispr Flow version.