Potok transcribes Russian speech; this site has been translated into English for convenience.
Voice input in email clients like Apple Mail, Mailbird or Mail.ru Mail most often works not through the program itself but through a separate dictation tool: some clients use the OS system dictation, others have no built-in recognition at all. Potok (potok.now), for example, inserts dictated text into any email field after the Ctrl+Space hotkey at about 900 characters per minute.
Email clients have no single standard for voice input: Apple Mail and BlueMail rely on the operating system's dictation, while Mailbird, eM Client or Mail.ru Mail are ordinary apps with no microphone button at all. So it matters more to choose the dictation program itself than to look for a feature inside the email client.
All articles in this section (27): potok.now/prilozheniya/mail
The main questions of the topic and where to find the answers
- Voice input in Apple Mail: macOS and iOS have system dictation with Russian, so a separate program is not required.
- Voice input in BlueMail: for occasional emails, the free 30 minutes per month at Diktuy or SpeakFlow is enough.
- Voice input in Canary Mail: for correspondence without sending audio to the cloud, offline recognition like Voisty's fits.
- Voice input in eM Client: GigaType recognizes offline through the GigaAM neural network, trained for Russian.
- Voice input in Mail.ru Mail: for a Russian service, storing data in Russia, as Potok does, makes sense.
- Voice input in Mailbird: the client is Windows only, and WhispeRu is also made only for Windows, working offline.
Where a beginner should start
- See whether your email client has a microphone button on the keyboard or in the email field. If there is none, you will need a separate dictation program.
- Allow this program access to the microphone in the operating system settings, otherwise recognition will not start in any app, including email.
- Start with a short email, not a business reply to a client, so it is easier to notice where dictation mixes up terms or names.
- If you work with sensitive correspondence, check where the audio goes: to a server or processed right on the device, as with GigaType or Voisty.
- Compare speed: with Potok (potok.now) dictation is about 900 characters per minute, with typing about 200, and the difference is especially noticeable in long emails.
Where Potok does not fit
Potok is a cloud service, recognition runs on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet, while some business correspondence requires offline or a closed perimeter. In that case look at programs like GigaType, which recognize right on the device. Potok also has no voice commands: it cannot find an email or mark it as read by itself, it only inserts text where the cursor is.
Frequently asked questions
Some programs, including Potok, have a personal dictionary: you add names, company names and terms that recognition usually replaces by mistake with similar words. After that such words are written correctly in emails without manual fixes.
By a model estimate, the average dictation speed with Potok is about 900 characters per minute versus about 200 characters per minute with ordinary typing, so speech is noticeably faster than the keyboard.
Built-in system tools (Win+H in Windows, Dictation in macOS, Voice Typing in Google Docs, Gboard on Android), voice browser extensions, and specialized desktop and web services (Potok and similar) that work on top of any app via a hotkey.
Yes. Windows has built-in voice input on Win+H (Russian only in Windows 11, no Russian in Windows 10; it does not work without the internet), and on a Mac there is system dictation in the keyboard settings. Both are free.
Potok states about 900 characters per minute by voice versus about 200 when typing, roughly 4 times faster. This is the product's own estimate, not an independent measurement.
Voice input converts speech to text on the fly: the user speaks, and the program transcribes the sound with speech recognition technology (ASR) and inserts the resulting text into the active field, such as email, a messenger or a document. In Potok it works through a hotkey: hold it, speak, release, and the text is inserted.
Check it in one evening
Install Potok, dictate what you usually type and compare. 14 days of full access, no card needed. Potok is a cloud service: speech is recognized on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet.
Download PotokA voice message from a messenger or a call recording can be forwarded to the bot @potok_now_bot, and it sends back the text. The bot is part of the same subscription as the Potok app.
Related software: terms compared
| Service | Platforms | Free | Price | Payment from Russia | Where speech is recognized |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Potok | Windows, macOS, Linux | Free: 2500 words per week; full access for the first 14 days, no card needed | Pro 690 ₽/mo, 499 ₽/mo when paid yearly | Russian bank cards, rubles | cloud, servers in Russia; internet required |
| SpeakFlow | Windows, Web | 30 minutes of dictation per month, free forever | 690 ₽/mo (Personal (unlimited)) | rubles directly | cloud (the data center country is not disclosed on the website) (not confirmed) |
| Diktuy | Windows, macOS | 30 minutes of dictation per month, free forever | 239 ₽/mo (Profi (monthly equivalent when billed yearly)); 2870 ₽/yr (Profi (year, billed in full)); 479 ₽/mo (Max (monthly equivalent when billed yearly)) | rubles directly (not confirmed) | cloud (the data center country is not disclosed on the website) (not confirmed) |
| Talkpad | macOS, Windows, Android | 2500 words/week on desktop, 1500 words/week on mobile, free forever; plus a 14-day Pro trial | $6/mo (Pro (billed yearly, $72/yr)); $8/mo (Pro (monthly billing)) | unknown (not confirmed) | cloud (the legal entity is registered in Australia; the website is hosted on Cloudflare; the exact location of the ASR servers is not disclosed in the privacy policy) (not confirmed) |
| Voisty | Windows, macOS | 5 minutes of transcription (to judge the quality) | $6.7/mo (Pro); $67/yr (Pro (year)); $99/one-time (Lifetime) | Visa/Mastercard/Amex cards, PayPal; whether Russian cards are accepted is not stated (not confirmed) | device (offline, local models such as Whisper Large V3 Turbo / NVIDIA Parakeet) |
| WhispeRu | Windows | 7-day free trial (no card) | 290 ₽/mo (monthly license); 1990 ₽/yr (yearly license); 4990 ₽/one-time (lifetime license) | rubles directly (payment via YooKassa) | device (offline) |
| GigaType | Windows, macOS | free with no limits: open source under the MIT license (Copyright (c) 2026 Disrupt Builders), all features are available without payment | — | not needed: there are no paid plans | device (offline, Sber's GigaAM neural network) |
| Molvi | Windows, macOS | free forever, no accounts and no payment | — | not needed: the product is free; voluntary donations are accepted via Telegram Tribute or by card on the website, amounts are not fixed | device (offline; best quality on an NVIDIA GPU, otherwise a fast model on the CPU) |
Built-in dictation and Potok
| Tool | Where it works | Russian language | Where speech is recognized |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows voice typing (Win+H) | Windows 10 and 11 | Windows 11 only | Microsoft cloud, does not work offline |
| macOS Dictation | macOS | yes | on the device or on Apple servers |
| Potok | Windows, macOS, Linux | primary language | cloud, servers in Russia, does not work offline |
Primary sources: speakflow.ru · speakflow.ru · speakflow.ru · blog.speakflow.ru