Dictami is a standalone dictation app. It doesn't use Siri, doesn't depend on Apple's built-in dictation, and doesn't need Siri to be enabled on your Mac. Hold a key, speak, and the text appears in whatever app you're already in.
Apple's dictation is tied to the system. Turning it on means enabling a feature that also listens for a wake phrase, and on many setups the transcription still travels to Apple's servers. For anyone who keeps Siri switched off deliberately — for privacy, for battery, or just to stop it triggering by accident — the built-in dictation isn't really an option.
There's also the practical side. Apple's dictation cuts you off after a pause, punctuation has to be spoken out loud, and the accuracy drops noticeably on longer passages.
Dictami is its own application with its own recognition model. Siri can stay disabled. Apple's dictation can stay disabled. Nothing about Dictami depends on either of them being switched on, and it never listens for a wake word — the microphone only opens while you're holding the key.
The recording stops when you release the key, and not before. Pause to gather a sentence, think mid-thought, take a breath — none of it ends the recording. This is the difference people notice first when moving from built-in dictation.
Don't say "comma" or "period." Dictami places commas, periods, and question marks from the shape of the sentence, and capitalizes the first word of each one. You talk the way you talk, and the text comes out ready to send.
The recognition model is downloaded once and stored on your Mac. Your audio is never uploaded. There's no account, no login, and no internet connection required — the app works exactly the same on a plane as it does at your desk.
A typical sentence is ready in about a third of a second, in any of the 28 supported languages.
macOS 14 Sonoma or later on an Apple Silicon Mac — an M1 or newer. Intel Macs aren't supported. macOS will ask for microphone and Accessibility permission; Accessibility is what lets the finished text be typed into whichever app your cursor is in.
7-day trial inside the app. No card, no account.
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