I made a local transcription app for your Mac

What it does

Over winter break I decided to make Notos, an #AI-powered transcription application based on @OpenAI’s Whisper. Here’s a small demo where it manages to transcribe everything flawlessly! TestFlight: https://t.co/QBZ9v9zRIu

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  Whispering – Open-source, local-first dictation you can trust2025 · github.com · ▲591

  Hey HN! Braden here, creator of Whispering, an open-source speech-to-text app. I really like dictation. For years, I relied on transcription tools that were almost good, but they were all closed-source. Even a lot of them that claimed to be “local” or “on-device” were still black boxes that left me wondering where my audio really went. So I built Whispering. It’s open-source, local-first, and most importantly, transparent with your data. Your data is stored locally on your device, and your audio goes directly from your machine to a local provider (Whisper C++, Speaches, etc.) or your chosen…

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  MacWhisper2023 · goodsnooze.gumroad.com · ▲123

  High quality text transcription with OpenAI's whisper on Mac

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  TongueType for macOSMay 2026 · tonguetype.app · ▲109

  Hi HN, I'm a longtime web dev, but this is my first macOS app. Feedback is very welcome <3 I built TongueType because every dictation app I tried failed at least one of three things: it sent my audio to someone's cloud, it charged me monthly fee, or it felt clunky or enterprisy. The cloud thing kills it for anything sensitive. The subscription thing is insulting for what amounts to "Whisper + a hotkey." TongueType runs Whisper locally on Apple Silicon via CoreML. It's built to feel like a second keyboard: tap the hotkey, talk, let go, words appear. It sits in the menu bar (no dock icon, no…

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  Whisper Buddy2025 · whisperbuddy.com · ▲21

  I was laid off recently and, instead of looking for another job right away, I decided to build something I always wanted: a transcription tool that respects user privacy. Existing transcription tools often require internet connectivity, send your private audio to cloud servers, or lock you into monthly subscriptions. I wanted something different—so I built WhisperBuddy, a privacy-first AI transcription app that runs entirely on your machine. WhisperBuddy uses OpenAI’s Whisper model (see: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;openai&#x2F;whisper). While the model may not always deliver the…

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  DictatoFeb 2026 · dicta.to · ▲93

  I built a macOS dictation app where everything runs on-device. Transcription, auto-correct, translation. No audio or text leaves your machine. It ships with 4 transcription engines you can swap between: WhisperKit (99 languages), NVIDIA Parakeet TDT 0.6B (25 European languages, fastest of the bunch), Qwen3-ASR 0.6B (30 languages), and Apple Speech on macOS 26+. They all run through CoreML&#x2F;Metal. Whisper is the most versatile, Parakeet wins on raw latency for European languages, Qwen3 does better with CJK. I went with a protocol-based architecture so you pick the engine that fits your…

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  Whisper Notes2025 · whispernotes.app · ▲115

  Offline AI Speech to Text Transcription for iOS & macOS

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  SimCity, but with Permits▲930

  A free city-building game in your browser. You are the mayor. You know what the city needs. Now get it past the zoning board, the neighbors, the appeals court and the next election.

  Life & fun · 3d ago · permit.petercai.com

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  I've been paying for a rural Tanzanian's education for 10 years▲778

  Life & fun · 15d ago · tanzaniaeducationproject.org

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  Bigwords.page – Turn any screen into a sign. The URL is the app▲728

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  Life & fun · 16d ago · bigwords.page

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  Guitoro, a virtual guitar you strum with your keyboard▲573

  Play a free virtual guitar online with your keyboard or by touch. Slow songs down and see every chord, string and strum. Acoustic, classic, electric and bass.

  Life & fun · 10d ago · guitoro.com

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  See *almost* any carriers phone settings▲432

  Carrier settings from iPhone, Pixel and Galaxy firmware, decoded and compared: APNs, VoLTE, 5G and Wi-Fi Calling per carrier, and what each build changed.

  Life & fun · 14d ago · carrierexplode.com

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  The whole Solar System and every tracked satellite, live in the browser▲407

  Life & fun · 24d ago · space.bl2.net

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  New AI edits images based on text instructions▲1,098

  This works suprisingly well. Just give it instructions like "make it winter" or "remove the cars" and the photo is altered. Here are some examples of transformations it can make: Golden gate bridge: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;raw.githubusercontent.com&#x2F;brycedrennan&#x2F;imaginAIry&#x2F;ma... Girl with a pearl earring: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;raw.githubusercontent.com&#x2F;brycedrennan&#x2F;imaginAIry&#x2F;ma... I integrated this new InstructPix2Pix model into imaginAIry (python library) so it's easy to use for python developers.

  AI · 2023 · github.com

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  HyperSwitch▲715

  Fast, reliable, and affordable open source payments switch

  Dev tools · 2023 · hyperswitch.io

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  I've built a C# IDE, Runtime, and AppStore inside Excel▲670

  The project is called QueryStorm. It uses Roslyn to offer C# (and VB.NET) support in Excel, as an alternative to VBA. I've posted about it before, but a lot has changed since then so figured I'd share an update. The current version includes a host of new features, namely a C# debugger, support for NuGet packages, and the ability to publish Excel extensions to an "AppStore" (which is essentially a NuGet repository). The AppStore can be used by anyone with the (free) runtime component. Another great addition is the community license, which is a free license for individuals and small companies…

  Work · 2023 · querystorm.com

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  I'm a doctor and made a responsive breathing app for stress and anxiety▲666

  Hey HN! Some more info: I’m an NHS doctor and the founder of Pi-A (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.pi-a.io) which developed Lungy (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.lungy.app). Lungy is an app (iOS only for now) that responds to breathing in real-time and was designed to make breathing exercises more engaging and beneficial to do. It hopefully has many aspects of interest to the HN community – real-time fluid, cloth and soft body sims running on the phone’s GPU. My background is as a junior surgical trainee and I started building Lungy in 2020 during the first COVID lockdown in London. During COVID, there were…

  Life & fun · 2023 · lungy.app

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  Product Hunt Rewind 2022▲620

  Your 2022 on Product Hunt

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  LaunchPedia▲616

  200+ handpicked tools to skyrocket your product launch

  Growth · 2023 · launchpedia.co