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Hands-free

For hands with better things to do.

Talk, and it is written down, word for word. Hold one key, or a pedal under the table when your hands are in the dough, and what you say lands in whatever is open. It runs on your own computer, and on the default setup nothing you say goes anywhere.

DownloadSee pricing

25 free dictations · one-time purchase · macOS and Windows

Backlit in her kitchen, a grandmother of 91 holds up a handful of semolina to show the laptop how much, flour to her elbows
Dictated with both hands in the semolina.
Three Sundays, one book

Seventy years of cooking. Not one recipe written down.

Nonna is 91. She came from Calabria by ship in 1956 and has cooked the same dishes every Sunday since, from memory and by the handful. She has never typed a word. Her grandson moves to London in three Sundays, and he wants her recipes before he goes.

Why not just record her?

He tried. Forty minutes about the sauce, three of them about the sauce. Now try finding how much salt, half an hour in, with your hands in the dough. He wanted a book, in her words, so the app wrote down what she said as she said it. And it kept her voice as well: every line she said is in History with its recording.

  1. He opened a blank document on his laptop and called it Nonna’s book.
  2. He put a foot pedal under the table and set it up as her dictation key.
  3. She held it down with her foot and talked. When she let go, the app typed what she said into the book, exactly as she said it.
Sunday 1The pasta · 3 Sundays left

Not for the book. In the book.

From the doorway: at the kitchen table she points at her grandson's cavatelli while he laughs, the laptop open beside her and an old dog under the table
Iftheylooklikethat,theyareforthedog.Startagain.

The pasta comes first, and her rules with it. Her grandson’s cavatelli come out fat and lopsided, and she tells him so without looking up, her foot still on the pedal, so that goes into the book too. He could delete it. He hasn’t.

Hands-free
A foot pedal as her dictation key. Hold it down and talk; let go, and the words land.
Her words
Filler sounds like um go. Nothing she says is reworded.
Wherever the cursor is
Here, a blank document he called Nonna’s book.
No pedal?
Double-tap Fn, talk as long as you like, and press it once to stop.
Under the table: her slipper on a small black foot pedal, the old dog watching, and an old treadle sewing machine down the hall
Under the table31 years on a sewing machine. This pedal is easier.
Sunday 2The sauce · 2 Sundays left

Four hours, and a ship

In the garage, low among crates of tomatoes: she stirs a huge pot of sauce and looks up, remembering, while her grandson listens on an upturned crate beside the laptop
Hesaidmysaucewastoosweet.Imarriedhimtoproveitwasn't.

The sauce takes four hours in the garage, and so does the story: 31 days on a ship from Messina, and a boy from the next village who tasted her sauce on the second day and said it was too sweet. He said so every Sunday for the rest of his life. The night before, her grandson had put the village, the port and his grandfather’s name on the app’s vocabulary list, so they come out spelled right.

Names, spelled right
Put a word on the vocabulary list once, and the app is taught to spell it your way.
As long as she likes
A dictation never stops on its own, unless you set a limit in Settings.
Her voice, kept
Every dictation keeps its recording in History, next to the text, on the computer.
English
The app understands English only. She has spoken it for seventy years.
A black-and-white photograph from 1956 tucked in the dresser mirror: a young couple on a ship's deck, laughing at each other
Tucked in the dresser mirrorMessina to Melbourne, 1956. He tasted the sauce on day 2.
Sunday 3The secret · his last Sunday

Not on the internet

At night under one lamp, she leans to the laptop with her hand cupped by her mouth, looking straight at you, while her grandson sits turned away with his fingers in his ears
Thesecretisaspoonof.Don'ttellyourauntRosa.

She always said she would tell him the secret when he got married. He is 31, not married, and flying on Thursday. “Is it on the internet?” “No, Nonna.” “Show me.” He opened the app’s menu and showed her Offline Lock, ticked: no connection, not one. Then she made him turn round and put his fingers in his ears, cupped her hand, and told the book.

Offline Lock
One switch, and the app makes no connection at all: no downloads, no update checks, no sign-in.
Always in view
In Settings, in the menu bar, and on the privacy card on every screen.
No account
Nothing to sign up for to dictate, no telemetry, and we never see what anyone says.
Yours to delete
Delete a dictation, and its text and recording are erased from the computer.
The night before his flight

Printed, bound, and one page unread.

The book is a file on his laptop, but a laptop has no business next to a pot of sauce. So on the Wednesday he had it printed and spiral bound at the shop on the corner: one copy for her kitchen, one for his suitcase, and one for Aunt Rosa, without the last page. He promised Nonna he would not read that page before London.

Cavatelli

A handful of semolina. My hand, not yours.

Warm water, a little at a time, until it stops being sticky. You will know.

Knead it for 10 minutes. If you are tired, 10 more.

Rosa uses a machine for this. We don't talk about Rosa.

If they look like that, they are for the dog. Start again.

3

The sauce

4 kilos of tomatoes from the garden, never from the shop.

In 1956 I came from Messina on the ship with a suitcase and my mother's pot. 31 days on the sea.

On the second day a boy from Tropea called Salvatore tasted my sauce.

He said my sauce was too sweet. I married him to prove it wasn't.

9
Not before London

The secret

This page is for my grandson. Not for the family.

The secret is a spoon of . Don't tell your aunt Rosa.

24

Her words exactly as she said them, with the ums gone. The last page is blacked out here, at her request.

Hands-free, exactly

A foot, a key, or a click.

Hold

Hold Fn and talk. Let go, and the words land wherever your cursor is.

Double-tap

Double-tap Fn and talk for as long as you like, then press it once to stop. It never stops on its own, unless you set a limit in Settings.

A pedal

A USB foot pedal is one more key. Most cannot press Fn, so pick a key yours can press, such as Right ⌥, as your dictation key in Settings. The app sees the key, not the pedal.

Fn is one of the keys you can choose in Settings; on Windows you pick yours there. What it does not do: something has to start it, a finger, a foot or a click on the floating microphone. There is no wake word, and the microphone is only on while you are dictating.

Questions people ask first
Can I use a foot pedal?
Yes, if the pedal can be set to press a key, as most USB foot pedals can, usually with a small app of their own. Most pedals cannot press Fn, so set yours to a key it can press, such as Right ⌥, and choose the same key as your dictation key in Settings. Then hold the pedal down to talk, and let go when you are done. On Windows, set it to the key you chose in Settings.
Can I start it without touching anything?
No. Something has to start it: a finger on the key, a foot on a pedal, or a click on the floating microphone. There is no wake word, and the microphone is only on while you are dictating.
How long can I talk for?
As long as you like. A dictation never stops on its own unless you set a limit in Settings, under Stop automatically after.
Does it keep the recording?
Yes, unless you tell it not to. Every dictation keeps its recording in History, on your computer, where you can play it back. You can have recordings dropped after a while, and the text stays.
Will it spell names and words from another language?
Put them on the vocabulary list once, and the app is taught to spell them your way. It understands English only, so a whole sentence in another language will not come out right.
Does it change what I say?
It never rewords you. Filler sounds like um are taken out, and spoken punctuation becomes punctuation. The optional AI cleanup, off by default, only sorts out your own spoken corrections and spells your vocabulary words, and it never rewrites a sentence.
Is anything sent anywhere?
Not on the default setup: your speech is turned into text on your computer. With Offline Lock on, the app makes no connection at all.
What does it cost?
One payment for a lifetime license that covers 2 computers, with updates and fixes to the features sold included, while we offer the app. Try 25 dictations first, with no card and no account.
So what is the secret ingredient?
We promised.
Five weeks later in a small London kitchen, rain on the window, her grandson tastes the sauce with the printed book propped open by the stove
London5 weeks later · the last page, at last

He read the last page with the sauce on the stove, and laughed until he had to sit down. Nonno had been right all along.

Try the part that matters first.

Twenty five dictations, no card and no account. It is the same app you would buy, running the same way it will on day thirty.

DownloadSee pricing

One time · 2 devices · 30 day refund

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