When a take fails: what the message means and how to retry

What each message means

• Didn't catch that. No words reached Voxy. Check that the right microphone is chosen in System Settings, under Sound, then Input. If the take sounded like speech, Voxy keeps the audio and says so, and you can retry it.
• Server is down. Saved in Voxy, try again in a few minutes. Voxy could not get your words written on our side. Your audio is saved. Wait a few minutes, then retry it from the Dictation page.
• Still came back empty. Kept in Voxy. A retry came back without words. The audio stays, so you can try once more later.
• Nothing to write there. Voxy heard you, but once the fillers were gone there was nothing left to type, for example a take of only um and ah.
• Free words used up. This week's free words on the Free plan are used. Your take is saved: retry it after the words come back on Monday, or after you upgrade.
• Daily limit reached. You reached Pro's fair use limit, which covers your billing month. Your take is saved. Dictation resumes with your next billing period; if you think this is a mistake, write to us from the contact page.
• Sign in to keep dictating. This Mac is signed out. Sign in again, then retry the take.
• Confirm your email to keep dictating. Your account has not confirmed its email address yet. Your take is saved: confirm with the code or the link in our email, then retry it. Sign in, verify your email, and reset your password explains how, on every version of Voxy.
• Update Voxy to keep dictating. This version of Voxy is too old to keep dictating. Your takes are saved. Update from the Dictation page, or download the newest Voxy from the download page, then retry them.
• Allow microphone access, then try again or Could not start the microphone. Turn on the microphone for Voxy (see Allow the microphone, keyboard access and Input Monitoring) and check that a microphone is connected.

Where failed takes wait

Open Voxy and go to the Dictation page. A failed take shows a label that says why, such as The server was down or Cancelled, audio kept, and a Retry button when its audio was saved. If Voxy closed during a take, the take appears as Recovered after a restart, ready to retry.

Click Retry to send the saved audio again. When it works, the text appears on the take and is ready to paste with Command V wherever you need it.

How long saved audio stays

Saved audio stays on your Mac only. Our servers never store your audio.

• A take written on the first try keeps no audio, unless Voxy could not confirm that every part of it was written. Then it keeps the audio and tells you.
• A failed take keeps its audio after a Retry works, until the cleanup below or until you delete the take.
• Voxy deletes saved audio automatically the first time it starts after the audio is 14 days old. If you do not open Voxy for a while, the audio waits until you next do.
• Deleting a take deletes its audio straight away.

Telling us about it

The notch and the island never show up in screenshots or screen recordings, on purpose. If you write to us, type the exact words of the message instead of sending a screenshot, and tell us roughly when it happened.