Guides
Voice type anywhere on a Mac
There is no list of supported apps, because a system-wide dictation tool does not integrate with anything. It types where your cursor is, exactly as a keyboard does.
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Why there is no list of supported apps
People expect dictation to work like an extension: install a Slack plugin, a Mail add-in, a browser extension. System-wide dictation does none of that, and the absence is the feature.
The app asks macOS for accessibility permission and then inserts text through the same input layer a keyboard uses. Slack receives keystrokes. It has no idea they came from your voice, and it does not need to. Nothing to install per app, nothing that breaks when an app updates, and no app that has to agree to support you.
How system-wide dictation works on macOS The permission, the input layer, and why the clipboard sometimes gets involved.Setting it up once
- Grant microphone permission Prompted on first launch. Without it there is no audio at all.
- Grant accessibility permission System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility. This is the one that looks alarming and is unavoidable: typing on your behalf is exactly what this permission governs. Nothing narrower exists.
- Choose a shortcut nothing else wants Harder than it sounds if you use an editor, a launcher and a window manager. A right-hand modifier or a function key is usually free. See choosing a shortcut.
- Test in three different apps A native app, a browser text box and your editor. If all three work, everything will.
The workflow, in any app
- Click into the text field The single most common mistake is skipping this. The text goes where the cursor is, and if the cursor is nowhere, so is the text.
- Hold the shortcut An overlay shows a level meter, so you know it is listening.
- Speak a whole thought A sentence or a short paragraph. Not word by word — the model uses surrounding words to decide what it heard.
- Release The text appears at the cursor. Your clipboard is put back as it was.
- Read it back Ten seconds. Part of the workflow, not a failure of it.
For anything longer than a paragraph, double-tap to latch the microphone open and tap again to stop. Holding a key for ninety seconds is unpleasant; latching is not.
App by app, the things worth knowing
| Where | What to watch for |
|---|---|
| Mail, Outlook, Gmail | Dictate into the body, not the To field. Autocorrect still runs on top of what is typed |
| Slack and Teams | Enter sends. Finish dictating, read it, then press Enter — see the warning below |
| Word and Pages | Track changes records dictated text as your edit, which is usually what you want |
| Notion and Linear | Do not say "slash" at the start of a line unless you want the command menu |
| Cursor, VS Code, Zed | Dictate into the chat or the editor. Not the terminal |
| Browsers | Works in every browser with no extension, including in web apps |
| Password fields | Deliberately blocked by macOS. Correct behaviour |
Where it genuinely does not work
- Password and secure fields. macOS blocks synthetic input into them. This is a protection working correctly, and no dictation app should be able to defeat it.
- Some virtual machines and remote desktop clients. Usually fine — the guest receives keystrokes — but it depends on how the client handles input.
- A handful of apps that draw their own text fields. Rare, mostly older creative software.
- Anywhere the cursor is not. Not a limitation so much as a description: click first.
Why text sometimes arrives via the clipboard
Some dictation tools, including ours in certain situations, insert long passages by putting them on the clipboard and issuing a paste, rather than synthesising hundreds of individual keystrokes. It is faster and far more reliable in apps that do their own input handling.
The thing to check in any app you use is whether your previous clipboard contents are restored afterwards. VV puts them back. An app that does not will quietly eat something you had copied, which is maddening and hard to diagnose.
Questions
Do I need a plugin for Slack, Notion or Gmail?
No. System-wide dictation types through the macOS input layer, so those apps receive ordinary keystrokes. There is nothing to install in them and nothing to update when they change.
Why does it need accessibility permission?
Because inserting text into another application is exactly what that permission controls on macOS. There is no narrower permission that would allow it. An app that could type into everything without asking would be a security problem.
Does it work in Safari, Chrome, Firefox and Arc?
In all of them, and in web apps running inside them, because the browser is just another app receiving keystrokes. No extension required.
Can I dictate into a terminal?
Technically yes. Practically, do not. A misheard word in a shell command has consequences a document does not. Dictate into an editor, read it, then run it.
Does it work in full-screen apps?
Yes. A global shortcut is registered with the system rather than with a window, so it works regardless of which app is frontmost or whether it is full screen.