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Show HN: Yap – OSS on-device voice dictation for macOS with no model to download

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Re: Show HN: Yap – OSS on-device voice dictation for macOS with no model to download

#11

Post by HaloZero »

pancomplex wrote: post #7
heresalexandria wrote: post #3

I don't think get it unless I'm missing something - how is this different from just using the built in Mac OS dictation feature? At first I thought it was going to be a CLI/package to interface with that API which sounded interesting, but I already use a hotkey to dictate text on my Mac via the OS.

I don't think you're missing something - Apple's built in dictation is pretty good. The biggest issue is that it still executes parts of it online via Apple's servers and even has a disclosure that it "sends information like your voice input, contacts, and location to Apple." This project uses the on-device SpeechAnalyzer API directly and makes zero network calls, and since it's open source you can verify that nothin…

Does the new SpeechAnalyzer API not call Apple Servers? I remember when I was building on the last version, it you wanted real time transcription you needed at least to upload it to Apple Servers for processing.

Re: Show HN: Yap – OSS on-device voice dictation for macOS with no model to download

#12

Post by hbn »

I thought I was familiar with this project but I think it’s unrelated to this one I remembered from last year? Same name and also more or less an app layer for the new speech to text APIs introduced in OS 26.

https://github.com/finnvoor/yap

Re: Show HN: Yap – OSS on-device voice dictation for macOS with no model to download

#13

Post by pancomplex »

HaloZero wrote: post #11
pancomplex wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think you're missing something - Apple's built in dictation is pretty good. The biggest issue is that it still executes parts of it online via Apple's servers and even has a disclosure that it "sends information like your voice input, contacts, and location to Apple." This project uses the on-device SpeechAnalyzer API directly and makes zero network calls, and since it's open source you can verify that nothin…

Does the new SpeechAnalyzer API not call Apple Servers? I remember when I was building on the last version, it you wanted real time transcription you needed at least to upload it to Apple Servers for processing.

I think it once did! Now it doesn't - ways to easily verify this:

1) install the dmg in the GH repo

2) turn off wifi

3) use it offline

Re: Show HN: Yap – OSS on-device voice dictation for macOS with no model to download

#14

Post by pancomplex »

hbn wrote: post #12

I thought I was familiar with this project but I think it’s unrelated to this one I remembered from last year? Same name and also more or less an app layer for the new speech to text APIs introduced in OS 26. https://github.com/finnvoor/yap

It's a great name. Glad someone else thought of something similar!

Re: Show HN: Yap – OSS on-device voice dictation for macOS with no model to download

#15

Post by 9dev »

Amazing! This is something I wanted to look into too.

The Apple Foundation models SDKs are surprisingly cool. I recently started working on a personal productivity app that tries to keep track of all the projects I work on, and the ideas and initiatives within these. It does so by creating a graph of events, fed by Claude transcripts and the git and browser history, then letting FM summarize and describe all events; that in turn feeds a semantic search index in an SQLite database.

What I have now is an app that shows me where all my projects stand, what I last worked on, where I left forks behind (like deciding for one idea and doing something else "later"), and how to get back into something I wasn’t working on for a while. It also has a built-in MCP server, so I can ask Claude code about any past event or decision or roughly-similar keyword, and it’ll get sensible answers back!

Called the thing Pensieve :-)

However, one thing still missing is actually being able to ask it directly, or talk to it, so Yap looks like a great opportunity to learn!

Re: Show HN: Yap – OSS on-device voice dictation for macOS with no model to download

#17

Post by earthpyy »

pancomplex wrote: post #7
heresalexandria wrote: post #3

I don't think get it unless I'm missing something - how is this different from just using the built in Mac OS dictation feature? At first I thought it was going to be a CLI/package to interface with that API which sounded interesting, but I already use a hotkey to dictate text on my Mac via the OS.

I don't think you're missing something - Apple's built in dictation is pretty good. The biggest issue is that it still executes parts of it online via Apple's servers and even has a disclosure that it "sends information like your voice input, contacts, and location to Apple." This project uses the on-device SpeechAnalyzer API directly and makes zero network calls, and since it's open source you can verify that nothin…

I was having the same question, now it makes sense.

Re: Show HN: Yap – OSS on-device voice dictation for macOS with no model to download

#18

Post by pancomplex »

echoscarrie wrote: post #16

On-device speech recognition on macOS is such a game changer for privacy and speed. Excited to test this out!

Totally! I honestly think so many frontier AI models will be running locally in the future. This is just the start.

Re: Show HN: Yap – OSS on-device voice dictation for macOS with no model to download

#20

Post by prabhanjana_c »

Great, just experimenting to see which is better voice apps to use for my Claude Code cli, on my Mac. for now settled with /voice command. will try Yap. It will be good to have an option to add custom voice commands, let say I want to open an app, or go to folder, that can be plugged, apart from transcription. Not sure if that is deviation, for Yap, love to have that kind of feature.
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