Stays on your Mac
Audio is transcribed locally. No servers, no uploads, no analytics. Whisper or Parakeet, both running on the Neural Engine.
VoiceInk for macOS
Press a hotkey. Speak. Your words appear.
On-device dictation for macOS. Whisper and Parakeet, running locally. Nothing leaves your Mac unless you ask it to.
Download for macOS
Version 1.0 · 6.9 MB · macOS 14 or later
What it does
Dictation that respects your machine.
Optional AI cleanup
Plug in your own Anthropic or OpenAI key and let the model tidy grammar and punctuation. Off by default. Always your call.
Searchable history
Every transcript saved to a local SQLite database. Find that thing you dictated last Tuesday in two seconds.
Whatever hotkey you want
Option-Space by default. Pick your own from Settings. Press to start, press again to finish.
Getting started
Four steps and you're dictating.
- 1
Download and install
Drag VoiceInk into your Applications folder. Notarized by Apple, no security warnings.
- 2
Allow microphone and accessibility
Asked once during the short setup. Microphone is required so VoiceInk can hear you. Accessibility is optional and lets your text drop straight into whatever app you're typing in.
- 3
Pick a model
Fast (75 MB), Standard (485 MB), or Turbo (632 MB). Downloaded on first run. You can switch later in Settings.
- 4
Press the hotkey and speak
VoiceInk lives in the menu bar. Press your shortcut anywhere on macOS, talk, press again to finish. Your words appear at the cursor.
Privacy, in plain English
VoiceInk does not track you. It does not phone home. Your audio is transcribed on your Mac and never sent anywhere.
If you turn on AI cleanup, only the resulting text is sent to whichever provider you chose, using a key you provide. We do not see your transcripts or your key. Leave AI cleanup off and the app is fully offline.
FAQ
Things people ask.
Does it work without internet?
Yes, after the first run. Models download once. Transcription itself is local.
Which Macs are supported?
Apple Silicon and Intel, both. Apple Silicon is faster because models run on the Neural Engine. macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later.
Why does it need accessibility access?
So your transcript can drop straight into whatever app you're typing in. You can skip it, but then you'll need to press Command-V yourself each time.
Is it free?
Yes. AI cleanup uses your own API key, so any cost there is between you and Anthropic or OpenAI.
Try it.
Free, on-device, no account.
Download VoiceInkVersion 1.0 · 6.9 MB · macOS 14 or later