Voice typing on Mac that never sends your audio anywhere

Most dictation services work the same way: the app records your voice, uploads it to a server and gets text back. That is convenient for the developer, but it leaves the user with questions: who else hears the recording, how long is it kept, and what happens if the connection drops mid-sentence.

PromNotch takes a different approach. The speech model runs right on your Mac, so the audio never leaves it. Here is what that looks like in practice and which limits are worth knowing up front.

Getting started

Voice typing is part of the Island Pro plan and is available to everyone during the trial. The first time you turn it on, PromNotch downloads the speech model — the only moment dictation needs a network. Everything after that works offline.

You start dictation with a keyboard shortcut from any app. The notch opens and shows the microphone level, so you can see you are being heard, and a second press recognizes the text and pastes it where your cursor was. Focus stays in your app: the notch never takes over the window you are working in.

More details and real screenshots are on the voice typing page.

Where the text goes

PromNotch pastes through the clipboard and immediately puts back whatever was there before. No service entry ends up in your clipboard history.

To be honest about the limits: pasting into another app's field on macOS always depends a little on that app. We test it in browsers, messengers, code editors, Notes and Terminal. If the text does not land somewhere, please tell support — it helps us fix that case.

What stays on your Mac

Recent dictations are kept in a history so you can paste them again. The history lives in a file only your user account can read and is cleared with one button in settings. The speech model can be removed from settings too when you no longer need it.

PromNotch has no account and no analytics. The license key is verified offline.

Requirements

• a Mac with Apple Silicon — voice typing will not turn on with Intel;
• macOS 14 or later;
• microphone access — macOS asks the first time you dictate;
• free disk space for the speech model.

Pricing

Voice typing is a one-time purchase that stays yours — no monthly fee. Recognition runs on your own hardware, so there is nothing to bill every month. Current prices are on the pricing page, and you can try it for free by downloading PromNotch: everything is unlocked for the first seven days.