Potok transcribes Russian speech; this site has been translated into English for convenience.
Gboard freezes or lags when typing, including by voice, for 3 typical reasons: a full cache, personalization turned on, or too many active languages at once. What helps, in order: clear the Gboard cache and data, turn off Personalization in Settings → Advanced and cut the number of active languages to 1-2.
If Gboard hangs during ordinary typing or clearly stumbles on voice input, the cause is usually not a failure of a specific phone. According to Google, there are 3 typical causes, and all of them are fixed in the keyboard's own settings.
Why this happens
Google's official list of causes is short and specific. The first is a full Gboard cache: over time accumulated temporary data can slow the keyboard down, including voice recognition. The second is personalization turned on: the keyboard constantly adapts to your typing style, and this also uses resources. The third is too many active languages at once: the more language models Gboard keeps ready, the slower input becomes. The causes are given according to Google's official documentation.
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The keyboard hangs, typing lags, recognition breaks off | The official list of causes: an overloaded cache, personalization turned on, too many active languages. | 1) clear the Gboard cache and data; 2) Settings → Advanced → turn off Personalization; 3) cut the number of active languages to 1-2. |
How to fix it step by step
- Clear the Gboard cache and data in the app settings. This is the first step from Google's official list for keyboard freezes, and it often removes most of the problem.
- Open Settings → Advanced in Gboard itself and turn off Personalization: personalization constantly analyzes your typing style and adapts to it, and this also uses keyboard resources.
- Cut the number of active languages to 1-2: the more language models Gboard keeps ready at the same time, the slower both ordinary and voice input become.
- If the freezes remain after all three steps, check in turn which of them gave an improvement; this will show which of the three official causes was the main one in your case, and not just a combination of them.
If it did not help
If there is no time to deal with all three causes at once, start at least with clearing the cache: according to Google, it is the first and simplest step. Potok does not exist on a phone, a tablet or a watch: it works only on a computer (Windows, macOS and Linux), and as a cloud service it recognizes speech on servers in Russia, so it does not work without the internet even there. If you dictate a lot at a computer, Potok can replace the built-in dictation there. Other voice input errors on Android are collected in the android section, and if voice input does not work on Android at all, that is a separate cause, covered there too.
Frequently asked questions
Reinstalling is not mentioned in the official list of causes, so first go through the remaining two steps: turn off Personalization in Settings → Advanced and cut the number of active languages to 1-2. If the freezes remain after that, we have no data on more drastic measures than these three steps.
Dictation pays off most for long texts written in one go, such as email drafts, notes, messenger replies and lecture notes, and also when your hands are busy or tired (for example, with RSI). For short precise edits (one-word commands, code) typing is often faster.
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.
Voice input turns speech into text on the fly: the user speaks, 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 this works through a hotkey: hold it, speak, release, and the text is inserted.
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.
Any microphone the system sees as a recording device will do. In Potok you choose it in the app settings or in the tray icon menu; system access to the microphone is required.
If you want to compare for yourself
Take one of your own tasks and dictate it in Potok. The first 14 days have no limits and need no card. Potok is a cloud service: speech is recognized on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet.
Download PotokYou dictate in the app, and recordings and voice messages are transcribed by @potok_now_bot in Telegram. 60 minutes per month are free; the Potok subscription removes the limit in the bot and in the app.
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: support.google.com · support.microsoft.com