Potok transcribes Russian speech; this site has been translated into English for convenience.
Voice input in Yandex Browser does not work if microphone access for the site is blocked in the browser or restricted by an antivirus. Three steps help: allow the microphone with the icon in the address bar, remove the site from the Blocked list in the site settings, and turn off the antivirus for a while. If voice input is still inconvenient, you can dictate text with Potok (potok.now), which has its own microphone access.
This is the message seen by a user who tries to dictate text on a site in Yandex Browser, for example in a search bar or an online translator: the site asks for permission to use the microphone, and the voice input button does not react to a click. Here is what is behind it and how to get access back.
What this message means
Voice input in Yandex Browser does not work because access to the microphone is blocked for a specific site in the browser. Either the user pressed "Block" earlier in the permission prompt, or an antivirus restricts access at the level of microphone and webcam protection. In both cases the cause is not the site itself or its code: Yandex Browser stores the microphone permission separately for each site, and once it has the status "Blocked", the voice input button stays silent no matter how many times you press it, until the permission is changed by hand. The logic is similar to blocking the microphone for voice input in Telegram: there too the permission is stored separately for the app and does not match the general system settings.
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The site asks for microphone access, and the voice input button does not react | Microphone access for this site is blocked in the browser, or an antivirus restricts access. | 1) the connection status icon in the address bar → turn on the device you need → refresh the page; 2) Settings → Sites → Advanced site settings → Microphone → remove the site from the Blocked list; 3) temporarily turn off the antivirus to check. |
How to remove the error
- Open the connection status icon (a padlock or an icon with an exclamation mark) in the address bar next to the site address, find the "Microphone" item, turn on the device you need and refresh the page. If the permission was simply never granted, this most often helps right away.
- If there is no such item in the address bar, or the site is still silent, open Settings → Sites → Advanced site settings → Microphone and remove the site from the "Blocked" list. While you are there, check whether the domain got in by mistake.
- Check the antivirus: turn off its microphone protection for a while and repeat voice input on the same page. If the site heard speech after that, the antivirus was the cause.
- Find the antivirus setting that controls access of apps and sites to the microphone and add Yandex Browser there as an exception. It is not worth keeping the antivirus turned off permanently.
- Refresh the page and dictate a test phrase again. If the voice input button still does not react, the cause is not the microphone permission but a different block, so see the section below.
| What is available | |
|---|---|
| Potok | hold the key, speak, release: the text lands in the field under the cursor |
When settings do not fix the error
If you have gone through all the steps above and the voice input button still does not react, the cause may not be the permission for the site but the microphone at the level of Windows or macOS. Access for the browser must also be allowed in the system settings, separately from the settings of Yandex Browser itself. Potok fits this case too: as a separate app it also requests its own microphone access in the system and does not depend on the permissions of a specific site. It also lets you dictate text into any field at once, not only into a voice search form. Note that Potok is a cloud service: speech recognition runs on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet. Similar voice input errors in other browsers and apps are collected in the general section on voice input in apps and browsers.
Frequently asked questions
Because Yandex Browser stores microphone permission separately for each site. On one domain voice input may have been allowed earlier, while on another the permission was never requested or was explicitly denied. That is why the button behaves differently on different pages.
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.
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.
Dictation pays off most for long texts written off the cuff: email drafts, notes, replies in messengers, 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.
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.
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.
Try it on your own texts
Download Potok for Windows, macOS or Linux: full access for the first 14 days, no card needed. After that, 2500 words per week for free or Pro for 690 ₽ per month. Potok is a cloud service: speech is recognized on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet.
Download PotokOne subscription, two tools: dictation in any program on your computer and @potok_now_bot in Telegram, which transcribes voice messages, audio and video.
Primary sources: browser.yandex.ru · yandex.ru