Download

Try it before you buy it.

25 free dictations, the 35 ready-made prompts, and up to 10 saves from the Library; a license opens the full Library. No account, no card.

macOS 12 or newer · Apple silicon and Intel · notarized by Apple

Windows 10 or newer · 64 bit · installed by the Microsoft Store

Not on a Mac?

On a Mac?

Downloads, the disk image, one drag, then opened from Spotlight. The app is notarized by Apple, so macOS asks only its usual once-only question about an app from the internet, and the app opens on its welcome card.

The Store installs it and keeps it up to date. Microsoft signs the package, so there is no installer to run and no blue box.

01 · Installing it on a Mac01 · Installing it on Windows

Two minutes, and three steps.

Nothing to configure, and nothing installed that you did not ask for.

1
Open the file you downloaded
It is in Downloads. Double click it and the disk image opens in its own window.
2
Drag the app onto Applications
That is the whole install. Eject the disk image afterwards, and bin the file.
3
Open it, and say Open once
From Applications or Spotlight. It is notarized by Apple; macOS still asks once about any app from the internet, and the answer is Open.

1
Press Get it from Microsoft Store
Windows may ask to open the Store; choose Open. Then press Get on our page.
2
Wait for it to finish
The Store does the install, so there is no administrator password to type.
3
Press Open
It starts on its welcome card, and the Start menu has it from then on.

02 · Setting it up

Five cards, and you are dictating.

The app walks you through all of it: the two permissions it needs, one download, the key you will hold, and a first sentence to prove it works.

The app walks you through all of it: the microphone, one download, the key you will hold, and a first sentence to prove it works.

The app’s own five first-run cards, captured from the current build: the microphone, typing for you through System Settings, one speech model downloading while you choose your key, and a first sentence.

The app’s own five first-run cards on Windows, captured from the current build. Windows decides the microphone for every desktop app at once, and the card’s Open Windows settings button goes straight to that switch.

1
Welcome
What it does, in one sentence.
2
Hear you, type for you
Allow the microphone, then switch it on under Privacy & Security, Accessibility.
3
One speech model
About 150 MB, with your say-so. Then it works offline.
4
Your key
Fn, unless you pick another.
5
Say something
Read one sentence and watch it land, word by word.

1
Welcome
What it does, in one sentence.
2
The microphone
Windows decides it for every app. Open Windows settings goes straight to the switch.
3
One speech model
About 150 MB, with your say-so. Then it works offline.
4
Your key
F9 on Windows and Fn on a Mac, unless you pick another.
5
Say something
Read one sentence and watch it land, word by word.

03 · What your computer needs

Older machines are the point.

Every speed figure in our help pages was measured on a 2018 Intel MacBook Pro, the oldest Mac it runs on. Anything newer does the same work faster.

Your computer

Mac

SystemmacOS 12 Monterey or newer

ProcessorApple silicon, or an Intel Mac from 2018 or later

DownloadOne file for both kinds of Mac

Your computer

Windows

SystemWindows 10 or newer, 64 bit

ProcessorIntel Core i3 or better (2015 or later), or AMD Ryzen

DownloadFrom the Microsoft Store, no administrator password

Memory 8 GB at least. 16 GB is recommended, and is what the more careful Small model and on-device AI cleanup need.

Free disk 1 GB is enough for the app (about 70 MB) and the default speech model (about 150 MB). Allow 4 GB if you turn on AI cleanup, which downloads a 2.5 GB model.

At the minimum Dictation works. The text appears a few seconds after you stop talking, and a long dictation takes longer to come back. Live typing, which is off by default, feels best on a faster computer.

Internet Once, to download a speech model. After that, dictation works with the network switched off.

Windows needs a processor with a feature called AVX2. Nearly every computer sold since 2015 has it; many Celeron, Pentium and Atom chips do not, and the app says so when it opens. There is no Linux version. Inside the app, Settings then About lists these for the computer you are on.

Version 1.0.3 · 46.9 MBfrom the Microsoft Store

Check the file you downloaded is ours

Every release lists the SHA-256 of each file. Your computer can work out the same number, and if the two match, the file is exactly the one we published.shasum -a 256 ~/Downloads/Dictate-Safe-1.0.3.dmgExpected: c3f8e5662c136a04082b177384c9f53cccfa530c6a4b74db9fae5d1fb2521d00

04 · If something stops you

The three that actually happen.

macOS asks if you are sure you want to open itIt asks that once about any app from the internet, even one notarized by Apple, as this one is. Choose Open.Installing on a Mac It types nothing into other appsAlmost always the Accessibility switch, in System Settings, Privacy & Security.Permissions It does not hear youThe microphone was refused once. It is one switch, in the same place.Permissions

Updating itThe Microsoft Store keeps it up to date by itself. Store, Library, Get updates checks right now.Installing on Windows It does not hear youSettings, Privacy & security, Microphone: the desktop apps switch has to be on.Permissions Removing itSettings, Apps, Installed apps, then Dictate Safe and Uninstall. Make a backup first if you want to keep your history.Installing on Windows

Twenty five dictations, then decide.

No card until you have used it: 25 free dictations, the 35 ready-made prompts, and up to 10 saves from the Library; a license opens the full Library. One payment, on two computers, with no renewal to remember.

See the price What it does

One time · 2 devices · 30 day refund