Private dictation
Dictation that keeps
your voice on your Mac.
Cloud dictation apps often promise zero data retention. That means your recording is deleted after it is processed, not that it never left your Mac. If you dictate client details, health information or unreleased work, the difference matters. Here is how to tell, and how to check.
Zero retention is not local
With a cloud app, every dictation is uploaded, transcribed on a server and usually passed through a language model for cleanup. A retention policy decides what happens afterwards. It cannot change the fact that the audio was sent, and you are trusting the provider and its subprocessors to follow it.
Three ways to check an app
After the model download, disconnect from every network and dictate. If it still works, transcription happens on your Mac. That proves it works offline; whether anything is uploaded after you reconnect is a question for the source code or a network monitor. Cloud apps such as Wispr Flow and Typeless stop working.
Read the source if there is one. Handy, VoiceInk and TypeAloud, which we make, are open source: the code that records, transcribes and saves is public.
For macOS Dictation, System Settings > Keyboard shows whether general dictation is processed on your device.
What to check in any dictation app
Where speech is transcribed: on your Mac, or on a server. Whether an AI pass runs on the text, and where: some apps transcribe locally but send the text to a cloud model for cleanup. Whether the app keeps a history of what you said, where it is stored, for how long, and how to delete it. Whether you need an account, which ties your use to a profile.
As one example, TypeAloud, which we make, transcribes locally, keeps its History on the Mac and needs no account; it uses the network for the model download and updates, and uploads audio only if you add your own cloud API key.
Common questions
- Does macOS Dictation upload my voice?
- For supported languages on recent Macs, general dictation can be processed on device; System Settings > Keyboard shows whether it is.
- Where are my transcripts stored?
- It depends on the app. Check whether it keeps a history, where, for how long and how to delete it. macOS Dictation keeps none.
- Is local dictation as accurate as cloud?
- There is no general answer; it depends on the model and the language. The difference you will notice is that cloud apps rewrite your words with AI on their servers, while local apps give a verbatim transcript unless they offer AI cleanup on the Mac.
- What does zero data retention mean?
- That the provider deletes your audio and text after processing. The audio is still uploaded first.
About TypeAloud
TypeAloud: free dictation for Mac, transcribed on your Mac.
This page was written by the team behind TypeAloud, our open-source dictation app: hold Ctrl+Shift, speak, release, and the text appears at your cursor. No word limit, no account.
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