Dictate Anywhere: Voice Dictation Anywhere on Your Mac

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Dictate Anywhere: Type with Your Voice, Everywhere

Ever wanted to dictate text into any app on your Mac-without sending your voice to the cloud? Dictate Anywhere https://github.com/hoomanaskari/mac-dictate-anywhere is a native macOS menu bar app that lets you press and hold Fn (or a custom shortcut) to dictate text directly into any application. Best of all, it runs entirely on-device using FluidAudio’s Parakeet speech recognition model; your audio never leaves your Mac.

It’s perfect for hands-free typing, accessibility, or just cranking out emails faster.

Key Features

🎙️ Global Hotkey

Dictate from anywhere by pressing and holding the Fn key, or set your own custom shortcut:

  • Fn Key - Default hotkey for instant dictation
  • Custom Shortcuts - Configure your preferred key combination
  • Works Everywhere - Activate in any app-mail, notes, coding, messaging

🔒 100% On-Device Processing

Your privacy is completely protected:

  • FluidAudio Parakeet - State-of-the-art on-device speech recognition
  • No Cloud Upload - Your voice never leaves your Mac
  • No Analytics - Zero tracking or telemetry
  • Offline Capable - Works without an internet connection after initial model download

The model downloads once (~600MB) and caches locally for fast, private recognition.

🌍 25 Languages Supported

Built for multilingual users across Europe:

  • Germanic: English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian
  • Romance: Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian
  • Slavic: Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Russian
  • Other: Hungarian, Finnish, Greek, Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian

🎛️ Hands-Free & Auto-Stop

Designed for natural speech:

  • Tap to Start, Tap to Stop - Toggle dictation with a tap
  • Pause to Stop - Pause speaking to automatically end dictation
  • Auto-Stop - Configurable automatic stop when you stop speaking
  • Filler Word Removal - Automatically removes “um”, “uh”, and other filler words

📊 Live Preview

See your transcription as you speak:

  • Real-Time Preview - Watch your words appear live
  • Animated Waveform - Visual feedback shows recording status
  • Menu Bar App - Runs quietly in your menu bar, always ready

Platforms

  • 🍎 macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) and up

Get Started

Installation

Download the latest release from GitHub:

  1. Download Dictate.Anywhere.dmg from the Releases page
  2. Open the DMG and drag Dictate Anywhere to your Applications folder
  3. Launch the app and grant the required permissions

Required Permissions

  • Microphone - For capturing your voice
  • Accessibility - For detecting the Fn key globally and inserting text

Building from Source

If you prefer to build yourself:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/hoomanaskari/mac-dictate-anywhere.git
cd mac-dictate-anywhere

# Open in Xcode
open "Dictate Anywhere.xcodeproj"

# Or build from command line
xcodebuild -project "Dictate Anywhere.xcodeproj" -scheme "Dictate Anywhere" -configuration Release build

Prerequisites:

  • macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) or later
  • Xcode 15.0 or later

How It Works

The workflow is beautifully simple:

  1. Activate - Press and hold Fn key (or your custom shortcut)
  2. Record - Speak naturally while the key is held
  3. Process - Release the key to process your speech
  4. Insert - Text is automatically inserted at your cursor position

Text insertion uses the clipboard combined with Cmd+V simulation. A clever approach that works across virtually any application.

🔗 GitHub: github.com/hoomanaskari/mac-dictate-anywhere

Why This Tool Rocks

  • Universal Dictation - Dictate into any app on your Mac, not just specific ones
  • 100% Private - On-device processing means your voice never leaves your machine
  • No Internet Required - Works completely offline after the model is cached
  • 25 Languages - Support for major European languages with more to come
  • Native macOS - Built with Swift, feels right at home on your Mac
  • Hands-Free Options - Tap to start/stop or auto-stop when you pause
  • Filler Removal - Automatically cleans up “um”, “uh”, and similar words
  • Free & Open Source - MIT licensed, no subscriptions, no data collection

Crepi il lupo! 🐺