Most of us talk far faster than we type. In 20 minutes you’ll be speaking your emails, Slack replies and Claude prompts, with your name and product names spelled right every time.
What you’ll need.
Get these set up first. Everything below uses them.
Wispr Flow
Dictate into any app on your computer or phone. Talk instead of type.Free planClaude
The AI assistant I use for writing, building and thinking things through.Free planSlack
Team and community chat in channels.Free planGmail
Email that Claude can search, sort and draft replies in once connected.
Some of these are affiliate links. If you sign up through one, I may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. See every tool I use.
Tell this page your words
Your answers write your dictionary and snippets for you. They stay in your browser and nobody else sees them.
Install Wispr Flow
Put it on the computer you work on first. Your phone takes two minutes after that.
- Download Wispr Flow from its website. Pick the Apple Silicon or Intel version to match your Mac (Apple menu, then About This Mac, tells you which).
- Open the downloaded file and drag Wispr Flow onto your Applications folder.
- Open Wispr Flow and sign in.
- Allow Microphone and Accessibility when your Mac asks.
Then your phone
- iPhone: install Wispr Flow from the App Store. Then go to Settings, General, Keyboard, Keyboards, Add New Keyboard, and pick Wispr Flow. Tap it and turn on Allow Full Access.
- Android: install Wispr Flow from Google Play and follow the setup. Allow Microphone, Accessibility and Display over other apps.
- Sign in with the same account as your computer. Your dictionary and snippets sync across.
Try a dictation
One key is all you need to learn. Hold it, talk, let go.
- Click into any text box: an email, a note, a Claude chat.
- Hold Fn, wait a beat, and talk. Moving white bars show it’s listening.
- Let go of Fn. Your words appear, tidied up.
- For longer thoughts, press Fn + Space to talk hands-free. Press it again to stop.
- On iPhone: tap a text box, hold the globe icon and pick Wispr Flow, then tap the microphone. Tap the tick when you’re done.
- On Android: tap a text box, tap the Flow Bubble at the edge of the screen, talk, then tap the tick.
Teach it your words
Your name, your brand and your product names are the words it’s most likely to get wrong, and the ones that matter most.
- Open Wispr Flow and pick Dictionary (in the sidebar on a computer, the bottom bar on a phone).
- Click Add new (or + on a phone).
- Type one word or phrase from your list below and save it.
- Repeat for each one. Then dictate a sentence with that word to check it.
[YOUR FULL NAME]
If it keeps spelling something wrong
- Add a new entry with the right spelling.
- Turn on Correct a misspelling and type the wrong spelling it keeps giving you.
- Save it. From now on the wrong one gets swapped for the right one.
Set up your snippets
Say a short phrase and get the whole thing typed out: your booking link, your sign-off, your email address.
- Open Snippets in Wispr Flow.
- Click Add new (or + on a phone).
- Put what you’ll say in the Snippet box, and what you want typed in the Expansion box.
- Click Add snippet (Save or Add on a phone).
- Test it: start dictating and say "my booking link".
Say this Wispr Flow types my sign off [HOW YOU SIGN OFF EMAILS]
Use it with Claude, email and Slack
This is where the time comes back. Anywhere you can type, you can now talk.
Pick a style for each place you write
- Open Wispr Flow and pick Style. Click Start now if you see it.
- Choose how you sound in Personal messages, Work messages, Email and Other: Formal, Casual or Excited. Personal messages also has a very casual option.
- Your next dictation uses the new style. Styles format English only.
Talk to Claude
This is the best use of all. A spoken prompt has far more detail than a typed one, because you don’t cut corners when you talk.
Click into the Claude chat box, hold your key and ramble. Here are three to try.
Here's everything in my head about this, in no order. Ask me questions before you write anything. Here's what I want this email to say. Turn it into a short reply in my words. Show me first, don't send. I'm going to talk through my week. Pull out every task and list them by day.
Email and Slack
- Click Reply, hold your key and say your answer. Say "my sign off" at the end.
- In Slack, click into the message box and talk. Read it before you press Enter.
Take your downloads
Tick what you want. Each file is written from your answers in step 1.
Your tools, one more time.
Wispr Flow
Dictate into any app on your computer or phone. Talk instead of type.Free planClaude
The AI assistant I use for writing, building and thinking things through.Free planSlack
Team and community chat in channels.Free planGmail
Email that Claude can search, sort and draft replies in once connected.
If something goes wrong.
Nothing happens when I hold the key
It usually means a permission is off. On a Mac, check Microphone and Accessibility in System Settings, Privacy & Security. On Windows, check Microphone in Settings, Privacy & security. Then quit and reopen Wispr Flow.
It misses my first few words
You’re starting to talk a fraction too early. Press your key, wait a beat, then speak. It matters most with wireless headphones.
It still spells my name wrong
Add a correction: a dictionary entry with the right spelling, Correct a misspelling turned on, and the wrong spelling it keeps typing.
The import file won’t upload
Bulk import is for paid plans and trials, on a Mac or Windows computer, and needs turning on first in Settings, Experimental. If the snippets file is rejected, check none of your answers in step 1 used double quotes, then download it again.
The iPhone keyboard says it needs Full Access
Go to Settings, General, Keyboard, Keyboards, tap Wispr Flow and turn on Allow Full Access. Also check Wispr Flow is on in Settings, Privacy & Security, Microphone.