Potok transcribes Russian speech; this site has been translated into English for convenience.
Voice input errors on Android are almost always tied to Gboard or the manufacturer's keyboard, and not to a separate program: the keyboard and system languages differ, battery saver mode silences the background process, or microphone permissions are lost after a settings reset. There are 6 such typical causes, and for most of them there is a review of the specific case. Potok (potok.now) is not an option here, since it has no Android app.
On Android, voice input most often means the Gboard keyboard or Samsung voice input, and it is there that failures regularly happen: sometimes advanced voice input is unavailable for the current language, sometimes recognition disappears after a phone settings reset, sometimes it turns off in battery saver mode. The causes fall into several typical groups, and you can almost always identify yours in a couple of minutes.
Where problems in this topic come from
The first frequent cause is language desynchronization: Gboard advanced voice input requires the keyboard language to match the device system language, and if they differ, the feature becomes unavailable altogether instead of just making mistakes. The second is battery saver mode: Android aggressively limits background processes, and voice input may be turned off along with other background services even when the screen is unlocked.
The third cause is a reset of permissions. After a phone settings reset or an update of the Google app, access to the microphone for voice input sometimes has to be allowed again, and at first glance it looks as if the feature disappeared completely. The fourth is a Bluetooth headset: if it is connected, the phone may listen to its microphone instead of the built-in one, and recognition works worse or not at all.
The fifth cause is a conflict of several installed keyboards: when Gboard and the manufacturer's keyboard, for example Samsung, are on the phone at the same time, voice input may start in a keyboard other than the one where you expect it. The sixth is differences between manufacturers: Samsung Voice Input works only inside the Samsung keyboard itself, and on devices with OxygenOS voice input sometimes behaves differently from stock Android.
- Gboard freezes or lags when typing, including by voice
- Voice input not working on Android: what to check
All articles in this section (31): potok.now/oshibki/android
When the program is not the cause
Sometimes the cause is not the keyboard or the app at all but the input field itself: in some protected fields, such as passwords and certain banking forms, voice text is not inserted by any program; this is a limitation of the field, not a recognition failure. Potok (potok.now) is not an option in this section at all: it has no Android app, only for a computer (Windows, macOS, Linux). And by its architecture it would not fit either: Potok is a cloud service, recognition runs on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet. For dictation on a phone you need the system voice input or a third-party Android program like Talkpad.
Reviews of individual errors
- Advanced Voice Typing is unavailable for the current Gboard language: it turns on only when the keyboard and system languages match.
- Advanced Voice Typing is unavailable on the device: on some models and in some regions the feature does not exist at all.
- Advanced Voice Typing requires the Gboard and device languages to match: a language mismatch gives silence instead of an error text.
- Gboard voice input disappears after a phone settings reset: the reset removes the microphone permission together with the other settings.
- voice input turns off in battery saver mode on Android: Android silences background services together with recognition.
- Android voice input requires a Google app update: an outdated version of the Google app does not support current recognition.
Frequently asked questions
No: it is a separate feature inside Gboard that turns on only when the device supports it and the keyboard language matches the system language. If one of these conditions is not met, Gboard still shows ordinary voice input, and the advanced one stays unavailable.
Yes: if a headset is connected, the phone may listen to its microphone instead of the built-in one, and recognition works worse or not at all if the headset does not pass sound for recording at good enough quality. The easiest check is to turn off Bluetooth and try again with the built-in microphone.
In some systems yes, through adaptation to the personal dictionary and the terms the user often uses; in others the system is static and does not adjust to a specific person without manual dictionary setup.
Homophones (words that sound the same but are written differently) are a known limitation of any ASR: the model picks the most probable option from the context of the phrase and can be wrong without enough context; a personal dictionary and spelling out letters aloud reduce the frequency of such errors for specific terms.
Yes: speech recognition models are trained on a certain corpus of voices, and a noticeable regional or foreign accent can reduce accuracy if it is poorly represented in the training data of a specific model.
Built-in system tools (Win+H in Windows, Dictation in macOS, Voice Typing in Google Docs, Gboard on Android), browser voice extensions, and dedicated desktop or web services (Potok and similar ones) that work on top of any app through a hotkey.
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 PotokThe Potok subscription also includes the Telegram bot @potok_now_bot: forward it a voice message or a long meeting recording and it returns the text. Without a subscription the bot gives 60 minutes per month for free.
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