Willow, a startup known for its powerful voice-to-text technology on macOS, is now bringing its capabilities to iOS. The new app allows users to dictate text across all their favorite apps, offering a seamless alternative to traditional typing. This expansion represents a significant step in the evolution of AI-powered dictation tools, pushing them beyond meetings and notes into everyday communication.
Like Wispr Flow, Willow’s keyboard transcribes spoken words accurately and intelligently formats the text based on context. Users can even customize their vocabulary and create distinct writing styles for different app categories (work emails, casual messages, etc.). What sets Willow apart is its full-featured keyboard alongside the voice input. This allows users to quickly edit existing text without needing to re-dictate entire sentences, making it a more versatile tool than competitors like Wispr Flow which only offer numeric keyboards.
This shift towards mobile comes after a fascinating journey for Willow’s founders, Allan Guo and Lawrence Liu. Originally Stanford dropouts who aimed to revolutionize assisted living software through healthcare solutions, they pivoted after realizing the broader potential of voice AI in everyday communication. Observing how doctors used voice scribes during patient consultations inspired them to create a dictation tool for everyone.
Guo believes that while note-taking apps are saturated, the vast landscape of informal communication presents an untapped opportunity. Willow leverages a series of sophisticated models and heavily fine-tunes its text-to-text pipeline based on Meta’s Llama models to ensure accurate formatting and personalized output.
Launched in Spring 2025, Willow has already achieved impressive growth, boasting a 50% month-over-month user increase since its debut. Notable enterprise clients like Uber, Heidi Health, and Zego are utilizing the platform for dictation tasks and leveraging features like custom team vocabulary.
The company’s success has attracted considerable investment, securing $4.5 million from prominent investors like Box Group, Y Combinator, Burst Capital, and angels such as Dharmesh Shah (HubSpot), Tomer London (Gusto), Alexis Ohanian (Reddit co-founder), and Max Mullen (Instacart co-founder).
Mullen highlights Willow’s potential beyond mere dictation. “The most amazing user interfaces in the future will be voice-led,” he predicts, adding that Willow’s ability to mimic individual writing styles with accuracy surpasses traditional dictation systems. He praises its “Hey Willow” desktop assistant feature which allows users to dictate commands like composing email replies in their own unique voice.
While facing competition from established players like Wispr Flow, Monologue, Aqua, Talktastic, Superwhisper, and Betterdication, Willow continues to refine its offering. Future plans include expanding to Windows and Android platforms, as well as implementing advanced personalization features to minimize post-dictation edits. The company is poised to become a major force in shaping the future of voice-driven interaction with technology.
