Auto-insert
Native apps
Notes, Mail, Pages, Xcode. Straight to the cursor.
Ch. 01 — The Loop
Speak it once.
It lands where
you were typing.
Hold a key and talk. The words land in the field your cursor was in
— Slack, Xcode, Google Docs, the terminal.
Cancel any time · macOS 15 or later · Apple Silicon native
Panel 1
⌥
Any key you like. Hold it down.
Panel 2
Say the sentence like you'd say it out loud.
Panel 3 — live
Illustration: holding the Option key in Slack while speaking. Dictate's floating pill shows a live waveform and timer, and the spoken sentence lands as text in the message box, ending with an “Inserted” confirmation.
Released. The text is sitting in Slack, cursor at the end, like you typed it.
- bytes of audio stored
- 0
- Transcribed, then discarded
- permissions asked for
- 2
- Microphone and Accessibility
- per month, flat
- $8
- One subscription, cancel any time
- minimum version
- macOS 15+
- Apple Silicon native
Where it works
Transcription is solved.
Insertion isn't.
Anything can turn speech into text. Getting it into a stubborn Electron text box is the hard part. Dictate goes through the Accessibility API, and pastes when it has to.
Auto-insert
Browsers
Safari and Chrome, including Google Docs.
Paste fallback
Terminal
Terminal and iTerm, via paste.
Auto-insert + paste
Electron — the hard case
Slack, Discord, VS Code, Notion. Where most tools quietly fail — and where Dictate goes through the Accessibility API, then pastes when the app fights back.
What you get
Small app. Complete loop.
All of it, included. $8 a month.
Push-to-talk
Any key you like. Hold to talk, release to insert.
Insertion engine
Accessibility API first, paste when an app fights it.
Polish step
Filler dropped, punctuation fixed. Unlimited.
Glossary
Your project's words, spelled right every time.
History
Every dictation as text. The recordings no longer exist.
Never locked out offline
Your subscription check is cached and signed on this Mac, so a dropped connection never locks you out.
How it works
Dictating in under a minute.
-
1
Subscribe
Checkout on the web. Download and activation links arrive by email.
-
2
Grant two permissions
Microphone and Accessibility. Nothing else.
-
3
Hold ⌥ and talk
Let go. The text is where your cursor was.
Privacy
Your audio doesn't outlive the request.
The life of one dictation Audio retained: 0 bytes
-
Capture
Buffered in memory on your Mac. Never written to disk.
-
Transcribe
Streams over TLS to the Dictate API, comes back as text.
-
Insert
Lands at your cursor. Accessibility API first, paste as backup.
-
Discard
Dropped the moment the request completes. Not our disks, not a backup.
History keeps the text and metadata, never the recording. How this is enforced →
No password to manage
Each Mac is tied to your subscription by a key made in its own security chip — one we never see and you never type. Sign in with a link, or Google, Apple, GitHub, GitLab.
Two permissions, and you can check
No screen recording, no full-disk access, no browser extension. Open System Settings and hold us to it.
Compare
Why not the others?
Where Dictate wins, and what each alternative trades away. The full comparisons don't fudge either side.
vs Wispr Flow
Your audio is discarded after transcription, and it’s $8 flat. Flow’s polish comes with tiers.
vs Superwhisper
Zero setup — no models to download, nothing to tune. Local-first is Superwhisper’s trade, and it’s work.
vs MacWhisper
Dictate puts the text where your cursor is, even in Electron apps. MacWhisper leaves the pasting to you.
vs Apple Dictation
Better accuracy, and it actually inserts in Slack and VS Code. Free is Apple’s whole argument.
Pricing
Eight dollars. That's the page.
$8 /month
No free trialNo tiersCancel any time
- Dictation in every app
- 40 hours of transcription a month
- Polish step, unlimited
- History and glossary, synced
- All your Macs
Stripe checkout · macOS 15+ · unused subscriptions refunded
FAQ
Asked before buying.
Real policy, not the friendly version. Anything else: support@dictates.app.
Is there a free trial?
No. It’s $8/month from day one. Cancel whenever; access runs to the end of what you paid for.
How do I get the app after subscribing?
The download link arrives by email right after checkout. Install, choose “Activate this Mac”, enter the address you paid with.
Can I get a refund?
Subscribed and changed your mind before using it? Email support@dictates.app and the month is refunded in full. Once you’ve transcribed something, the month is committed.
How much can I dictate?
40 hours of transcription a month, shared across your Macs — the Polish step doesn’t count against it. If you run through it, dictation pauses until your month resets. No surprise charges; hours don’t roll over.
Is local-only mode possible?
No, the current build is API-only. If local-first is a hard requirement, Superwhisper or MacWhisper are the honest picks.
What happens to my audio?
Sent over TLS, transcribed, discarded when the request completes. History keeps the text, never the recording.
Does it work offline?
Transcription needs a connection. Your subscription check is cached and signed, so a flaky network won’t lock the app.
Can I use Dictate on more than one Mac?
Yes. Activate each with the same email. Your monthly allowance is shared across all of them.
Which apps does it work in?
Anywhere a cursor can sit: native apps, Safari, Chrome, Electron apps like Slack and VS Code, terminals.
Stop typing what you could say.
Hold a key, talk, let go.
Next chapter: yours.