Recently, I found a new dictation tool called Wispr Flow that I tried for a few weeks on the free trial. I loved it and signed up for more. I now use it on all my devices, and it saves me a ton of time otherwise spent typing — for anything from emails, Word documents, and messaging to spreadsheets and beyond. If Wispr has its way, Flow just might go a long way toward replacing the keyboard, allowing us to communicate with technology the same way we communicate with each other.
Flow is up to four times faster than typing and works on Mac, Windows, and iPhones (iOS 18.3 and above). It’s also impressively accurate. If you’ve ever thought that you spent more time correcting a voice-to-text translation than it would have taken you to just type the text in the first place, this is the tool for you.
Wispr Flow is much better than standard dictation because it uses AI to “clean up” as you dictate so you have much less manual cleanup. It can even handle mid-sentence pivots (“Let’s meet on Monday at 6 p.m., actually, make that Tuesday at 4 p.m.”) to produce only the intended communication (“Let’s meet on Tuesday at 4 p.m.”).
When you do need to correct a spelling, Flow adds the word to your personal dictionary, so it won’t happen again. You also can add industry terms, acronyms, unique spellings, and the like. The dictionary syncs across your desktop and mobile devices.
According to Wispr, 90% of users say Flow requires no edits at all, versus only 10% for traditional dictation tools like Siri. After six months with the app, the average user writes 72% of their characters with Flow, across nearly 70 apps and websites. I find that, for the vast majority of the time I use Wispr Flow, it requires no edits. It’s a simple concept — if you’re now typing anything in any app, any website, and on almost any device, you can use your voice.
Unlike some content produced by generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Flow lets your text sound like your natural voice — not some stilted robot. It adapts as you speak, removing filler words, structuring your thoughts, and formatting text automatically based on context (for example, formal tone in emails, casual in texts). Plus, there’s no need to voice punctuation marks (“period”). Flow interprets your tone and provides the appropriate punctuation.
You also can create voice shortcuts for phrases or sentences that you use frequently, such as scheduling links or introductions. You merely say the respective cue, and Flow will paste the full formatted text right where you want it.
If you’re concerned about privacy, Flow has a “whisper mode” that can pick up your words when you use a low voice in quiet or shared spaces. And you can set your privacy setting to “zero data retention” to ensure no data is stored on Wispr’s servers. Your data also won’t be stored or used for model training by the company or any third party.
Want to give it a try? Flow Basic is free of charge but comes with a limit of 2,000 words per week on Mac and Windows and 1,000 words per week for the iPhone. Flow Pro, with unlimited words has a monthly fee, but you can try it for free for one month. If you find uses for it in valuation, let me know by dropping me an email at dfein@valusource.com.an email at dfein@valusource.com.