Scribe - voice dictation on macOS

In plain words

Scribe is a voice dictation tool for macOS that converts speech to text entirely on the user's device using Whisper transcription and Apple Silicon processing. It works offline with no cloud connectivity or telemetry, integrating natively across any text field on the Mac. The tool is designed for developers and includes dynamic app context awareness, custom vocabulary support, and fully rebindable keyboard shortcuts. It is free and open source.

written from the facts on this page · October 2026

From the sources

Scribe turns speech into text anywhere you can type, entirely on your Mac. Its local Aether Engine pairs Whisper's transcription accuracy with Apple Silicon's Neural Engine speed. Zero latency, 100% offline, and completely private. Why it stands out: • Native macOS integration across any text field • Dynamic app context & custom vocabulary biasing • Zero cloud calls and telemetry • Free and open source

Scribe is a fast, 100% private, open-source voice dictation, lecture recording, and speech-to-text app for macOS. Powered by the on-device Aether Engine on Apple Silicon with zero audio leaving your Mac.

From sub-second voice dictation to smart AI polishing, lecture capture, and direct note sync. Transforms spoken thoughts with specialized prompt modes. Smart Polish cleans stutters without changing your words, while Executive and Summary modes extract structured meeting briefs. On-device neural inference directly on Apple Silicon. Instantaneous recognition with zero fan spin or battery drain. Designed for 2-hour university lectures and multi-hour team standups. Runs quietly from the menu bar with zero screen overlay, so your display stays 100% clean for slides, Zoom, and code. Press once to speak, press again to paste directly into whatever application has focus without clipboard pollution.…from scribe.dosimple.app

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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/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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  SpokeMar 2026 · usespoke.app · ▲102

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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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