Dictation for people who cannot type
YapToText is a free dictation app for the Mac made for people who cannot type, or cannot type for long. I am one of them. My hands make typing difficult, so I dictate everything, and I built this so dictation could fully replace typing: one key starts it, your words land at the cursor in any app, and it works alongside VoiceOver and Voice Control.
Everything runs on your Mac, nothing is locked behind a paid tier, and the whole source is public. This page covers the parts that matter most when typing is the hard part.
Why it exists
I need this app. The dictation apps that did the job well wanted a subscription and sent my voice to their servers. I did not want either, so I made my own and I give it away. Charging disabled people for the ability to type felt wrong. It is made by one person who dictates for a living.
Dictation that replaces typing
Tap Right Command once, talk, and tap it again. Your words are typed at the cursor, in any app, as if you had typed them. Say question mark and you get the mark, not the words. Say new paragraph and you get the break. You can also correct yourself out loud with scratch that and replace X with Y. Auto mode reads each dictation and formats it on its own, so an email comes out as an email and a quick message stays casual. Quick Edit rewrites text that is already there: select it, hold the Quick Edit key, say the change, and let go.
VoiceOver and Voice Control
The floating panel is visual, so the app also tells VoiceOver what is happening. VoiceOver announces every state of a dictation. The panel's controls, pause and resume, stop and insert, and cancel, are exposed as accessibility actions, so VoiceOver and Voice Control can end or pause a dictation without a pointer. If you would rather have no panel at all, it can be turned off in Settings and dictation works exactly the same.
Keyboard only
Nothing in a dictation needs a mouse. Right Command starts and stops. Space pauses and resumes. Esc cancels, and nothing is typed or saved. 1 through 9 switch the output mode while you dictate, in the order of your Modes list. Space and the number keys are only captured while a dictation is running, so they never interfere with normal typing.
One bare key, or hold to talk
Right Command is the default trigger, and it can be remapped to any shortcut, down to a single bare key. Any key can be a trigger, not just a modifier. That matters when a two-key combination is not something your hands can do. A bare key starts dictation every time it is pressed, from any app, so pick one you do not type with. If a binding conflicts with another, the app flags it red.
The key works two ways. In tap-to-toggle mode, one tap starts and the next tap stops. In hold-to-talk mode it becomes a walkie-talkie: recording runs while the key is down and stops the moment you let go. The Quick Edit key, Right Option by default, has the same two choices.
Quiet speech
If you speak softly, auto-amplify measures your voice against the room rather than against a fixed level and lifts it to full clarity. If the Mac's own input volume is set low, the app tells you and can raise it for you. There is also an input boost setting for quiet speakers, and background noise is removed before transcription. Whispering next to a running 3D printer transcribes cleanly.
The beep
Intelligent insert reads a few words on either side of your cursor before the text lands, so a mid-sentence dictation gets the right case, spacing, and punctuation. A sandboxed app cannot read another app's text directly, so YapToText briefly selects those words with synthetic keystrokes, copies them, and puts your clipboard straight back. Some apps refuse a keystroke they did not expect, and macOS plays the alert sound for each one. That is the app declining the key, not an error; an app that does not expose its text simply gets the transcript unchanged, and if an app never answers, YapToText stops asking it. The cure is the Alert volume slider under Sound in System Settings: all the way down silences only alert beeps, and music, video, and dictation sounds are unaffected. Or switch Intelligent insert off in the quick controls on the Home page. The app shows the same notice under the setting.
Free, with nothing locked
Every feature is available the moment you install it. There is no paid tier, no account, and no ads. A tip jar exists if you want to say thanks, and that is it. The source is public under GPL-3.0, so the privacy claims can be checked. Two permissions come up. Microphone is required. Accessibility lets the app type into other apps and read the text around your cursor; without it the app still transcribes everything and puts the result on your clipboard.
It runs on macOS 14 or later on Apple Silicon. Get it on the Mac App Store or read the install guide. If something does not work with your setup, tell me on the GitHub issues page.
Questions
Can I use YapToText without a mouse?
Yes. Right Command starts and stops a dictation, Space pauses, Esc cancels, and the number keys 1 through 9 switch modes while you dictate. Nothing in the dictation flow needs a pointer.
Does YapToText work with VoiceOver?
Yes. VoiceOver announces every state of a dictation, and the panel's pause, stop, and cancel controls are exposed as accessibility actions so you can reach them without a pointer.
Can I start dictation with a single key?
Yes. The default is one tap of Right Command, and you can remap it to any shortcut down to a single bare key; any key can be a trigger, not just a modifier. Hold-to-talk is also an option: recording runs while the key is down and stops when you let go.
Is YapToText really free for disabled users?
Yes, for everyone. Every feature is available on install, there is no paid tier or account, and the only money involved is an optional tip jar. The source is public under GPL-3.0.
Why does my Mac beep after a dictation?
Intelligent insert reads the words around your cursor with a few synthetic keystrokes, and some apps refuse one of them, which makes macOS play its alert sound. Lowering the Alert volume under Sound in System Settings silences it, or you can turn Intelligent insert off.