ChatGPT Android/Web dictation repeatedly fails after ~60 seconds and Retry cannot recover the recording

Summary

Voice dictation in the ChatGPT Android app frequently fails when a recording reaches approximately one minute or longer. The UI displays a red error state with a Try again action, but retrying usually fails again and the dictated content is lost.

The same issue is sometimes reproducible on ChatGPT Web/Desktop, although it occurs less frequently there.

Scope note: This report concerns ChatGPT's first-party dictation experience rather than the Codex App specifically. I am filing it here because openai/codex is currently the official OpenAI public tracker where closely related first-party dictation/transcription failures are being tracked. Please transfer or route this report internally if another public tracker is preferred.

Account correction: This issue supersedes #34420, which was closed because it was accidentally submitted from the wrong GitHub account identity.

Environment

• Primary client: ChatGPT Android app
• ChatGPT app version: 1.2026.181
• Device: Samsung SM-A515F
• Operating system: Android 13
• Subscription: ChatGPT Plus
• Primary dictation language: French
• Region: Senegal
• Secondary client: ChatGPT Web/Desktop
• Frequency: Frequent on Android; intermittent on Web/Desktop
• Observed consistently: During approximately the past week

Steps to reproduce

1. Open any conversation in the ChatGPT Android app.
2. Tap the microphone icon in the message composer to start dictation.
3. Speak continuously for approximately 60 seconds or longer.
4. Stop the recording and wait for transcription.
5. Observe the red failure state.
6. Tap Try again.

Actual behavior

• Recordings around or above one minute frequently fail during transcription.
• A red error state is shown.
• Tapping Try again usually fails again.
• The original recording is not exposed or preserved for recovery.
• The dictated content must be recorded again from the beginning.
• Shorter recordings are generally more reliable.
• The issue also occurs occasionally on ChatGPT Web/Desktop.

Expected behavior

• Dictation should reliably transcribe recordings longer than one minute.
• If there is a supported duration or payload limit, the UI should warn the user before that limit is reached.
• Failed recordings should remain recoverable so that Try again can retry the original audio rather than lose it.
• The error should distinguish between timeout, network failure, server failure, recording-size limit, and other causes.
• A temporary local draft, partial transcript, or recoverable audio artifact should be preserved until transcription succeeds or the user explicitly discards it.

User impact

Voice dictation represents approximately 80% of how I use ChatGPT. This failure therefore interrupts my primary workflow and repeatedly causes the loss of long, carefully dictated prompts.

The practical impact is high because the application accepts the recording without warning, fails only after the user finishes speaking, and then provides a retry action that does not recover the content.

Troubleshooting already attempted

• Updated and restarted the ChatGPT app
• Verified microphone permissions
• Tested different networks
• Tested without VPN
• Confirmed the primary dictation language
• Reproduced on more than one client

Why this appears distinct from existing long-recording reports

Related Codex issues describe unrecoverable audio after much longer recordings, including:

• #21408 — long recordings accepted but not transcribed, followed by unrecoverable audio
• #24535 — voice transcription failures can discard unrecoverable audio
• #28765 — pending dictation lost after ASR failure and thread/window switching

This report differs in two important ways:

1. The failure threshold is approximately one minute, not tens of minutes.
2. The primary affected client is the ChatGPT Android app, with occasional reproduction on ChatGPT Web/Desktop.

Recent service context

OpenAI's public status page reported:

• A Voice incident affecting ChatGPT on July 15, 2026
• Elevated errors affecting ChatGPT conversations and Voice on July 19, 2026

Both incidents were marked resolved, but this dictation failure remains reproducible afterward.

Additional diagnostic information available

I can provide, if useful:

• Exact failure timestamps in UTC
• A screen recording with private content removed
• Additional duration tests such as 30s, 45s, 60s, 75s, and 90s
• Network type and connection details
• Any diagnostic identifier exposed by the application

Please let me know what additional information would be most useful for reproducing and isolating the failure.