Your first dictation
To dictate on a Mac with YapToText, put your cursor where you want the text, tap the Right Command key once, talk, and tap it again. Your words are typed at the cursor, exactly as if you had typed them, in any app that accepts text: an email, a note, a chat box.
YapToText is free and runs entirely on your Mac. I built it because my hands make typing difficult and I dictate everything. This page covers what the first launch asks for, the first dictation itself, and what to check if nothing shows up.
What the first launch asks for
YapToText needs two permissions. Microphone lets the app hear you, and it is requested on first use. Accessibility lets it type into other apps, and it is also used for the global shortcut keys. Without Accessibility, YapToText still transcribes everything and copies the result to your clipboard instead of typing it.
The Right Command key works two ways, and you pick in Settings. In toggle mode, one tap starts and the next tap stops. In hold mode it becomes a walkie-talkie: recording runs while the key is down and stops the moment you let go. Esc cancels a dictation, and nothing is typed or saved when you do.
There is a short setup on first launch. Auto mode can be turned on or off there, and later in Settings or in the Home page's quick controls.
The first dictation, step by step
- Put your cursor where you want the text to go.
- Tap the Right Command key once. The floating panel appears and the capybara in the menu bar gets a red speech bubble.
- Say what you want to write. The live text appears in the panel as you talk.
- Tap Right Command again to finish. Your words are typed at the cursor.
That is the whole thing. There is no window to open first and nothing to save. The panel floats above whatever you were working in and collapses the moment you stop.
What you see while you talk
The panel shows a waveform that moves with your actual voice, and the transcription forming underneath it in real time. The round buttons are pause and resume, stop and insert, and cancel. While you dictate, Space pauses and resumes, Esc cancels, and the number keys 1 to 9 pick a mode for that one dictation. Space and the number keys are only captured while you are actually dictating, so they never interfere with normal typing.
The capybara in the menu bar tells the truth about what the app is doing. The speech bubble turns red and breathes while recording, becomes a spinner while transcribing, and flashes green when text was inserted. Clicking him opens a quick panel with a Start Dictation button, for the times you would rather not use the key.
What happens when you stop
Speech recognition runs on your Mac with Whisper Large v3 Turbo, which ships inside the app. Nothing is uploaded and nothing has to be downloaded first. Once the words are recognized, a mode decides what happens to them. With Auto mode on, the app reads each dictation and picks the treatment by itself, so a letter with a greeting and sign-off comes out as an email, a casual message stays as spoken, and everything else gets a standard cleanup that removes filler words and false starts. That cleanup runs on a second bundled model, Phi-3.5 Mini, also on your Mac. Raw Transcription types exactly what you said, with punctuation, and never touches the cleanup model. The Modes page explains the rest.
The first dictation after launch loads the model, which takes a moment. The panel tells you while it happens, and every dictation after that is quick.
Punctuation you can say
Whisper punctuates on its own, so most sentences come out with periods and commas without you saying anything. When you want a specific mark or a break, say its name at the end of the clause: question mark, exclamation point, new paragraph. Since 1.4, saying is it working now, question mark gives you "is it working now?" with no stray mark left behind, and a punctuation name spoken in the middle of a sentence stays a word.
Single-word names like period and comma need the word insert in front by default, so an ordinary sentence never triggers them by accident. Multi-word punctuation names never need it. The prefix can be switched off on the Commands page, and the full list of spoken names lives under Commands.
When nothing shows up
- The panel said "Didn't catch that." The recognizer heard silence. Get closer to the microphone, check the input source in Settings, or raise the input boost if you speak quietly. The app also warns when the Mac's input volume is set low and can raise it for you.
- The text went to the clipboard instead of the cursor. Either Accessibility is not granted, or the dictation started while YapToText itself was the front window. The app never types into itself. Put your cursor in the app you want first, or just paste: the text is already on your clipboard.
- The Right Command key does nothing. Accessibility is also used for the global shortcut keys, so check that it is granted. Until it is, the Start Dictation button in the menu bar capybara's quick panel still starts a dictation.
- Nothing happened the very first time. The first launch needs microphone permission. YapToText asks once; after that, dictation starts instantly.
More fixes are on the Troubleshooting page. If something is still wrong, open an issue at github.com/ryleighnewman/YapToText/issues and tell me what you said and what came out.
Questions
Is YapToText a free dictation app for Mac?
Yes. There is no paid tier, no locked features, no ads, and no account. It runs on macOS 14 or later on Apple Silicon, and the only optional thing is a tip jar.
Do I need the internet to dictate on my Mac with YapToText?
No. The speech model and the cleanup model ship inside the app, so it works offline from the first launch. The only network use is a model download you start yourself.
Which key starts dictation?
Right Command: tap it once to start and again to stop. In Settings you can switch it to hold mode, where recording runs while the key is down, or remap it to any shortcut, down to a single bare key.
Why did my text go to the clipboard instead of being typed?
macOS only lets apps with the Accessibility permission type into other apps, so without it YapToText copies the result to your clipboard. It also happens when the dictation started while YapToText was the front window, because the app never types into itself.
Can I cancel a dictation after it starts?
Yes. Press Esc while dictating and nothing is typed or saved. If you only need a moment, Space pauses and resumes.