That thing you said?
Find it again. Search past transcripts and pin the ones worth keeping.
Native dictation for macOS
A little less typing.
A lot more you.
Your thoughts move faster than your fingers.
Speak naturally. SapoWhisper turns your voice into text, right where you’re writing.
Free & open source · Apple Silicon · macOS 14+
Your voice01 / INPUT
“Let’s give that idea a little room to grow.”
A NOTE TO MYSELF
Let’s give that idea
a little room to grow.
Just spoken. Already written.
Listening00:04⌥SpaceOne shortcut. Wherever you write.
Made for your Mac. Built around your voice.01 — A small everyday superpower
From “here’s a thought”
to there it is.
An email, a fleeting idea, your next big project. Press your shortcut, say it out loud, and carry on.
YOU SAY
okay so the idea is a tiny reading corner by the window with a plant and a really good lamp
YOUR WORDS, READY TO GO
The idea: a tiny reading corner by the window, with a plant and a really good lamp.
Ready when you are
01 Speak naturally02 A little polish03 Text lands at your cursor
02 — The freedom to choose
One workflow.
Your kind of power.
Start on your Mac. Connect your own server. Or reach for the cloud. Four engine families, all at home in your menu bar.
Local by choice
MLX Whisper
On your MacLocal, offline transcription on Apple Silicon. Keep the whole workflow on your Mac with AI polish turned off.
Local AI Server
Self-hostedSend batch transcription to your own OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Your server, your choice of model.
Deepgram
CloudNova-3 for batch transcription. Deepgram Flux Live for realtime streaming. Bring your own API key.
ElevenLabs
CloudElevenLabs Scribe v2 for batch. ElevenLabs Scribe Realtime v2 for streaming. Bring your own API key.
Cloud engines and your configured server receive audio. Cloud API usage may be billed separately.
THE WAY YOU SAY IT
“Um, let’s meet at the
uh little café on the corner,
Thursday at ten, I think.”
THE WAY YOU MEAN IT
Let’s meet at the little café on the corner, Thursday at ten, I think.
Still your words. Easier to read.03 — Make it your own
Think out loud.
Write with clarity.
Leave your transcript as it is, or add a little help. Optional AI polish tidies up the words, translates them, or formats them for what you’re doing next.
Your words, your context
Save names, technical terms, and prompts for the way you work.
Say “hola.” Write “hello.”
Choose an output language and translate as part of the same flow.
Your provider. Your model.
Connect OpenRouter, OpenAI, Groq, or a custom endpoint. API keys stay in the macOS Keychain.
When enabled, AI polish sends transcript text to your chosen provider. Keep it off for an unpolished transcript.
04 — A second life for every thought
Good ideas deserve
somewhere to stay.
Your words don’t disappear after the paste. Keep a searchable history on your Mac, along with the audio that brought them to life.
Search your transcripts⌘ K
A small idea for the weekend
Take the long way home. Stop at the little bookshop.
A message for the team
The new layout is ready for a second pair of eyes.
Notes from a walk
What if we made a place to save the things we notice?
Illustrative entries. Your history stays on your Mac.
Hear it. Try it again.
Replay saved audio, transcribe with another engine, or revisit the text with AI polish.
Pick up where you left off.
Recover interrupted recordings after a crash or restart. Choose your storage limit and let old entries clear automatically.
Consider the details
Make yourself at home.
The little preferences that make a tool feel like yours.
Your shortcut
Set a key combination or double-tap a modifier. Make the habit your own.
Keys that fit your handsYour vocabulary
Add names, specialist terms and personal context, with prompts for each project.
The words in your worldYour audio setup
Test your mic, hear sound feedback and lower system audio automatically while you talk.
Small details, handledYour preferences
An English or Spanish interface. Export and import your settings in a portable JSON file.
Set up once. Take it along.A little app. A little more room to think.
Your next thought.
Just say it.
Free to use. Open for you to explore.
Make a little space between you and your keyboard.
v2.18.2· macOS 14.0+ · Apple Silicon (M1+)
No SapoWhisper subscription. Cloud providers may charge for API usage.
Questions about voice typing on Mac
Is SapoWhisper a free dictation app for Mac?
Yes. SapoWhisper is free and open source under the MIT license. Local MLX Whisper transcription needs no API subscription. If you choose cloud transcription or AI polish, your provider’s own usage charges may apply.
Can I use voice typing entirely offline?
Yes. Download an MLX Whisper model, select it as your transcription engine, and leave AI polish off. Once the model is downloaded, speech-to-text runs on your Apple Silicon Mac without an internet connection or an external server.
How do I start dictating on my Mac?
Download SapoWhisper, move it into Applications, and grant Microphone permission. Accessibility enables automatic paste; double-modifier shortcuts also need Input Monitoring. Choose a transcription engine, add your API key if required, and press Option + Space to start. Press the shortcut again to finish and paste the text.
Which Macs can run SapoWhisper?
SapoWhisper requires an Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or newer) running macOS 14 Sonoma or later. Intel Macs, Windows, iPhone, and iPad are not supported. Existing users can install signed updates from inside the Mac app.
Does my voice recording leave my Mac?
With MLX Whisper, transcription stays on your Mac. Cloud engines receive your audio, and Local AI Server sends it to the endpoint you configure. Optional AI polish sends transcript text to your selected provider. API keys are stored in the macOS Keychain, and transcript history stays locally under your retention settings.
Can I dictate in Spanish and get English text?
Yes. Enable optional AI polish and choose English as the output language. SapoWhisper can translate your Spanish transcript as part of the same workflow. The app itself includes English and Spanish interfaces; transcription language support depends on the engine and model you select.
What makes SapoWhisper useful for everyday voice typing?
Choose local, self-hosted, or cloud transcription in one menu-bar app. Use a global shortcut, add your own vocabulary, optionally polish the result, and paste it into the app you were writing in. Search your local history, replay saved audio, or re-transcribe a recording with another engine later.