Voice dictation on phones has always felt like a feature that’s almost there. You know the one. It works great until it doesn’t, which is usually right when you need it most. Wispr Flow, the AI-powered dictation startup that’s been quietly gaining traction in venture capital circles, just launched its Android app today. And based on what they’re doing, they might actually be onto something.
The company started on desktop, moved to iOS in June 2025, and now they’re bringing the technology to Android with what they say is a 30% speed improvement across the board. That infrastructure rewrite matters more than it sounds. Speed isn’t just a number on a spec sheet. It’s the difference between your phone feeling responsive and feeling like you’re waiting for it to catch up to your thoughts.
The Interface Actually Makes Sense This Time
Here’s what caught my attention. On iOS, Wispr Flow uses a dedicated keyboard. On Android, they went with a floating bubble interface. You hold it to dictate, tap once to start, and hit close to stop. It sounds simple, but Android’s more open platform actually gave the team freedom to build something that feels natural rather than fighting against the operating system’s constraints.
That’s not me editorializing. That’s straight from Tanay Kothari, the startup’s co-founder and CEO, who said Android “finally gave us the freedom to build the voice experience we always wanted.” When a platform gets out of the way, voice can actually start replacing typing. Revolutionary? No. But necessary? Yeah.
The app transcribes in over 100 languages and works across other applications. The usual AI cleanup features are there too, filtering out filler words and formatting text based on context. Nothing groundbreaking on paper, but the execution matters.
Why Hinglish Is Actually Important
Here’s the thing that stuck with me. Wispr Flow just released a new model for Hinglish, which is what you get when Hindi and English weave together in conversation. This isn’t some gimmick. In India, millions of people code-switch constantly between languages when texting, calling, or messaging. Your brain doesn’t stop to think about which language you’re using when you’re chatting with family.
Kothari built this feature because he needed it. “If you’re someone like me, English and Hindi weave together when I’m chatting with family and colleagues back home,” he said. That’s the kind of specific problem-solving that doesn’t make headlines but actually matters to real users.
Early users have already spoken over 1.3 million words in English in just the first few days of rollout. The adoption signal is there.
Money Talks
Wispr Flow has raised $81 million total, with the most recent valuation sitting at $700 million. They grabbed $30 million from Menlo Ventures in June, then $25 million from Notable Capital in November. That’s serious capital for what could easily be dismissed as just another dictation app. Investors aren’t typically this interested in solved problems. They’re interested in markets that are finally ready to shift.
The real competition right now is sparse. Typeless launched an Android app last month, but beyond that, there aren’t many players offering serious AI-powered dictation on Android. That’s changing, but the window of opportunity might not stay open forever.
The Bigger Picture
What’s interesting is that voice interfaces keep getting closer to replacing keyboards, but only on specific devices and platforms. Your smartwatch, your car, your voice assistant. But on phones? We’re still mostly typing. That’s not because voice technology isn’t good enough anymore. It’s because the user experience hasn’t felt natural. Floating bubbles and dedicated keyboards still feel like workarounds rather than the primary way to input text.
Maybe Android’s openness is what was needed all along. Or maybe the technology just needed to get fast enough that people would stop getting frustrated waiting for it. Either way, if Wispr Flow can make dictation actually feel faster than typing, they might have solved a problem that’s been sitting unsolved for years. Whether that’s worth $700 million is probably still an open question, but at least now we can test it on the phone in your pocket.
