Quit and relaunch Wispr Flow

A full quit and relaunch can help when Flow freezes, fails to detect a microphone or behaves unexpectedly after an update. Closing its window alone may leave it running.

Before restarting

• Finish and stop any recording first. A force stop or crash can lose in-progress audio. Desktop normally saves audio during a graceful quit, except under an organization no-storage policy; don't rely on this during a forced shutdown.

• After waking or unlocking your device, give Flow 5–10 seconds to recover.

• If the whole device is frozen, restart the device. If Flow repeatedly crashes, check for an update: relaunching alone may not resolve an old-version bug.

Mac

A normal quit also shuts down Flow's dictation helper. If Flow is stuck or did not close cleanly:

1. Press Command + Space, search for Activity Monitor and open it.

2. Search for Wispr.

3. Select each Wispr process, click the stop button and choose Force Quit.

4. Open Wispr Flow from Finder → Applications.

If an MDM tool, installer or another macOS user updated Flow while it was running, quitting and relaunching switches the running app to that installed version.

Windows

1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.

2. In Processes, find Wispr Flow and related Wispr processes.

3. Right-click each and choose End task.

4. Open Wispr Flow from the Start menu.

With Launch app at login enabled, a manual relaunch can start Flow in the background. Look for the tray icon and Flow Bar; click the tray icon to open the hub. Turn off that setting if you want the hub to open on every launch.

iOS

1. Open the app switcher: swipe up from the bottom and pause, or double-press the Home button on devices that have one.

2. Swipe the Wispr Flow card up and off the screen.

3. Reopen Flow from the home screen.

Force-closing ends an active dictation, and its audio may not be saved. Check History for any saved interrupted or failed dictation before recording again.

Android

Try opening Flow first. It can recover an unexpectedly stopped background service automatically, but Android may prevent recovery while the app remains in the background. If Flow shows a Restart Flow action card, use it.

If a full stop is still needed:

1. Open Android Settings → Apps → Wispr Flow.

2. Tap Force stop and confirm.

3. Reopen Flow from your home screen or app drawer.

Logging out also stops the dictation service. A revoked accessibility permission needs to be re-enabled; restarting cannot grant it. Follow Android accessibility recovery if you see Wispr Flow needs attention, a warning triangle or a service error. If notifications are blocked, open Flow to check its recovery card.

Confirm it worked

Focus a text field and dictate a short phrase. If desktop Flow is still stuck, recheck Activity Monitor or Task Manager for helpers left running. If it still won't open, update Flow, restart your device, then consider reinstalling. Read Reset and restart Flow before a reset or reinstall that may remove data.

When restarting is not enough

• Database or full-disk warning: free space if needed and use Restart Flow. It restarts immediately without confirmation. Earlier dictations remain in History, but recordings started after a storage error may not be saved.

• Settings keep reverting: restore free disk space or ask IT to check whether security software prevents Flow writing to its data folder. Then restart.

• Windows helper will not start: Flow retries automatically before showing Flow is having trouble starting. If it persists, check whether security software blocks Flow and ask IT to allow it.

• Mac Secure Keyboard Entry warning: restart the other app named in the warning. Restarting Flow does not clear that app's secure-input mode.

For a missing Flow Bar or Bubble, microphone failures, or text not pasting, follow the focused guide. Automatic update restarts are explained in Why Flow waits to install updates.

If Flow still crashes or freezes, contact support with your platform, device model, exact error and the steps you tried.