VoiceInk Context Awareness: what it reads from your Mac, and where that text goes

By Ryleigh Newman · Published October 10, 2026

Context Awareness lets a VoiceInk Mode give its AI model more than your words. It can add the text you have selected, the text on your clipboard, and text read off your screen, so a reply matches the email you are answering or a name comes out spelled the way it is on screen. It only works with AI Enhancement, and the text it adds goes to whichever AI provider that Mode uses. That second part is worth reading before you turn it on.

I built YapToText, a different dictation app for the Mac, so read what I say about VoiceInk with that in mind. Every fact about VoiceInk here comes from its own docs, read on October 10, 2026.

This app is completely free. You don't have to make an account. There are no subscriptions, no difficult downloads, and nothing is locked. Made for Apple silicon Macs. Source on GitHub.

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The three sources

From VoiceInk's docs, Context Awareness, read October 10, 2026. Without a permission, that source is skipped.

Turning it on for a Mode

1. Open Modes.
2. Edit a Mode that has AI Enhancement on.
3. Expand Context Awareness.
4. Turn on Selected Text, Clipboard or Screen.
5. Save the Mode.

In a custom prompt you can point at each source with a tag: <CURRENTLY_SELECTED_TEXT>, <CLIPBOARD_CONTEXT> and <CURRENT_WINDOW_CONTEXT>. The docs suggest uses such as rewriting a selection by speaking an instruction, or drafting a reply to a selected email thread.

What gets sent, and to whom

• To the AI provider. The context goes with the AI Enhancement request, to the provider and model that Mode uses. Local transcription does not make cloud enhancement local.
• Screen text, not the picture. OCR runs on the Mac with Apple's Vision framework, and the extracted text is what is sent, not the screenshot.
• A snapshot is still taken. At the start of a live recording VoiceInk prepares a context snapshot in memory. The switches decide what is included in the request, not whether VoiceInk reads it locally.
• Saved in History. The AI request saved in History can contain the context text that was sent.
• Not for every Mode. Modes without enhancement send no context. VoiceInk Refine ignores it, and imported files capture none.

When to leave it off

VoiceInk's own advice is to turn on only the sources a task needs and to think about which provider will receive the text. A Screen source in a Mode that runs in your mail app sends the visible text of whatever email is open. If that matters, keep context on in one Mode for one app, and leave your everyday Mode without it. The VoiceInk privacy page covers its providers, and the Modes page covers how a Mode is picked per app.

How YapToText handles context

VoiceInk from its docs, read October 10, 2026. YapToText from its own settings and source.

Each YapToText mode has its own switches for context from the app, your selection and your clipboard, and its cleanup model runs on your Mac, so that text is not sent to an AI provider. It cannot read what is on screen beyond that, which is a real limit if you wanted replies drafted from a window you have not selected. The modes help page covers the switches.

This app is completely free. You don't have to make an account. There are no subscriptions, no difficult downloads, and nothing is locked. Made for Apple silicon Macs. Source on GitHub.

The short version

• What it is. Extra text sent to the AI with a dictation.
• Sources. Selected text, clipboard, screen text by OCR.
• Needs. AI Enhancement on, plus Accessibility or Screen Recording.
• Goes to. The Mode's AI provider, and it can be saved in History.
• Advice. Only the sources a task needs.

If VoiceInk changes how Context Awareness works, open an issue on GitHub and I will update this page. Every one gets read.

This app is completely free. You don't have to make an account. There are no subscriptions, no difficult downloads, and nothing is locked. Made for Apple silicon Macs. Source on GitHub.

About the author. Ryleigh Newman is a developer whose hands make typing difficult and who dictates every day with YapToText, the app this site describes. Facts about other apps come from their own sites, with the date they were read. More about the project.

Related

• VoiceInk guides: every page on this site about VoiceInk, by topic
• VoiceInk custom prompts: the input tags, the system template, and prompts that work
• superwhisper context awareness: what it captures, when, and why it sometimes captures nothing
• VoiceInk privacy: what stays on your Mac, what is sent, and the three settings to check
• VoiceInk Modes and triggers: how it switches behavior by app, website and spoken word
• VoiceInk Refine and AI Enhancement: clean up dictation locally, and when you need a provider
• VoiceInk Custom Commands: send your dictation to a script instead of pasting it
• VoiceInk History: finding old transcripts, exporting them, and deleting them on a schedule
• Dictation modes: the same words, shaped for where they are going
• Wispr Flow privacy: where your audio goes, what it keeps, and what you can switch off

Sources

• https://tryvoiceink.com/docs/context-awareness (checked 2026-10-10)
• https://tryvoiceink.com/docs/privacy-and-data (checked 2026-10-10)
• https://github.com/ryleighnewman/YapToText (checked 2026-10-10)
• https://apps.apple.com/us/app/yaptotext/id6786382289 (checked 2026-10-10)

Questions