Download Talkativ for your Mac and start free. It is built for Macs with Apple silicon.
How to dictate on Mac
Click into any text box: an email, a document, a chat, a search bar. Press Option+Space (Ctrl+Space on Windows), speak, then press it again. Your words land at your cursor. You press once to start and once to stop, so you never hold the keys down.
You do not say “comma” or “full stop”. Punctuation and capital letters come by default, and “um” and “uh” are left out.
If you would rather use the mouse, click the small mic dot that floats just above the Dock. It does what the shortcut does. It goes red while it listens, blue while it works on your words, and green when they have landed.
Speech to text on Mac, wherever you can type
Email, chat, documents, project tools, AI assistants and code editors. If there is a text box, Talkativ can fill it. There is no plug-in to add for any app, and you do not train it on your voice first. Every dictation is saved in a searchable history in the app.
Voice to text on Mac, in 100 languages
Talkativ works in 100 languages and is highly accurate in 56. Leave it on auto-detect, or choose your language in Settings. You can add the names and words you use to Vocabulary, so they come out spelt your way. Every plan has it.
Advanced formatting goes further, and every plan has it too. It is off until you switch it on in Settings. With it on, “half past three” becomes 3:30, “fifty dollars” becomes $50, and “john at company dot com” becomes [email protected]. If you count your points out loud, “first, second, third”, you get a numbered list.
On the Max plan, Genius Mode lets you highlight text and change it by asking, and Smart Edits rewrites it in 31 writing styles.
Apple Dictation or a dictation app for Mac?
Your Mac already has Dictation built in. Apple’s support page says it has no length limit and stops after 30 seconds without speech, and that it adds commas, periods and question marks automatically in supported languages. Apple also describes a newer on-device clean-up for spelling, punctuation and capital letters, in English only, on Macs with an M3 chip or later and 12GB of memory or more. It is part of macOS, so try it first.
If you want more than the built-in tool, Talkativ is voice dictation software for Mac that gives you:
- The same shortcut and the same way of working on a Mac and on Windows.
- “Um” and “uh” left out, and punctuation and capital letters by default.
- Vocabulary for your own names and terms.
- A searchable history of everything you have dictated.
- Genius Mode and Smart Edits on the Max plan.
The Free plan lets you compare the two on your own voice. See the free plan. If you are weighing up other Mac dictation apps, read Mac dictation apps compared or Wispr Flow alternatives.
Which Macs, and what it asks for
Talkativ for Mac is built for Macs with Apple silicon (M1 or newer). Intel Macs are not supported. It needs an internet connection. It also needs two permissions, Microphone to hear you and Accessibility to type into other apps.
To set it up, open the downloaded file, drag Talkativ into Applications and open it. The first time, your Mac asks you to confirm you want to open it. Allow Microphone and Accessibility when Talkativ asks, then press Option+Space in any app and speak.
Free to start, with plans when you want more
The Free plan gives you 2,200 words a week, reset every 7 days, in every app. Pro is unlimited for $7 a month or $56 a year. Max adds Genius Mode and Smart Edits for $11 a month or $88 a year. Paying yearly gives you 4 months free. Upgrade and cancel inside the app. See Talkativ pricing.
Also on Windows
Talkativ runs on Windows 10 and 11 too, with Ctrl+Space as the shortcut (Option+Space on a Mac). Read about Talkativ for Windows, or go back to the Talkativ homepage.