diff --git a/src/app/components/Chat.svelte b/src/app/components/Chat.svelte
index 93243347..ee8916a1 100644
--- a/src/app/components/Chat.svelte
+++ b/src/app/components/Chat.svelte
@@ -353,6 +353,7 @@
         {onEscape}
         {onEditPrevious}
         {initialValues}
+        dictationKey={draftKey.key}
         draftKey={eventToEdit ? undefined : draftKey}
         disabled={Boolean(missingRelayLists.length)} />
     {/key}
diff --git a/src/app/components/ChatCompose.svelte b/src/app/components/ChatCompose.svelte
index 3f377f9e..69d29586 100644
--- a/src/app/components/ChatCompose.svelte
+++ b/src/app/components/ChatCompose.svelte
@@ -13,12 +13,14 @@
   import DictationButton from "@app/components/DictationButton.svelte"
   import EditorContent from "@app/editor/EditorContent.svelte"
   import {makeEditor} from "@app/editor"
+  import {getDictation} from "@app/dictation"
   import {type DraftKey, type Draft} from "@app/drafts"
   import {pushToast} from "@app/toast"
   import type {Share} from "@app/share"
 
   type Props = {
     disabled?: boolean
+    dictationKey: string
     draftKey?: DraftKey<Draft>
     onEscape?: () => void
     onEditPrevious?: () => void
@@ -29,6 +31,7 @@
   const {
     initialValues,
     disabled = false,
+    dictationKey,
     draftKey,
     onEscape,
     onEditPrevious,
@@ -94,7 +97,7 @@
   let content = $state(
     initialValues?.type === "text" ? initialValues.value : (draftKey?.get()?.content ?? ""),
   )
-  let recording = $state(false)
+  let dictating = $state(Boolean(getDictation(dictationKey)))
 
   const onChange = (json: object) => {
     content = json
@@ -152,8 +155,8 @@
   <div class={editorClass} aria-disabled={disabled}>
     <EditorContent {autofocus} {editor} />
   </div>
-  {#if recording || ($empty && !disabled)}
-    <DictationButton bind:recording onTranscript={insertTranscript} />
+  {#if dictating || ($empty && !disabled)}
+    <DictationButton key={dictationKey} bind:dictating onTranscript={insertTranscript} />
   {:else}
     <Button
       data-tip="{window.navigator.platform.includes('Mac') ? 'cmd' : 'ctrl'}+enter to send"
diff --git a/src/app/components/DictationButton.svelte b/src/app/components/DictationButton.svelte
index 7ba28b6d..118682c9 100644
--- a/src/app/components/DictationButton.svelte
+++ b/src/app/components/DictationButton.svelte
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <script lang="ts">
-  import {onDestroy} from "svelte"
+  import {onDestroy, onMount} from "svelte"
   import cx from "classnames"
-  import type {Maybe, MaybeAsync} from "@welshman/lib"
+  import type {MaybeAsync} from "@welshman/lib"
   import Microphone from "@assets/icons/microphone.svg?dataurl"
   import Stop from "@assets/icons/record.svg?dataurl"
   import Icon from "@lib/components/Icon.svelte"
@@ -9,17 +9,18 @@
   import Spinner from "@lib/components/Spinner.svelte"
   import {errorMessage} from "@lib/util"
   import OpenRouterEnable from "@app/components/OpenRouterEnable.svelte"
-  import {startDictation, transcribe} from "@app/dictation"
+  import {clearDictation, getDictation, startDictation} from "@app/dictation"
   import {getSetting} from "@app/settings"
   import {pushModal} from "@app/modal"
   import {pushToast} from "@app/toast"
 
   type Props = {
-    recording?: boolean
+    key: string
+    dictating?: boolean
     onTranscript: (text: string) => MaybeAsync<void>
   }
 
-  let {recording = $bindable(false), onTranscript}: Props = $props()
+  let {key, dictating = $bindable(false), onTranscript}: Props = $props()
 
   // Room noise idles just below this, so the pulse follows quiet speech too.
   const onLevel = (level: number) => {
@@ -33,7 +34,7 @@
       loading = true
 
       try {
-        finish = await startDictation(onLevel)
+        await startDictation(key, onLevel)
         recording = true
       } catch (error) {
         console.error(error)
@@ -49,34 +50,50 @@
     }
   }
 
-  const stop = async () => {
-    if (finish) {
-      const audio = finish()
+  const stop = () => {
+    getDictation(key)?.stop()
 
-      finish = undefined
-      recording = false
+    recording = false
+    loud = false
+
+    deliver()
+  }
+
+  const deliver = async () => {
+    const dictation = getDictation(key)
+
+    if (dictation) {
       loading = true
-      loud = false
 
-      try {
-        const text = await transcribe(await audio)
+      await dictation.finished
 
-        await onTranscript(text)
-      } catch (error) {
-        console.error(error)
-        pushToast({theme: "error", message: `Failed to transcribe: ${errorMessage(error)}`})
-      } finally {
-        loading = false
+      // A composer that has gone away has nowhere to put the transcript, so leave the dictation
+      // where it is for whichever one mounts next.
+      if (!destroyed) {
+        if (dictation.error) {
+          console.error(dictation.error)
+          pushToast({
+            theme: "error",
+            message: `Failed to transcribe: ${errorMessage(dictation.error)}`,
+          })
+        } else {
+          await onTranscript(dictation.transcript ?? "")
+        }
+
+        clearDictation(key)
       }
+
+      loading = false
     }
   }
 
   const toggle = () => (recording ? stop() : start())
 
-  // Held outside of state because only the recording flag drives the markup, and clearing this
-  // before the recorder has finished flushing is what keeps a second stop from re-entering.
-  let finish: Maybe<() => Promise<Blob>>
-  let loading = $state(false)
+  let destroyed = false
+  let recording = $state(false)
+  // Starts out in flight when a dictation is already waiting to be picked up, so that the composer
+  // keeps rendering this button until its transcript has been handed over.
+  let loading = $state(Boolean(getDictation(key)))
   let loud = $state(false)
 
   const buttonClass = $derived(
@@ -87,8 +104,21 @@
     ),
   )
 
+  $effect(() => {
+    dictating = recording || loading
+  })
+
+  // Pick up a dictation an earlier composer left running.
+  onMount(deliver)
+
   onDestroy(() => {
-    finish?.()
+    destroyed = true
+
+    const dictation = getDictation(key)
+
+    if (dictation?.recording) {
+      dictation.stop()
+    }
   })
 </script>
 
diff --git a/src/app/components/RoomCompose.svelte b/src/app/components/RoomCompose.svelte
index f9a44ec8..3adfa9cd 100644
--- a/src/app/components/RoomCompose.svelte
+++ b/src/app/components/RoomCompose.svelte
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
   import EditorContent from "@app/editor/EditorContent.svelte"
   import {makeEditor} from "@app/editor"
   import {app} from "@app/core"
+  import {getDictation} from "@app/dictation"
   import {DraftKey, type Draft} from "@app/drafts"
   import type {Share} from "@app/share"
   import {onDestroy, onMount} from "svelte"
@@ -33,8 +34,9 @@
 
   const {url, h, initialValues, onEscape, onEditPrevious, onSubmit}: Props = $props()
 
-  const draftKey =
-    (url || h) && !initialValues ? new DraftKey<Draft>(`room:${url ?? ""}:${h ?? ""}`) : undefined
+  const key = `room:${url ?? ""}:${h ?? ""}`
+
+  const draftKey = (url || h) && !initialValues ? new DraftKey<Draft>(key) : undefined
 
   const autofocus = !isMobile
 
@@ -106,7 +108,7 @@
   let content = $state(
     initialValues?.type === "text" ? initialValues.value : (draftKey?.get()?.content ?? ""),
   )
-  let recording = $state(false)
+  let dictating = $state(Boolean(getDictation(key)))
 
   const onChange = (json: object) => {
     content = json
@@ -180,8 +182,8 @@
   <div class="chat-editor grow overflow-hidden">
     <EditorContent {autofocus} {editor} />
   </div>
-  {#if recording || $empty}
-    <DictationButton bind:recording onTranscript={insertTranscript} />
+  {#if dictating || $empty}
+    <DictationButton {key} bind:dictating onTranscript={insertTranscript} />
   {:else}
     <Button
       data-tip="{window.navigator.platform.includes('Mac') ? 'cmd' : 'ctrl'}+enter to send"
diff --git a/src/app/dictation.ts b/src/app/dictation.ts
index 2e607031..e2e2f288 100644
--- a/src/app/dictation.ts
+++ b/src/app/dictation.ts
@@ -12,10 +12,51 @@ const EXTENSIONS_BY_MIME_TYPE: Record<string, string> = {
   "audio/wav": "wav",
 }
 
+const transcribe = async (audio: Blob) => {
+  const [mimeType] = audio.type.split(";")
+  const body = new FormData()
+
+  body.append("model", TRANSCRIPTION_MODEL)
+  body.append("file", audio, `dictation.${EXTENSIONS_BY_MIME_TYPE[mimeType] || "webm"}`)
+
+  const response = await fetch("https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/audio/transcriptions", {
+    method: "POST",
+    headers: {Authorization: `Bearer ${getSetting("openrouter_key")}`},
+    body,
+  })
+
+  const {text, error}: {text?: string; error?: {message?: string}} = await response.json()
+
+  if (!response.ok) {
+    throw new Error(error?.message || `OpenRouter returned a ${response.status}.`)
+  }
+
+  return text?.trim() ?? ""
+}
+
+export type Dictation = {
+  recording: boolean
+  stop: () => void
+  // Resolves once the transcript or the error is on the dictation, so that awaiting it never takes
+  // the result out of the registry — whoever is still around when it lands reads it from there.
+  finished: Promise<void>
+  transcript?: string
+  error?: unknown
+}
+
+// Dictations are held here rather than by the composer that started one, so navigating away from a
+// conversation transcribes in the background and leaves the transcript for the next composer the
+// way a draft is left.
+const dictations = new Map<string, Dictation>()
+
+export const getDictation = (key: string) => dictations.get(key)
+
+export const clearDictation = (key: string) => dictations.delete(key)
+
 // Reports how loud the microphone is once per frame, so the caller can show the speaker that we're
 // hearing them. Levels follow the waveform's envelope — jumping to each peak, then decaying — since
 // the raw root mean square drops to nothing in the gaps between words.
-export const startDictation = async (onLevel: (level: number) => void) => {
+export const startDictation = async (key: string, onLevel: (level: number) => void) => {
   const stream = await navigator.mediaDevices.getUserMedia({audio: true})
   const recorder = new MediaRecorder(stream)
   const chunks: Blob[] = []
@@ -52,41 +93,34 @@ export const startDictation = async (onLevel: (level: number) => void) => {
 
   let frame = requestAnimationFrame(measure)
 
-  return () =>
-    new Promise<Blob>(resolve => {
-      recorder.addEventListener("stop", () => {
-        cancelAnimationFrame(frame)
-        context.close()
+  const audio = new Promise<Blob>(resolve => {
+    recorder.addEventListener("stop", () => {
+      cancelAnimationFrame(frame)
+      context.close()
 
-        for (const track of stream.getTracks()) {
-          track.stop()
-        }
+      for (const track of stream.getTracks()) {
+        track.stop()
+      }
 
-        resolve(new Blob(chunks, {type: recorder.mimeType}))
-      })
-
-      recorder.stop()
+      resolve(new Blob(chunks, {type: recorder.mimeType}))
     })
-}
-
-export const transcribe = async (audio: Blob) => {
-  const [mimeType] = audio.type.split(";")
-  const body = new FormData()
-
-  body.append("model", TRANSCRIPTION_MODEL)
-  body.append("file", audio, `dictation.${EXTENSIONS_BY_MIME_TYPE[mimeType] || "webm"}`)
-
-  const response = await fetch("https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/audio/transcriptions", {
-    method: "POST",
-    headers: {Authorization: `Bearer ${getSetting("openrouter_key")}`},
-    body,
   })
 
-  const {text, error}: {text?: string; error?: {message?: string}} = await response.json()
-
-  if (!response.ok) {
-    throw new Error(error?.message || `OpenRouter returned a ${response.status}.`)
+  const dictation: Dictation = {
+    recording: true,
+    stop: () => {
+      dictation.recording = false
+      recorder.stop()
+    },
+    finished: audio.then(transcribe).then(
+      transcript => {
+        dictation.transcript = transcript
+      },
+      error => {
+        dictation.error = error
+      },
+    ),
   }
 
-  return text?.trim() ?? ""
+  dictations.set(key, dictation)
 }
diff --git a/src/app/drafts.ts b/src/app/drafts.ts
index 63755583..a16b39ad 100644
--- a/src/app/drafts.ts
+++ b/src/app/drafts.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ export type Draft = {
 }
 
 export class DraftKey<T> {
-  constructor(private key: string) {}
+  constructor(readonly key: string) {}
 
   get(): T | undefined {
     return store.get(this.key) as T | undefined