Your Voice,
Your Mac,
Your Privacy.
100% offline voice-to-text for macOS. Hold a hotkey, speak, and text appears at your cursor. Open source, private by design, and completely free.
VocaMac does it all locally!
Three Steps. That's It.
No account creation. No cloud configuration. A guided setup wizard gets you started in minutes.
Hold Right Option
Press and hold your hotkey. The menu bar icon turns red. You're recording.
Speak
Say whatever you want. Your audio is processed entirely on your Mac.
Release
Text appears at your cursor. In any app. Browser, Slack, VS Code, anywhere.
Everything You Need,
Nothing You Don't
Built for developers and power users who value privacy and speed.
System-Wide Text Injection
Transcribed text appears at your cursor, in any app.
Push-to-Talk
Hold a hotkey to record, release to transcribe.
Double-Tap Toggle
Double-tap to start, double-tap to stop.
Smart Model Selection
Auto-picks the best Whisper model for your Mac.
Apple Silicon Native
CoreML + Neural Engine speed via WhisperKit.
Fully Configurable
Tune hotkeys, models, languages, and silence detection.
99+ Languages
Auto-detect or pick your language — 99+ supported.
Visual Feedback
Color cues and a live audio meter while recording.
Translation
Speak one language, get text in another.
Custom Vocabulary
Teach it your names, jargon, and acronyms.
Silence Detection
Auto-stops when you stop speaking. Fully adjustable.
Launch at Login
Starts automatically at login. Always ready.
Clipboard Preservation
Saved and restored after every injection.
Usage Statistics
Track words, speaking speed, and daily streaks.
Your Voice Stays
on Your Mac.
Period. No cloud. No servers. No analytics. No telemetry. Not even an internet connection required after installation.
Zero Network Calls
Audio is processed 100% on-device using WhisperKit's CoreML engine. Nothing is ever transmitted.
No Audio Storage
Audio buffers are discarded immediately after transcription. Nothing is saved to disk. Ever.
Fully Open Source
Every line of code is public on GitHub. Audit it yourself. AGPL-3.0 licensed. No hidden anything.
No Telemetry
No analytics. No crash reporting. No usage tracking. We literally cannot see what you do.
How we compare
Choose Your Model
From lightning-fast to studio-quality. VocaMac recommends the best one for your Mac.
Get Started in Minutes
Install via Homebrew, download the DMG, or build from source. Your choice.
Install via Homebrew
$ brew tap jatinkrmalik/vocamac
$ brew trust jatinkrmalik/vocamac
$ brew install --cask vocamacInstalls to /Applications/VocaMac.app. Launch from Spotlight or your Applications folder.
Grant Permissions & Dictate
Grant Microphone, Accessibility, and Input Monitoring permissions when prompted. Permissions persist across upgrades — no re-granting needed.
Hold Right Option (⌥) → speak → release. Text appears at your cursor. ✨
The Voca Family
Voice dictation, done right, on every platform.
Voice dictation for Linux. X11 & Wayland. whisper.cpp powered.
vocalinux.com →Native macOS menu bar app. WhisperKit + CoreML.
vocamac.comVoice dictation for Windows. Native system tray app. Planned.
vocawin.comQuestions & Answers
Is VocaMac really 100% offline?
Yes. All speech recognition happens locally on your Mac using WhisperKit's CoreML engine. Your voice data never leaves your computer. The only network call is a one-time model download from HuggingFace during setup.
Which Macs are supported?
VocaMac requires an Apple Silicon Mac (M1, M2, M3, or M4) running macOS 13 (Ventura) or later. The released DMG is built for arm64 only and will not install on Intel Macs. WhisperKit relies on the Apple Neural Engine and CoreML for hardware-accelerated transcription, so Intel Macs are not supported.
How does it inject text into other apps?
VocaMac uses a clipboard-based approach: it saves your clipboard, writes the transcription, simulates Cmd+V to paste, then restores your clipboard. This works in virtually every macOS application.
Why does it need Accessibility permission?
Accessibility permission is required for two things: (1) listening for the global hotkey (Right Option) regardless of which app is focused, and (2) simulating the Cmd+V keystroke to paste text. Without it, hotkeys and text injection won't work.
Can I change the hotkey?
Yes! Open Settings from the menu bar and pick a preset (Right Option, Right Command, Right Control, Fn, or a function key), or click Record and press any key to set a custom one. You can also switch between push-to-talk and double-tap toggle modes.
How does this compare to Apple's built-in dictation?
Apple's dictation sends audio to Apple's servers for processing (for most languages). VocaMac processes everything locally. Your audio never leaves your Mac. You also get model selection, configurable hotkeys, and open-source transparency.
Is VocaMac free?
Yes, completely free and open source under the AGPL-3.0 license. No premium tiers, no subscriptions, no tracking. Just free software.
How do I update to the latest version?
If you installed via Homebrew, run brew upgrade --cask vocamac. VocaMac detects Homebrew installs and guides you automatically. If you installed via DMG, VocaMac checks for updates automatically once every 24 hours, or you can check manually from Settings → About → Check for Updates.
What's the difference between WhisperKit and whisper.cpp?
Both use the same OpenAI Whisper models, so transcription quality is identical. WhisperKit is a pure Swift framework optimized for Apple platforms. It uses CoreML and Neural Engine for hardware acceleration, whereas whisper.cpp uses Metal. VocaLinux uses whisper.cpp; VocaMac uses WhisperKit.
Ready to Ditch the Cloud?
Join the early adopters building the future of private, local voice dictation on macOS.