[mdatagent]

Martin's report: dictation stopped as soon as he switched to another browser tab or opened a link (e.g. levels.fyi) while still talking.

Existing systems changed

1. Web voice input control (apps/web/src/voice-input/VoiceInputControl.tsx): the page becoming hidden no longer ends a recording.
   1. Root cause: since fix(web): keep dictation when the phone screen turns off #9, visibilitychange → hidden called controller.stop() while recording, so switching tabs, opening a link in a new tab, or switching apps stopped the recording and sent the partial audio for transcription. The browser itself keeps capturing: in both Chromium and Firefox 158 the microphone track stays live and audio keeps arriving while the tab is in the background. Martin's diagnostics on 2026-10-25 09:02:19 UTC show exactly this: visibility: hidden and phase: transcribing in the same millisecond.
   2. Hidden while recording: recording continues. The Stop button's timer reflects the real elapsed time on return, since it is computed from the start time.
   3. Screen wake lock: the browser releases it when the page is hidden; the control now takes it again when the page becomes visible and voice input is still preparing or recording.
   4. Hidden while the microphone is starting: unchanged; it still ends with "Voice input stopped when the app moved to the background."
   5. Phone screen locked while recording: this also continues recording now (previously it stopped and transcribed). If the browser or OS mutes or ends the microphone track in the background, the existing handlers apply: a mute shows "The microphone was muted…", and an ended track stops and transcribes what was captured.

Verifiable outcome

Local dev server with a fake ElevenLabs key (transcription fails with "rejected the API key", which shows the audio reached the server). Real tab switch in one window: record ~3 s, open and activate a second tab for ~9 s, switch back, record ~2 s more, press Stop.

1. Chromium 1217, before: the T3 tab went hidden, recording stopped at 3.2 s and was sent for transcription; no Stop button on return.
2. Chromium 1217, after: still recording on return (Stop · 0:13), one 15.9 s recording, wake lock re-granted on return.
3. Firefox 158 desktop, before: stopped at 3.6 s when hidden.
4. Firefox 158 desktop, after: one 16.2 s recording; the level monitor saw signal in every window, including the background period (no muted or silent windows).

Not verified on Android: the emulator's display hung under load, so Firefox/Chrome for Android background capture and screen-lock behaviour still need a check on the phone.

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