Ch. 01 · The Loop
Cancel any time · macOS 15 or later · Apple Silicon native
Your shortcut. Hold it down.
Say what you mean.
Illustration: holding the Option key in Slack while speaking. Dictate's floating pill shows a live waveform and timer, and the spoken sentence lands as text in the message box, ending with an “Inserted” confirmation.
Done. The reply is in Slack. You never left the thread.
Start with the work
Pick the work you keep stopping to type. The shortcut stays the same.
Mail + Slack
Start in the reply box. The text lands where your cursor was.
Illustrative example, not a benchmark
Alex, we can ship Thursday if the migration check passes.
Cursor + Claude + Terminal
Talk through the constraint, expected result, and checks without squeezing it into one line.
Illustrative example, not a benchmark
Review the checkout path, preserve the hard paywall, and trace identity from the web session through first activation.
Docs + Notion + Word
Speak the structure while it is clear. Polish can clean the text before it lands.
Illustrative example, not a benchmark
Start with what changed. Then explain why it matters and what the reader should do next.
From thought to usable text
Get the idea down before typing slows it down. Clean it up only when the words need it.
Hold a key while you talk. Let go, then carry on where you were.
Your words show up at the cursor, even in apps that fight it.
Remove filler and fix punctuation when a draft needs polish.
Save the terms you use so they come back spelled correctly.
Review and reuse past dictations as text. No audio is kept.
Dictation needs the internet. Your subscription stays verified on your Mac, ready for when the connection returns.
Set it up once
1
Subscribe, then download the app from your email.
2
Microphone to hear you. Accessibility to place the text.
3
Hold your key, say it, and release. That is the whole loop.
Privacy
Held in memory on your Mac, not saved to disk.
Sent over TLS and returned as text.
Put where your cursor is waiting.
Deleted when the request ends.
Your history contains text and basic metadata. It never contains audio. How this is enforced →
Sign in with an email link, Google, Apple, GitHub, or GitLab. Your Mac handles its own secure activation key in the background.
Microphone to hear you. Accessibility to place the text. No Screen Recording, Full Disk Access, or browser extension.
Pricing
Stripe checkout · macOS 15+ · unused subscriptions refunded
FAQ
Need anything else? Email support@dictates.app.
No. It’s $8/month from day one. Cancel whenever; access runs to the end of what you paid for.
The download link arrives by email after checkout. Install the app, choose “Activate this Mac”, and enter the address used to pay.
If you have not transcribed anything, email support@dictates.app for a full refund. Once you use the service, the month is committed.
40 hours a month, shared across your Macs. Polish is unmetered. Dictation pauses if you reach the limit, and hours do not roll over.
No. Dictate uses server-side transcription. For local processing, consider Superwhisper, VoiceInk, or MacWhisper.
Sent over TLS, transcribed, discarded when the request completes. History keeps the text, never the recording.
Transcription needs a connection. The subscription check is cached locally, so reconnecting does not require another login.
Yes. Activate each with the same email. Your monthly allowance is shared across all of them.
Native apps, browsers, Electron apps such as Slack and VS Code, and terminals.
Hold a key, say it, and carry on.
Dictate for macOS