"Connection lost" / network connection issues blocking Wispr Flow

Last updated: April 30, 2026

Available on: Mac, Windows, iOS, Android

If Flow shows "Connection lost," dictation stops mid-sentence, or Flow won't connect at all — this guide walks you through restoring connectivity when VPNs, proxies, or security tools are blocking Flow. Most issues resolve in under 5 minutes.

Quick checks

Try these first — they resolve most connection issues in under 30 seconds:

  • Is Wispr Flow experiencing an outage? If there's a service incident affecting your region, Flow shows an orange or red banner on the home screen with a "View status" link. If you see this banner, the issue is on our end — wait for it to resolve before troubleshooting locally.

  • Is your internet working? Open a webpage in your browser. If it doesn't load, fix your internet connection first.

  • Is a VPN active? Disconnect your VPN, then dictate a test phrase. If text appears, your VPN is the issue — skip to Step 3 below.

  • Does another app work online? If websites load but Flow won't connect, the problem is likely a firewall, proxy, or security tool blocking Flow specifically. This is the binary gate: if other apps work fine, the issue is Flow-specific, not your network.

How to fix this on desktop

Step 1: Quit Flow and disable proxies

  1. Right-click the Flow icon in the menu bar (Mac) or system tray (Windows) and select Quit.

  2. Open System Settings → Network (Mac) or Settings → Network & internet → Proxy (Windows).

  3. Disable any active proxies temporarily.

Your network settings should show no active proxy. If Flow connects after this, a proxy was the cause — continue to Step 3 to whitelist Flow permanently.

Step 2: Pause security and firewall tools

  1. Pause any antivirus, firewall, or security software temporarily.

  2. Reopen Flow and sign in.

  3. Dictate a short test phrase.

If text appears, your security software is blocking Flow. Continue to Step 3 to make this permanent.

Step 3: Add Flow to your allowed apps

  1. Open your security or firewall software settings.

  2. Add Wispr Flow to the allowed/trusted apps list.

  3. Whitelist these domains if your software supports domain rules:

    1. wisprflow.ai

    2. api.wisprflow.ai

    3. dodjkfqhwrzqjwkfnthl.supabase.co

    4. model-v31pl413.grpc.api.baseten.co

    5. chain-o232k03l.api.baseten.co

    6. grpc.wisprflow.com

  4. Re-enable your security tools.

  5. Dictate another test phrase.

If text appears with your security tools active, you're done.

Note: Flow periodically sends small background pings to transcription servers to find the fastest one. Allow outbound connections to all domains above, not just the ones used during active dictation.

Step 4: Try a different DNS server

If Flow still can't connect, your DNS server may be blocking Flow's domains.

  1. Open your system network settings.

  2. Change your DNS server to 8.8.8.8 (Google's public DNS). See instructions for your platform.

  3. Restart Flow and dictate a test phrase.

If dictation works, your previous DNS was blocking Flow.

Warning: Flow isn't compatible with most VPNs. You may experience slow performance or connection failures while a VPN is active.

How to fix this on other platforms

Chrome extension shows "No Internet Connection"

Try these steps in order:

  1. Reload the extension: click the Wispr Flow extension icon in your Chrome toolbar, close the popup, wait a few seconds, and click again.

  2. Check Chrome proxy settings: go to Settings → System → Open your computer's proxy settings. If a proxy is configured by your organization, contact your admin.

  3. Disable VPN or security software temporarily and reload the extension.

If the extension connects after these steps, you're done.

iOS

If a VPN or network filter is blocking Flow on iOS:

  1. Go to Settings → VPN and turn off any active VPN.

  2. Open any security or filtering app and pause protection temporarily.

  3. Check Wi-Fi proxy: go to Settings → Wi-Fi, tap the info icon next to your network, and scroll to HTTP Proxy. Set it to Off.

  4. Dictate a test phrase to verify Flow connects.

Android

If a VPN or firewall is blocking Flow on Android:

  1. Go to Settings → Network and internet → VPN and disconnect any active VPN.

  2. Open any firewall or security app and pause protection temporarily.

  3. Check network proxy: go to Settings → Network and internet → Internet, tap your current network, then Advanced to check if a proxy is set.

  4. Dictate a test phrase to verify Flow connects.

Note: On Android, the Flow Bubble always appears active regardless of network status. If transcription fails, you'll see an error with a Retry button and the message "Failed to transcribe. Saved in the app." If text insertion fails, the text is copied to your clipboard and a Paste button appears.

Tip: If Flow keeps becoming unavailable after a device restart, exclude Wispr Flow from battery optimization. On Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, Realme, OnePlus, Motorola, and Transsion/Tecno/Infinix devices, look for manufacturer-specific options like "Never sleeping apps" (Samsung), "Autostart" (Xiaomi), or "App launch management" (Huawei/Oppo).

Common issues

Android: Push-to-Talk session logged incorrectly after a connection retry

This was caused by a bug where a Push-to-Talk dictation that retried due to a connection loss was incorrectly recorded as a hands-free session in your history. Fixed in Android version 1.7.0.

  1. Update Wispr Flow from the Play Store to the latest version.

Android: Flow Bubble disappeared or didn't come back after switching apps

This was caused by a bug where Flow didn't properly resume when Android shut down the app in the background. Fixed in Android version 1.6.7.

  1. Update Wispr Flow from the Play Store to the latest version.

Android: Flow Bubble permanently disappeared after a crash

This was caused by a bug where certain Android accessibility crashes would kill the process and trigger system-level restart restrictions. The app now suppresses these known crashes so the process survives. Fixed in a recent update.

  1. Update Wispr Flow from the Play Store to the latest version.

Android: Flow Bubble appeared greyed out or unresponsive with a working connection

This was caused by the app detecting an offline state that didn't accurately reflect the device's actual connectivity. Fixed in a recent update.

  1. Update Wispr Flow from the Play Store to the latest version.

Android: Audio missing from history entries after a connection retry

This was caused by a bug where audio references could be lost when multiple dictations occurred simultaneously during connection retries. Fixed in Android version 1.3.3.

  1. Update Wispr Flow from the Play Store to the latest version.

Mac/Windows: Dictation silently stopped capturing audio mid-session or after waking from sleep

This was caused by a bug where system sleep or heavy background activity triggered a false-positive service restart, interrupting the audio pipeline during active dictation. Fixed in the latest version.

  1. Update Wispr Flow to the latest version.

  2. Restart Flow after updating.

Mac/Windows: Sync briefly failed or showed stale data after waking from sleep

This was caused by a bug where multiple requests to refresh your login session fired at the same time when the computer woke from sleep, temporarily affecting preference syncing, subscription status, or referral info. Fixed in the latest version.

  1. Update Wispr Flow to the latest version.

  2. Restart Flow after updating.

Windows: Flow disconnected or restarted unexpectedly during prolonged system slowdowns

This was caused by a bug where a background component on Windows shut itself down too aggressively during prolonged system slowdowns (around 15 seconds or longer), which could appear as a "connection lost" event. Fixed in the latest version.

  1. Update Wispr Flow to the latest version.

  2. Restart Flow after updating.

Subscription status appeared unset or missing for the entire session

This was caused by a bug where Flow fetched your subscription status before its network layer was fully ready and never retried. Fixed in version 1.47.1.

  1. Update Wispr Flow to the latest version.

  2. Restart Flow after updating.

FAQs

What do the orange and red banners on the home screen mean?

These banners appear when Wispr Flow detects a service incident affecting your region. Orange means performance is degraded — dictation may be slower than usual. Red means there is an outage — dictation may not work at all. Both include a "View status" link. If you see either banner, the issue is on our end and no local troubleshooting is needed.

What does the post-dictation "degraded performance" notification mean?

If dictation is slow during an active service incident, Flow may show a notification saying "Wispr Flow is experiencing degraded performance" or "Wispr Flow service disruption." The slowness is service-side, not your network or device. Tap "View status" to check for updates. This notification appears at most once per hour.

What happens if I lose internet while dictating?

Flow saves your audio recording even if the connection drops mid-transcription. On desktop, you'll see a "No internet connection" notification and can recover the transcript from History. On Android, the bubble stays active — if transcription fails, you'll see a Retry button; if text insertion fails, the text is copied to your clipboard and a Paste button appears.

What if transcription fails after automatic retry?

Tap Retry to try again without re-recording. Retry is available for recordings 5 seconds or longer. On desktop, audio is saved to History for up to 14 days. On Android, audio is saved locally and you can retry from the bubble or from transcription history. On iOS, transcription history from previous days is automatically cleared — retry from history is only available on the same day.

Note: If you've enabled Zero Data Retention (NeverStore) in your privacy settings, audio is never saved locally and retry is not available.

Why is Flow generating network activity in the background?

Flow periodically sends small background pings to available transcription servers — including a US server and an EU server in London — to find the fastest one for your location. On Android, this also happens after each dictation session. This keeps your dictation latency as low as possible. If you see this traffic flagged by a firewall, allow the domains listed in Step 3.

Which VPNs and security tools cause issues?

The following tools can interfere with Wispr Flow:

  • VPN services: NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Surfshark, Cisco AnyConnect, GlobalProtect, OpenVPN, WireGuard

  • Corporate proxies and firewalls: Zscaler, Netskope, Palo Alto, Fortinet, Cisco Umbrella

  • Antivirus with web filtering: Norton, McAfee, Bitdefender, Kaspersky, ESET

  • DNS filtering: Pi-hole, AdGuard, NextDNS, CleanBrowsing

  • macOS firewalls: Little Snitch, LuLu, Vallum

Tip: If you must use a VPN, enable split tunneling and exclude the Wispr Flow domains listed in Step 3. This is especially important because Flow automatically connects to the lowest-latency server — VPN routing can interfere with that selection.

How long is my audio saved on desktop?

Audio saved to History is retained for up to 14 days. After that, the audio is removed but your transcript text remains. If you've enabled Zero Data Retention (NeverStore), audio is never saved locally.

Can I sign out while offline?

Yes. Flow clears your local session and signs you out successfully even if it cannot reach the server.

Still need help?

If you've tried all the steps above and Flow still won't connect, contact support with:

  • Your platform (Mac, Windows, iOS, Android) and Flow version

  • The VPN, proxy, or security software you're using

  • A screenshot of any error messages

  • The steps from this guide you've already tried

Most connection issues are resolved in one reply.