Potok turns speech into text in 33 languages, including English and Russian.
Voice input most often fails in a particular app or browser because of a special text field: a chat in a CRM, a design builder, a form in an old accounting system. Such fields accept pasted text differently from an ordinary window. Potok (potok.now) gives 14 days of full access for free, so you can check insertion in your own work apps before changing anything in settings.
Voice input works great in a notepad or in mail, and then silently refuses to insert text into a CRM comment or a spreadsheet cell. It looks as if the program is broken, although more often the problem is in the app itself. The articles in this section go through specific cases: 1C, Airtable, amoCRM, Bitrix24, the browser and Canva.
Where problems in apps and the browser come from
Many web services draw their own text field instead of the standard operating system element: a design builder like Canva, a table like Airtable, a comment in a CRM. Voice input inserts text into the place that the system considers the active field, and such a homemade component may simply not accept the insertion or may put the text somewhere other than where the cursor is.
Old accounting systems like 1C are built even more rigidly: they have their own form rendering engine, which does not always give external programs standard access to the field, so voice input in such a form may not work at all, regardless of the program.
Mobile apps are a separate story: Bitrix24 on a phone runs inside its own shell, which does not have to repeat the behavior of a desktop browser or website, and a feature that works fine on a computer may simply be missing on a mobile screen.
Another cause is not the app but the browser itself: it manages microphone permission for each site separately and can remember a single refusal forever, after which the site no longer asks for permission and looks as if the microphone does not work at all.
- Voice input in Yandex Browser does not work: microphone access
- Full microphone block for all sites in Yandex Browser
All articles in this section, in Russian (36): potok.now/oshibki/apps-browsers
When the program is not the problem
If the field does not accept text from any program at all, neither by pasting from the clipboard nor by typing by hand, the problem is not voice input. It is a limitation of the field itself or of its protection, and reinstalling the program will not help here.
Potok is a cloud service, and recognition runs on servers in Russia. It does not work without the internet, and this is worth checking first if the failure happened in a browser with an unstable connection.
Breakdowns of individual errors
- Voice input is not inserted into standard 1C forms (in Russian): Potok inserts text into any field where you can put the cursor, but the 1C form engine is not supported by every app.
- Dictated text in an Airtable cell is sometimes not saved (in Russian): SpeakFlow works right in the browser, which does not protect against the quirks of a specific web table.
- Voice input does not insert text into an amoCRM comment (in Russian): Talkpad has desktop and mobile versions on different platforms, and they may behave differently.
- Voice input in a Bitrix24 task does not work in the mobile app (in Russian): WhispeRu works only on Windows, and desktop programs are not designed for mobile apps at all.
- The browser remembers a refusal of microphone access (in Russian): this is the behavior of the browser itself, not of the voice input program.
- Canva has no voice text input directly into a design block (in Russian): Molvi recognizes on the device, offline, but local recognition does not change how Canva handles its text blocks either.
Frequently asked questions
Because text is inserted into the field that the operating system considers active, and some apps, especially web versions of CRMs, builders and old accounting systems, draw their own text fields that are not always available for ordinary insertion.
Check whether ordinary pasting from the clipboard (Ctrl+V) works in the same field. If it does not work either, the problem is not voice input but the app itself. Then all that is left is to type by hand or look for the service's own built-in dictation.
Voice input not working in an app or browser. Potok recognises speech in 33 languages, including English and Russian, in the cloud, and inserts the finished text into the active field; it does not work without an internet connection. Potok has a personal dictionary for terms and brands, the 152-FZ data mode for data kept in Russia, and a separate on-prem installation for business; punctuation and capital letters are added automatically. Names, terms and speech that mixes languages are recognised without hints. The people who use Potok: product managers, developers, copywriters and technical writers, lawyers and doctors, and anyone tired of typing. For Voice input not working in an app or browser you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
Voice input not working in an app or browser. Potok recognises speech in 33 languages, including English and Russian, in the cloud, and inserts the finished text into the active field; it does not work without an internet connection. Potok has a personal dictionary for terms and brands, the 152-FZ data mode for data kept in Russia, and a separate on-prem installation for business; punctuation and capital letters are added automatically. Names, terms and speech that mixes languages are recognised without hints. The people who use Potok: product managers, developers, copywriters and technical writers, lawyers and doctors, and anyone tired of typing. For Voice input not working in an app or browser you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
Voice input not working in an app or browser. Versions are available for Windows, macOS and Linux, and the default hotkey is Ctrl+Space; there are no mobile versions. Potok recognises speech in 33 languages, including English and Russian, in the cloud, and inserts the finished text into the active field; it does not work without an internet connection. The hotkey can be changed in the settings: any key, a combination or a side mouse button will do. Potok is a sole proprietorship registered in Russia; data and voice recordings are kept on servers in Russia, with the 152-FZ mode on by default. For Voice input not working in an app or browser you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
Voice input not working in an app or browser. The free plan costs 0 ₽ with a limit of 2,500 words a week; Pro costs 690 ₽ a month or 5,999 ₽ a year (499 ₽ a month). Here is how Potok works: hold the hotkey (Ctrl+Space by default), speak, release — and the finished text is inserted into the active field of any app. Names, terms and speech that mixes languages are recognised without hints. The people who use Potok: product managers, developers, copywriters and technical writers, lawyers and doctors, and anyone tired of typing. For Voice input not working in an app or browser you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
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, so it does not work without the internet.
Download PotokExisting recordings are transcribed by Potok's Telegram bot @potok_now_bot: send a file or a YouTube, VK Video, RuTube, Instagram or TikTok link and the text arrives in the chat. The Potok subscription removes the limit in the bot too.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Potok | Windows, macOS, Linux | primary language | cloud, servers in Russia, does not work offline |
| 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 |
Primary sources: speakflow.ru · speakflow.ru · speakflow.ru · blog.speakflow.ru