Just talk. It types.
Hold fn and speak in any app. OpenVoice turns your rambling into clean, polished text. It's free, private, and everything runs on your Mac.
macOS 26 or later · Apple Silicon · v1.0.0
How it works
Three steps. Zero typing.
Scroll to see what happens between your voice and the page.
- 1
Hold fn
Put your cursor in any text field, in any app, and hold the fn key. Prefer not to hold it? Double-tap fn and OpenVoice keeps listening hands-free.
- 2
Speak naturally
Talk the way you think. Say “um”, change your mind halfway through, ramble a bit. OpenVoice transcribes as you speak, right on your Mac.
- 3
Let go. It's written.
Fillers vanish, corrections are applied, punctuation is fixed, and the clean text is pasted where your cursor is. Usually in well under a second.
See it in action
Works in every app you type in.
Mail, chat, docs, notes, your code editor. If it has a cursor, OpenVoice can write into it.
Push-to-talk · Natural
Emails without typing
Hold fn, ramble, change your mind. It sends what you meant.
Channels
# general
# launch
# design
Push-to-talk · Casual
Replies in a second
Quick chat messages keep their casual tone. Fillers gone.
Launch plan
Hands-free · Natural
Think out loud, hands-free
Double-tap fn and walk around. Press fn again when you're done.
Illustrative demos. Output varies with what you say and your chosen style.
Your hub
Everything you've said, beautifully kept.
Track your words per minute, search past dictations, teach it your vocabulary, and pick a writing style.
Good afternoon
Hold fn and speak in any app. Double-tap fn for hands-free.
4,812
words this week
152
avg words / min
9
day streak
318
dictations
Recent
Hi Sarah, can we move the meeting to Friday at 3?
2 min ago · Mail · 11 words
yeah it's ready, I just pushed it five minutes ago
14 min ago · Team Chat · 9 words
Features
Everything you need. Nothing you pay for.
Private by design
Speech recognition and AI cleanup run on your Mac. Your voice is never uploaded anywhere.
No limits, no account
No weekly word caps, no sign-up, no subscription. Download it and start talking.
Smart cleanup
Removes “um” and “uh”, applies your self-corrections, and fixes punctuation, without inventing words you didn't say.
Four writing styles
Verbatim, Natural, Formal, or Casual. Choose how polished you want to sound.
Personal dictionary
Teach it names, jargon, and product terms. It hears them right and writes them right.
25+ languages
English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, Hindi, Portuguese, Korean, and more.
Fast
Text streams in while you speak, so most dictations land a fraction of a second after you let go.
Open source (MIT)
Read every line, build it yourself, or make it yours. No telemetry, no catch.
Privacy
Your voice never leaves your Mac.
Most dictation apps stream your audio to the cloud. OpenVoice uses Apple's on-device speech model and Apple Intelligence, so transcription and cleanup happen locally. It even works in airplane mode.
- ✓No servers, no uploads
- ✓No account or email
- ✓History stored only on your Mac, delete anytime
Processed on this Mac
Compare
How OpenVoice stacks up.
An honest look. Wispr Flow is a great product with more platforms and team features. OpenVoice is for people who want it free, private, and unlimited on their Mac.
| OpenVoice | Wispr Flow | Apple Dictation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free forever | Free plan · Pro $12/user/mo (billed annually) | Free, built in |
| Word limits | None | 2,000 words/week on free desktop plan | None |
| Where your voice is processed | On your Mac | Cloud servers | Mostly on-device |
| Account required | — | ✓ | — |
| AI cleanup (fillers, self-corrections) | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Writing styles | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Personal dictionary | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Works offline | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Open source | Yes, MIT | — | — |
| Platforms | Mac | Mac, Windows, iOS, Android | Apple devices |
| Meeting notes | — | ✓ | — |
| Team & admin features | — | ✓ | — |
Wispr Flow details from wisprflow.ai/pricing as of October 2026. OpenVoice AI cleanup requires Apple Intelligence. OpenVoice is an independent project and is not affiliated with Wispr Flow or Apple.
FAQ
Questions, answered.
Is it really free?+
Yes. There's no subscription, no trial, and no word limit. OpenVoice is MIT-licensed open source software, and because everything runs on your Mac there are no server costs to pass on.
What do I need to run it?+
A Mac with Apple Silicon running macOS 26 or later. AI cleanup uses Apple Intelligence; if it's turned off, OpenVoice still transcribes. You just get lighter, rule-based cleanup.
Does it send my audio anywhere?+
No. Transcription uses Apple's on-device speech model and cleanup uses the on-device Apple Intelligence model. The only download is the one-time speech model from Apple during setup.
How do I dictate?+
Click into any text field and hold fn while you talk, then let go. For longer thoughts, double-tap fn to go hands-free and press fn again to finish. Press Esc to cancel.
The fn key opens the emoji picker.+
In System Settings › Keyboard, set “Press 🌐 key to” to “Do Nothing”. Or choose Right Option or Right Command as your dictation key in OpenVoice settings.
Why does macOS warn me when I first open it?+
Version 1.0 isn't notarized by Apple yet. Right-click OpenVoice in Applications and choose Open the first time. You only need to do this once.
Stop typing. Start talking.
Free, private, and set up in under a minute.
macOS 26 or later · Apple Silicon · v1.0.0 · 1.6 MB