YAPPYAPP FOR MACOS
Offline
dictation
for Mac.
Offline dictation for your Mac. Press option+space, talk, and the text lands where your cursor is. If it can't paste, it tells you. Speech is transcribed on your Mac, so your voice never leaves it.
FREE. OPEN SOURCE. MACOS 14+. NO ACCOUNT, EVER.
0
Bytes of audio sent anywhere
3×
Faster than a phone keyboard
Stanford
15
Pixel pets to unlock
99
Languages, all offline
Built like a tool.
Lives under option+space
Talk. It types.
Press option+space, say the thing, and the text lands exactly where your cursor is. If it can't paste, it tells you.
Runs on your Mac. Only.
Whisper and Parakeet run on your Mac. The app goes online only for model downloads and the daily update check, and an automated check fails any build that adds another network call.
Your words, your spelling
Teach it your product names, clients, and acronyms once. The glossary corrects every transcript, in every language you work in.
Super fast mode
Keeps the mic warm with a ring buffer so your first word is never clipped. Off by default, because the orange dot stays on, and we tell you that upfront.
LLM cleanup, locally
An optional small language model removes your ums and adds punctuation in about a second. It runs on your machine and falls back to your exact words if it misbehaves.
Pixel pets with opinions
Fifteen pets level up as you dictate, with streaks, daily quests and hats. The dragon unlocks at ten thousand words.
How it works
01
Press option+space
From any app. A tiny HUD confirms the mic is live.
02
Say the thing
Emails, notes, prompts, replies. Any of your languages.
03
It lands, or it tells you
Text appears at your cursor. If the paste fails, the app says so.
What leaves your Mac
Stays on your Mac
- Your voice recordings
- Your transcripts
- Your word list and snippets
- Your stats and your pets
Goes over the network
- A voice model, once, when you pick it (from Hugging Face)
- A daily update check that sends the app's version number (from GitHub)
Check it yourself: once a model is downloaded, turn Wi-Fi off and dictate. It still works.
Guides: how to use YappYapp
Step by step, from your first dictation to the settings that make it yours.
Offline dictation on a Mac: every free option
Offline dictation on a Mac: what it means, how to check that nothing leaves your Mac, and every free option today with its price, account, source and catch.
Bilingual dictation on a Mac: French or Spanish and English
Bilingual dictation on a Mac for French and Spanish speakers who work in English: language detection, which models cover what, and local translation.
Dictation for confidential work on a Mac
Dictation for confidential work on a Mac: what stays on the Mac, every network call YappYapp makes, and how to check it yourself with Wi-Fi off and a firewall.
Fresh from the blog
Stories, news and ideas about dictation and local AI.
Offline dictation on Mac: what stays on your machine, and how to check
Offline dictation on Mac with YappYapp: your voice is turned into text on your machine. Here is every network call the app makes and how to check it yourself.
Pixel pets that turn dictation into a daily habit
YappYapp, a free dictation app for Mac, has 15 pixel pets that grow as you talk. Here is how they level up, what unlocks each one, and why they are there.
Questions people actually ask
Q01Is it really free?+
Yes. It is open source under the MIT License, with no account, no trial and no paid tier.
Q02Will macOS warn me when I open it?+
Once. YappYapp is signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple, so macOS only asks whether to open an app downloaded from the internet: click Open. The setup guide covers the microphone and accessibility prompts that follow.
Q03What does it send over the network?+
Model downloads (once, checksum-verified) and a daily signed update check that transmits version numbers only. Both have visible off switches. Dictation audio and transcripts: never. The privacy page spells out what this website measures too.
Q04What Macs does it run on?+
macOS 14 or newer, on a Mac with Apple Silicon (M1 or later). Intel Macs are not supported.
Q05How accurate is it?+
Whisper large runs locally if your machine has the memory, and Parakeet v3 covers fast multilingual work. Plus your personal glossary fixes the words generic models always get wrong: names, brands, acronyms.
Q06Why is there a cat?+
Because habit beats accuracy. The pets exist to make you press the hotkey tomorrow. Read the post about the cat, it has earned it.
Dictate on your Mac, offline.
FREE. MACOS 14+. APPLE SILICON.