Questions
Straight answers, first paragraph
Ten questions people ask before they install anything. The answer is at the top of each page; the detail is underneath if you want it.
These are the questions that come in by email, in that order of frequency. Several of them have answers the industry would rather were fuzzier.
Where the honest answer is "it depends on the app", we say which apps and how to check.
Is Mac Dictation Private? It Depends Which One
Apple's dictation can run on your Mac. Most third-party dictation apps send audio to a server. Here is how to tell which you are using, in about two minutes.
Read itCan Dictation Turn Speech Into Bullets and Clean Writing?
Yes, three different ways — and one of them can invent things you did not say. What each method does, and the check that matters before you send anything.
Can Dictation Learn Names and Technical Terms?
Some can and some cannot, and the difference decides whether dictation feels accurate. What "learning" actually means here, and what it is not.
Can I Dictate Into Any App on Mac?
With a system-wide dictation tool, yes — anywhere you can type. Here are the four exceptions, and why in-app dictation features do not work this way.
Can Speech-to-Text Work Offline on a Mac?
Yes — a model file on your disk does the recognition, with no connection needed. How that is possible, which apps do it, and the one thing that needs internet.
Do I Need Internet for Dictation on a Mac?
The four moments a local dictation app touches the network, named precisely — and which of them you would notice if you were offline for a month.
How Much Does a Good Mac Dictation App Cost?
From free to about £180 a year. What the price actually buys, why cloud apps are subscriptions and local ones are not, and the three-year comparison.
How to Choose a Dictation App for Mac: Five Questions
Five questions, no products, ten minutes. Answer them in order and the shortlist picks itself — including the answer where you should not buy anything.
Is There a Free Dictation App for Mac?
Yes — one is already installed. What macOS's free dictation does, which third-party free tiers are permanent rather than trials, and when paying is justified.
Is Voice Typing Faster Than a Keyboard?
Usually about twice as fast for prose, once you count the read-back — and slower for formatting and code. The short answer, with the arithmetic.
10 pages in this section. All of them work without JavaScript.
What VV does
Two jobs, one app: meetings written up, and dictation in any app.
Show a task once. Get the step-by-step guide.
Do it on your screen and talk it through. Every click and every new screen becomes a step with a picture and your words. Play it back with captions and an AI voice, or send it as a PDF, a web page or a video.
- Steps made for you from clicks and screen changes
- Your voice, or an AI voice, with captions
Every call, written up. No bot.
When a call starts, VV records it in the background. Nothing joins the call and no Teams or Zoom admin has to approve anything. Afterwards: minutes, decisions and action items.
- Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, WhatsApp, Slack, FaceTime, Webex
- Record now for meetings in the room
Press a key, speak, and it types. Anywhere.
Hold fn on a Mac (Right Ctrl on Windows), say it, let go: the words appear wherever your cursor is. Transcribed on your computer, in any app.
- Mail, Outlook, Slack, Word, Notion, code editors, the browser
- Vocabulary and snippets for your own words (Pro)
Polished, searchable, turned into tasks.
SmartText tidies what you say on your computer. Search every meeting, ask questions of them, track the action items, and send notes to Word, PDF, Notion or Slack.
- SmartText punctuation and lists, on your computer
- Search and Ask your meetings; action items tracked