I wanted voice typing that works offline and doesn't cost $15/month. After trying the usual suspects—Siri (needs internet), Wispr Flow (subscription), SuperWhisper (also subscription)—I built what I actually wanted: system-wide dictation that runs on your Mac, works anywhere, and costs $4.99 once.
Hold Fn, Start Talking
Version 1.2.3 adds the feature people kept asking for: press and hold Fn in any app—Gmail, Slack, VS Code, Terminal, whatever—and just talk. Release the key, and your words appear as text.
Under the hood it's running Whisper Large-v3 Turbo, which is currently the most accurate on-device speech model. Everything processes locally—no internet, no servers, nothing leaves your machine.
Setup Takes 30 Seconds
- 1. Open Whisper Notes
- 2. Settings → Keyboard Shortcuts
- 3. Enable Global Dictation
- 4. Grant Accessibility permission when prompted
That's it. Now Fn works as voice input everywhere on your Mac.
The UI Got Better
We rebuilt the interface. It's cleaner now—better visual hierarchy, smoother interactions, less clutter. The kind of polish you notice after using it for a while.
Streaming Transcription
Results stream in as they're ready instead of making you wait for the entire file to finish. Text appears paragraph by paragraph—you can start reading and editing immediately.
Custom Vocabulary
Whisper's good, but it mangles technical terms, company names, and abbreviations. Add your own vocabulary and the model uses it during transcription. Works for obscure jargon, preserves formatting (like "Claude Opus 4.5" instead of "claude opus four point five"), and fixes those annoying name errors.
Voice Activity Detection
Long silences used to make Whisper hallucinate—it'd repeat phrases or invent text to fill the gap. Voice Activity Detection (VAD) catches those silent sections and handles them properly. We've cut hallucination issues by about 70% in recordings with pauses. Transcripts are cleaner and more accurate now.
Performance Improvements
Faster launch times, quicker model loading, lower memory usage. The app feels snappier overall.
How It Compares to Wispr Flow
| Whisper Notes | Wispr Flow | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 once | $10-15/month |
| Offline | 100% local | Requires internet |
| Privacy | Audio never leaves device | Audio sent to cloud |
| Latency | Instant (local processing) | Network delay |
| Accuracy | Whisper Large-v3 Turbo | Cloud API (marginally better) |
Wispr Flow's cloud-based approach means slightly better accuracy in some cases. But it also means your audio goes to their servers, you need internet, and you're paying every month.
If you care about privacy—or just don't want another subscription—the choice is pretty clear.
Try It Out
$4.99 gets you both iOS and Mac. If you already have the iPhone app, the Mac version is included—Apple's Universal Purchase means buy once, use everywhere.
Have ideas or feedback? Email [email protected]. I actually read and respond to every message.
Download for iOS / macOS