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

Last updated: August 6, 2026

Available on: Android (also applies to Mac, Windows, and iOS)

If Wispr 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 it happens and what you can do about it today.

Quick checks

  • Is your app up to date? Placeholder or hint text (such as "Message" or "Search") prepended to output in an empty field was a separate bug, fixed in Wispr Flow for Android 2.1.5.

  • Did you say a punctuation name? Saying "period", "comma", or "question mark" inserts the symbol, because punctuation names are dictation commands.

  • Are words missing, or just reworded? Smart Formatting edits text after your speech is transcribed. If words are never captured at all, that's a microphone or connection issue, not formatting.

What's happening

Smart Formatting turns your raw speech into clean, readable text: it infers punctuation, structures sentences, and removes disfluencies like "um" and false starts.

It judges what is conversational filler and what is intended content rather than following a fixed list of 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.

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

Note: Smart Formatting does not silently drop words on long dictations. On longer sessions the tail end may appear as plain, unformatted text, but the words are still there.

What you can do today

Android

Smart Formatting is always on, with no Android setting to turn it off or change how aggressively it edits. Your Dictionary is the most reliable lever:

  1. Open the Wispr Flow app and go to Settings → Dictionary.

  2. Add any word that keeps getting swapped — such as a brand or name replaced by a similar word — as a vocabulary word.

  3. Add punctuation names (like "period") if you want the literal word instead of the symbol, or rephrase to avoid the command.

Dictate a short test phrase. If Flow keeps your word intact, you're done.

Mac or Windows

The desktop app has a direct control, Auto Cleanup, that sets how much editing the formatting layer does — including a None level that pastes your words exactly as spoken. On the same account:

  1. Open Settings → Personalization → Style.

  2. Open the Auto Cleanup (Beta) tab.

  3. Choose a Cleanup Level: None (off), Light, Medium (default), or High.

Dictate a short phrase. The text should reflect the cleanup level you picked.

Note: Auto Cleanup is Mac and Windows only today. A mobile version is on the roadmap, with no release date yet.

Help us improve it

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

On Android, open the Wispr Flow app, tap Report an issue, and include the phrase you said and the text Flow produced.

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; if the connection drops, dictation can fail. Check your connection and retry.

Does Backtrack still work if I lower the formatting level on desktop?

Yes. Backtrack (self-correction) works at every Auto Cleanup level except None, where no formatting or correction is applied and your words are pasted as spoken.

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

Not yet. Desktop Auto Cleanup set to None is the only way to switch the formatting layer off entirely on the same account.

I saw placeholder text like "Message" or "Search" in my dictated output — is that Smart Formatting?

No. That was a separate bug where hint text in an empty field was captured as context and echoed into your transcript. Update to Wispr Flow for Android 2.1.5 or later from the Play Store.

I dictate in a non-English script and kept getting spurious punctuation notifications — is that fixed?

Yes, fixed in a recent desktop update. Edits to dictated text in scripts such as Arabic, Cyrillic, Devanagari, CJK, Hebrew, Thai, or accented Latin could be misread as punctuation changes, triggering a Smart Formatting punctuation notification. Previously recorded edit history is unchanged; new edits in any script are classified correctly.

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.