Show HN: Privacy-First Voice-to-Text for macOS • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: Privacy-First Voice-to-Text for macOS

#11

Post by Leftium » Sat, Sep 27, 2025, 9:07 PM UTC

malshe wrote: post #7

malshe wrote: post #6

I am definitely gonna try this out. I use dictation daily so this looks really useful.

Just now tried it. It's really good! I will keep using it more today to see if it performs well consistently. I had a small issue while onboarding. The app asked for microphone access, which I granted. It showed the task was completed. But the blue Next button stayed grayed out. I forced quit the app and then it all worked out fine from that point onward. I am using M4 Pro Mac Mini running MacOS 15.6.1

This also happened to me.

And the overall onboarding/setup was clunky compared to other apps

- SuperWhisper (probably has the best onboarding)

- Handy

- Whispering

---

I think it could be improved by at least removing optional steps like downloading the LLM for transformations.

Re: Show HN: Privacy-First Voice-to-Text for macOS

#12

Post by irqlevel » Sat, Sep 27, 2025, 9:19 PM UTC

Leftium wrote: post #10

The demo video[1] shows the transcription starts before recording is stopped, but I couldn't recreate this with the actual app. The transcription would not show after a minute of recording, but it was all there once I hit stop. Was this changed since the video was made? Or is there a setting? [1]: https://youtu.be/6n0jY7k-iz4

Sorry about that — this feature is no longer available due to its cloud-based nature, but I plan to bring it back. The video was recorded before open-sourcing, so I’ll remove it to avoid confusion.

Update: Replaced the site video with a demo showing the actual app behavior.

Re: Show HN: Privacy-First Voice-to-Text for macOS

#13

Post by irqlevel » Sat, Sep 27, 2025, 9:51 PM UTC

Leftium wrote: post #11

malshe wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just now tried it. It's really good! I will keep using it more today to see if it performs well consistently. I had a small issue while onboarding. The app asked for microphone access, which I granted. It showed the task was completed. But the blue Next button stayed grayed out. I forced quit the app and then it all worked out fine from that point onward. I am using M4 Pro Mac Mini running MacOS 15.6.1

This also happened to me. And the overall onboarding/setup was clunky compared to other apps - SuperWhisper (probably has the best onboarding) - Handy - Whispering --- I think it could be improved by at least removing optional steps like downloading the LLM for transformations.

Thank you for the feedback. I will improve the onboarding and setup in the next app release.

Re: Show HN: Privacy-First Voice-to-Text for macOS

#14

Post by irqlevel » Sat, Sep 27, 2025, 10:28 PM UTC

malshe wrote: post #7

malshe wrote: post #6

I am definitely gonna try this out. I use dictation daily so this looks really useful.

Just now tried it. It's really good! I will keep using it more today to see if it performs well consistently. I had a small issue while onboarding. The app asked for microphone access, which I granted. It showed the task was completed. But the blue Next button stayed grayed out. I forced quit the app and then it all worked out fine from that point onward. I am using M4 Pro Mac Mini running MacOS 15.6.1

This issue has been reproduced and fixed in version 1.0.44, now available on the website. Note that when you update the app, the models will be recompiled, so the app may briefly hang during recording. Each new app version → new hash → AI (MLX) code recompilation.

Re: Show HN: Privacy-First Voice-to-Text for macOS

#15

Post by malshe » Sun, Sep 28, 2025, 3:41 AM UTC

irqlevel wrote: post #8

malshe wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just now tried it. It's really good! I will keep using it more today to see if it performs well consistently. I had a small issue while onboarding. The app asked for microphone access, which I granted. It showed the task was completed. But the blue Next button stayed grayed out. I forced quit the app and then it all worked out fine from that point onward. I am using M4 Pro Mac Mini running MacOS 15.6.1

Thank you for the feedback. I’ll work on reproducing the issue and will do my best to fix it.

I used it quite a bit today and happy to say that it worked flawlessly. Thanks for making this app!