Install

Updating FlowMic

FlowMic checks for new versions automatically. On Windows and Android, updates can be applied in place. On macOS and Linux, you replace the app with the new release; on iPhone and iPad, updates arrive through TestFlight.

On the computer: where it tells you

Open FlowMic → Settings → Updates. It shows the version you are running, checks on its own, and you can press it yourself at any time.

• Check now: asks straight away, instead of waiting for the next automatic check.
• Check for updates automatically: turn the automatic check off if you would rather ask yourself. Off does not mean up to date.
• Last successful check: the date behind the answer. Without it, a computer that can never reach the check and a computer that just checked would read the same.

Before anything is installed, FlowMic checks the downloaded package against the checksum published with it. If they do not match, the file is deleted and nothing is installed.

Windows: the installer version

This is the copy you installed with the .msi file.

1. Download fetches the package and checks it.
2. Close FlowMic and install then does the rest: FlowMic closes, Windows asks for administrator permission, the installer runs, and FlowMic starts itself again.
3. If it does not come back on its own, open FlowMic from the Start menu — it is installed either way.

Windows: the portable version

This is the copy you unzipped into a folder of your own and run from there.

• Close FlowMic and update replaces the folder in place: FlowMic closes, the files are swapped, and it reopens itself. Your settings stay where they are.
• If that folder cannot be written to — Program Files, or a drive you have no rights on — FlowMic says so and offers the download page instead. It works that out before it closes anything.

macOS: you replace the app

On a Mac, FlowMic tells you that a new version exists and can open the download page, but it does not install anything by itself. The card says so in as many words: “Automatic updates are not built for this platform yet.” The steps — quit, replace in Applications, reopen — are on the macOS page, together with why the app has to live in Applications.

Linux: install or extract the new version

FlowMic notifies you when an update is available and can open the download page, but does not install updates automatically. After downloading the new .deb package, install it the same way as before; if you use the portable zip, replace the extracted folder.

Android: the app can update itself

This applies to the APK you downloaded from this site or from the releases page.

• Download and install downloads the new package and checks it, then hands it to Android’s own installer. You confirm the install in the system prompt — FlowMic never installs anything behind your back.
• The first time, Android will want permission to install apps from FlowMic. It takes you to that switch; turn it on, come back, and press the button again.
• If you ever install FlowMic from an app store instead, updates come from that store and the in-app updater is not part of that build.

iPhone / iPad: through TestFlight

FlowMic for iPhone / iPad is a public TestFlight beta, so new builds arrive the way every TestFlight beta does: through Apple’s TestFlight app. Open TestFlight and update FlowMic there — you can also switch on automatic updates for it inside TestFlight, and then new builds install themselves.

The FlowMic app on iPhone / iPad can tell you that a newer version exists, but it never downloads or installs one — on Apple’s devices that is TestFlight’s job, not ours.

What you keep

Updating does not sign you out and does not undo your pairings: your settings, your paired phones, your timeline and any speech model you downloaded all stay where they are. You do not scan the pairing code again.