iOS: Missing audio chunks during unstable internet
Last updated: October 29, 2026
Available on: iOS
Words, sentences, or an entire transcript missing after your internet dropped? Retry the saved dictation from Home, then copy the recovered text into your original app.
Quick checks
Full Access: If Home shows "Almost there!", finish setup below — without keyboard Full Access, dictations aren't saved.
Connection: Load a webpage. If it loads quickly, continue below; if it's slow or fails, reconnect to Wi-Fi or cellular first. The keyboard's Wi-Fi-off icon means Flow detected no connection, and the normal keyboard returns when you reconnect.
If Home shows "Almost there!"
The setup flow shows a privacy page before the Settings instructions.
Tap Finish setup, then Next.
Tap Go to settings, then Keyboards.
Turn on Allow Full Access and tap Allow on the popup.
Return to Flow; the setup screen closes once the keyboard is installed.
Recover from Home
Warning: Signing out deletes all local transcripts, so retry before you sign out. Recovery also depends on the storage restrictions below.
Open the Home tab at the bottom of the screen.
Find the affected dictation. Entries are newest first; scroll down for older ones.
Swipe left on the entry or long-press it to reveal its actions.
Tap Retry. "Retrying transcription" confirms it started, existing text greys out, and Retry and Delete stay disabled until it finishes.
Tap the recovered entry's body text to copy it; "Transcript copied to clipboard" confirms the copy. Swipe left also reveals Copy, which you must tap; long-press offers Copy only when the entry has text and isn't marked failed.
Paste the text into your original app. If the full text didn't appear, retry again — there's no limit on retries.
Retry works even without a failure indicator, including on partially recovered text. Failed entries with no text show "Retry your 0:42 transcript." (with the recording's duration) or "Retry your transcript."; tapping that message or its orange retry button starts the retry immediately.
Retry re-transcribes saved audio without changing the original recording. It fails if the audio is missing or unreadable, or a working copy cannot be made.
Warning: Don't delete an entry you still need. Long-pressing and choosing Delete opens "Delete this transcript?"; confirming removes it, with "Transcript deleted" confirming completion.
Interruptions and automatic recovery
If the connection drops while you're still speaking, keep dictating: Flow transcribes the speech captured after the cut and inserts the finished text. If live transcription ends early, Flow re-transcribes from the audio saved on your device, which can take longer than usual, and nothing is inserted until that finishes.
Recovery ends after 30 seconds without new audio, not after a fixed total length. Active dictations still stop at 5 minutes, regardless of Disable Flow after.
Warning: Automatic recovery has a limit and can omit the end of a dictation without warning. Check the recovered text for missing words.
Starting another dictation before the earlier one finishes saves the earlier text to Home instead of pasting it into the newer dictation, unless your organization requires Never store.
Calls or Siri: Recording stops, and the partial recording is processed and saved to Home, subject to storage restrictions. Text pastes only while the Flow keyboard is active; otherwise the notification rules below apply. Disable Flow after controls resumption: timed choices resume only if the interruption lasts no longer than that interval, the unlimited choice always resumes, and "never" doesn't.
Audio-device changes: Connecting or disconnecting a device ends the take without automatic resumption. Changing the input can do the same, except when the built-in mic is already selected.
Recover from a notification
These notifications require full notification permission and an inactive Flow keyboard; denied or provisional permission doesn't qualify. Tapping one opens Home and loads that exact entry.
Interrupted or time-limited: "Your dictation was interrupted" or "Your dictation reached the time limit" includes "Tap to view your transcript". Tapping copies available text and adds a Copy button until you copy or leave Home; with no text, nothing is copied and no confirmation appears, although the button remains. The time-limit notification isn't sent if you ended the dictation yourself.
Failed without text: "Your 1:23 dictation is saved" (duration varies), or "Your dictation is saved" when the duration is unknown, includes "Tap to retry". Tapping retries that entry automatically, once only while that Home list remains open.
Recovery limits and storage
Warning: Recordings you cancel yourself aren't transcribed or saved to Home. Audio isn't saved if your organization has enforced-privacy mode enabled, so those dictations can't be retried. An organization-enforced Never store policy removes the local record and suppresses failed-dictation notifications.
After a force-quit or crash, recovery is attempted but isn't guaranteed. Once per app launch, Flow automatically retries the most recent Home entry if it has no text, never reached a completion result, is older than two minutes, and no recording is in progress.
Transcripts stay on the device that recorded them and don't sync between iPhone and Mac, so use Home on the recording iPhone.
Storage settings that affect recovery
If Settings → Data and privacy shows Local data storage, its choices apply to all your devices:
Choice | Local transcript retention |
Keep stored | Keeps transcripts stored. |
Auto-delete after 24 hours | Deletes transcripts older than a rolling 24 hours, not at a calendar-day boundary. |
Never store | Doesn't retain local transcripts. |
Your organization can disable less restrictive choices with "Some options are restricted by your organization." The control can be locked to an enforced policy or show "Temporarily unavailable". If you see Auto-delete transcripts instead, organization policy can force it on and prevent changes.
An organization can also require that local data stays stored: the setting is locked to Store data locally with "This setting is managed by your organization.", stricter choices aren't available, and nothing stored locally is deleted. Your own choice is restored if the organization removes the requirement.
Keyboard errors and empty entries
What does the orange triangle on the keyboard mean?
The triangle next to the mic opens the error explanation and Dismiss; it offers Retry only for a general transcription error or cancelled processing, not network or audio-capture errors. Use the Home steps above to retry saved audio.
A separate error dialog can offer Retry for network and microphone errors too. That clears the error and opens Flow with recording started rather than retrying the saved Home entry. It appears only outside Flow, after setup, with Full Access, and when no other dialog or error message is showing.
Why does my entry say the transcription is empty?
When Flow picks up no sound, it saves "The transcription is empty." without an orange retry button; this is different from a failed transcription. Check that your mic isn't muted or in use by another app — Flow can't detect a muted mic.
If you see "Audio input is busy", "Please check if the microphone is being used by another application." or "Flow needs your microphone to work, but another app is already using it.", check the other app's microphone use.
Permission denial is separate: "We can’t hear you" asks you to "Enable microphone permission in the Settings app"; the error dialog can instead say "To use Flow, turn on Microphone in Settings".
Still stuck?
Contact support if retrying doesn't recover the text, the dictation is missing from Home, or this keeps happening on a stable connection.
Open the Flow menu and select Talk to Support.
Choose Report an issue, rather than Share Feedback.
Select a request type.
Describe what happened and what you've tried, then Send the report.
Support messages automatically include app version/build, device name and model, iOS version, region and app logs. An entry's separate Report action, available by swipe or long-press, doesn't receive a reply; use Talk to Support for a response.