Press a shortcut, speak, and your words appear as text. Choose from multiple transcription engines, add AI post-processing, and everything runs locally on your Mac. One-time purchase, no subscription.
Built for people who think faster than they type.
Switch between Apple Speech, OpenAI Whisper, and NVIDIA Parakeet ONNX in one click.
Each engine has different strengths: Apple Speech for zero-setup, Whisper for multilingual accuracy, Parakeet for blazing-fast English.
Go beyond raw transcription. Each mode runs your text through an LLM with a custom prompt.
Connect any OpenAI-compatible provider, Anthropic, or use Claude CLI with your existing subscription.
Assign a dedicated global shortcut to each mode. One keystroke to switch and start recording.
Configure shortcuts in Settings. Supports any key combo with ⌘, ⌃, ⌥, ⇧ modifiers.
Transcribed text is placed on your clipboard and pasted into the active app automatically.
Works with any app that accepts ⌘V. Toggle auto-paste on or off in settings.
Audio never leaves your machine. All transcription happens entirely on-device.
No cloud APIs, no data collection, no accounts. Your voice data stays on your Mac.
The audio engine stays pre-warmed in the background. Recording starts the instant you press the key.
No spin-up delay, no loading screens. Press the shortcut and speak immediately.
Distinct sounds for start, stop, and transcription complete so you always know what's happening.
Pick from 14 macOS system sounds per action, or turn them off. You hear exactly when recording starts and when your text is ready.
Connect OpenAI, Anthropic, Claude CLI, or any compatible API to power your modes.
Use your existing subscriptions. Each mode can use a different provider and model.
Appearance theme, overlay toggle, auto-paste, Python venv path — everything is tuneable.
A native macOS settings window with live preview. No config files to edit.
Say 'mode cleanup' or 'mode translate' at the start of your recording to switch modes on the fly.
No buttons, no menus. Just speak the mode name and Spkn switches automatically before processing your text.
Every transcription is saved. Search through your history and copy any past transcript with one click.
Re-process old transcriptions with a different mode. Clean up something you dictated raw, or translate it later.
Get a native macOS notification when your transcription is ready, even if you've switched to another app.
Never miss a completed transcription. The notification shows the beginning of your text.
Track your total transcriptions, recording time, words dictated, and average length.
See how much time voice-to-text saves you compared to typing.
Assign a mode to each app. Spkn auto-switches when you dictate in Mail, Slack, Xcode, and more.
Create rules like: Mail → Formal email, Slack → Casual, Xcode → Code comment. Zero friction, zero menus.
Dictate in multiple takes. New transcriptions are appended to the clipboard instead of replacing.
Perfect for long documents, meeting notes, or filling forms. Build up text over multiple recordings.
See live word and character count in the overlay after each transcription.
Handy for tweets, bios, commit messages, or any text with a character limit.
From quick messages to long-form writing.
Dictate replies without typing
Compose emails at the speed of thought
Document your code hands-free
Capture ideas in real-time
From any app, at any time.
Hit the global hotkey from any app — a text editor, browser, Slack, terminal. The menu bar lights up and a floating overlay appears. Or say a mode name to switch on the fly.
Talk at your normal pace. The overlay shows the live audio level. Take as long as you need — there's no time limit.
Hey, can you review the pull request I just opened? I've refactored the auth middleware to fix the session bug.
Press the shortcut again to stop. Your speech is transcribed, run through the active mode, and pasted into the focused app. Escape to cancel.
Every mode can be connected to an AI provider for automatic post-processing.
Or create your own with a custom system prompt.
Switch modes with shortcuts, from the menu, or just by saying 'mode [name]'.
Raw transcription with no processing. Your words appear exactly as spoken — perfect for drafting emails, notes, or messages.
Automatically fixes grammar, punctuation, and capitalization. Ideal for when you want polished text without editing.
Speak in any language and get translated text. Uses your configured LLM to produce natural, fluent translations.
Dictate a long thought and get back a concise summary. Great for meeting notes, brainstorming, or capturing ideas quickly.
Write your own system prompt, pick an AI provider and model, assign a shortcut, and choose an emoji. Your mode works exactly like the built-in ones.
Three transcription backends, each with different trade-offs.
Switch between them instantly in settings.
The macOS native speech recognition engine. Already on your Mac, no downloads required.
Best for: Quick notes & simple dictation
OpenAI's state-of-the-art model via faster-whisper. Choose from Tiny to Large v3 depending on your accuracy/speed needs.
Best for: Multilingual & high-accuracy work
NVIDIA's 1.1B parameter Parakeet model running natively through ONNX Runtime. No Python, no external dependencies.
Best for: Fast English transcription
See how Spkn compares to other macOS transcription tools.
Configure record, stop, and cancel hotkeys. Assign per-mode shortcuts with any modifier combo.
Pick different system sounds for start, stop, and transcription complete. Or turn them off entirely.
Connect OpenAI, Anthropic, Claude CLI, or any compatible API. Use different models per mode.
Auto-paste toggle, overlay display, appearance theme, and Python venv path for Whisper.
No. All transcription engines run entirely on your Mac. Your audio never leaves your machine. If you use an AI mode with a cloud provider (like OpenAI or Anthropic), only the transcribed text is sent for post-processing — never the audio itself.
Apple Speech is the easiest — zero setup, works offline. Whisper offers the best accuracy and supports 10+ languages. Parakeet ONNX is the fastest for English and runs natively without Python.
Not for basic transcription. API keys are only needed if you want AI post-processing modes (Clean up, Translate, etc.). You can connect OpenAI, Anthropic, or any OpenAI-compatible local server like Ollama.
Yes. Spkn works system-wide with a global keyboard shortcut. After transcription, the text is pasted into whatever app is focused — text editors, browsers, Slack, email, terminal, anything that accepts ⌘V.
Spkn requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later. It runs natively on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.
Absolutely. Create custom modes with your own system prompt, choose an AI provider and model, assign a dedicated keyboard shortcut, and pick an emoji icon. Your custom modes work exactly like the built-in ones.
Instead of manually switching modes, you can say 'mode cleanup', 'mode translate', or any mode name at the beginning of your recording. Spkn detects the command, switches to that mode, and processes the rest of your speech accordingly.
Yes. Spkn is built with Swift and is fully open source. You can inspect the code, contribute, or modify it to fit your needs.
Spkn is a one-time purchase of $5. No subscription, no hidden fees. You get all features and future updates included.
Privacy is not a feature — it's the architecture.
All transcription engines run locally on your Mac. Audio never leaves your device.
No sign-up, no login, no email required. Download, pay, and use.
Zero analytics, zero tracking, zero data collection. What you say stays with you.
One-time purchase. No subscription. Runs entirely on your Mac.
$5one-time
30-day money-back guarantee
Buy Spkn — $5v1.0.0 · Requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later · Universal binary (Apple Silicon + Intel)