{"slug": "apple-dictation", "name": "Apple Dictation", "category": "ai", "category_name": "AI tools and apps", "description": "", "recommenders": 4, "commenters": 12, "warners": 6, "score": -1.392, "rising": -1.31, "first": "2025-12-26", "latest": "2026-08-28", "why": "macOS already has a dictation feature that does this exact thing, albeit in real time. I use it extensively.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 1, "compare": 1, "warn": 6}, "spark": [0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "macOS already has a dictation feature that does this exact thing, albeit in real time. I use it extensively.", "kind": "", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Apple Dictation", "macOS Dictation", "macOS dictation"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 773921008, "item_id": 48370063, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48370063", "by": "m-s-y", "date": "2026-06-02", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "macOS already has a dictation feature that does this exact thing, albeit in real time. I use it extensively.", "excerpt": "macOS already has a dictation feature that does this exact thing, albeit in real time. I use it extensively. OP\u2019s description in the linked article doesn\u2019t say much more than this, so what am I missing with this particular app?", "context": "", "use_case": "voice dictation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple rejected my dictation app for using the accessibility API"}, {"id": 771125872, "item_id": 48195367, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48195367", "by": "titzer", "date": "2026-05-19", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Apple dictation on MacOS is actually pretty dang good.", "excerpt": "Apple dictation on MacOS is actually pretty dang good. I've got it bound to a double-tap on fn and I use it pretty regularly.", "context": "", "use_case": "Speech-to-text on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "New accessibility features powered by Apple Intelligence"}, {"id": 762685568, "item_id": 47667848, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47667848", "by": "jonwinstanley", "date": "2026-04-06", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use the baked in Apple transcription and haven't had any issues.", "excerpt": "I use the baked in Apple transcription and haven't had any issues. But what I do is usually pretty simple. What makes the others vastly better?", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Ghost Pepper \u2013 100% local hold-to-talk speech-to-text for macOS"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 773978706, "item_id": 48373669, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48373669", "by": "claviska", "date": "2026-06-02", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "which historically has been laughably bad", "excerpt": "They rejected mine too for the exact same reason, despite press-to-talk being a legitimate accessibility issue. I wrote about this here [1], and even called out some of the most common disabilities that clearly benefit from it. They also don\u2019t allow microphone access from keyboard extensions in iOS, which prevented me from shipping an iPhone target (that I really wanted for myself tbh). It\u2019s a shame and I can only as", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple rejected my dictation app for using the accessibility API"}, {"id": 771096449, "item_id": 48193528, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48193528", "by": "throw03172019", "date": "2026-05-19", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "because Apple STT is so frustrating", "excerpt": "I use Aqua Voice because Apple STT is so frustrating.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "New accessibility features powered by Apple Intelligence"}, {"id": 767081153, "item_id": 47942572, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47942572", "by": "subarctic", "date": "2026-04-28", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "apple's built in dictation is terrible", "excerpt": "I used it because of the integrated voice to text (since apple's built in dictation is terrible) but stopped using it when i replaced it with superwhisper", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Warp is now open-source"}, {"id": 756752770, "item_id": 47297048, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47297048", "by": "hubab", "date": "2026-03-08", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "come close in terms of accuracy", "excerpt": "The main differences are transcription quality and what happens after the transcript is generated. Utter uses GPT-4o Transcribe by default for cloud transcription, and in my experience it\u2019s best in class. The gap is most obvious on names, niche terminology, and technical vocabulary. I use it a lot for prompting coding agents, and I've found Apple\u2019s built-in dictation and most other apps don't come close in terms of a", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Utter, a local-first dictation app for Mac and iPhone"}]}], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["speech transcription", "voice dictation", "speech-to-text on macos"], "compared": [{"slug": "chatgpt", "name": "ChatGPT", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "handy", "name": "Handy", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48192224", "title": "New accessibility features powered by Apple Intelligence", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48369088", "title": "Apple rejected my dictation app for using the accessibility API", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49468818", "title": "Gemini-3.5-Transcribe", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48929870", "title": "Open Source, Free Tier Capable Whispr Using Cloudflare AI", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47936264", "title": "Warp is now open-source", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47666024", "title": "Show HN: Ghost Pepper \u2013 100% local hold-to-talk speech-to-text for macOS", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"warn": 1}, "2026-03": {"warn": 1}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 1, "warn": 1}, "2026-05": {"warn": 1, "recommend": 1, "compare": 1}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 1, "warn": 1}, "2026-07": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-08": {"warn": 1}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 791666130, "item_id": 49479133, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49479133", "by": "scosman", "date": "2026-08-28", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "", "excerpt": "I just shipped this free app: https://github.com/scosman/Biscotti Private offline transcription and summary. Speaker identification, working on voice-prints for identification across the corpus.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gemini-3.5-Transcribe"}, {"id": 783983584, "item_id": 48998974, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48998974", "by": "TreDub", "date": "2026-07-21", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "It does work and it's primarily what I use on mobile", "excerpt": "The first goal was just to have fun with it. I wanted to learn more about audio streaming and chunking. I was talking with a friend and said it's \"super easy\" and so that's how I got here. The issue I have with the macOS transcribing is that it can never do things like learn slang, change the punctuation based on the input box, filter filler words, etc... It does work and it's primarily what I use on mobile but I jus", "context": "", "use_case": "speech transcription", "switched_from": "", "story": "Open Source, Free Tier Capable Whispr Using Cloudflare AI"}, {"id": 773978706, "item_id": 48373669, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48373669", "by": "claviska", "date": "2026-06-02", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "which historically has been laughably bad", "excerpt": "They rejected mine too for the exact same reason, despite press-to-talk being a legitimate accessibility issue. I wrote about this here [1], and even called out some of the most common disabilities that clearly benefit from it. They also don\u2019t allow microphone access from keyboard extensions in iOS, which prevented me from shipping an iPhone target (that I really wanted for myself tbh). It\u2019s a shame and I can only as", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple rejected my dictation app for using the accessibility API"}, {"id": 773921008, "item_id": 48370063, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48370063", "by": "m-s-y", "date": "2026-06-02", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "macOS already has a dictation feature that does this exact thing, albeit in real time. I use it extensively.", "excerpt": "macOS already has a dictation feature that does this exact thing, albeit in real time. I use it extensively. OP\u2019s description in the linked article doesn\u2019t say much more than this, so what am I missing with this particular app?", "context": "", "use_case": "voice dictation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple rejected my dictation app for using the accessibility API"}, {"id": 771132816, "item_id": 48195801, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48195801", "by": "RobMurray", "date": "2026-05-19", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "The only advantage I find to Apple's stt is less friction.", "excerpt": "Apple's stt has been on-device for a long time now, long before iPhone 16. I haven't noticed any improvements since my first ever iphone 5S. I'm pretty sure wispr flow can use on-device models. I use Voiceink[0] which can use parakeet models on-device and can optionally use cloud models.It's like night and day comparing Apple's to Voiceink. The only advantage I find to Apple's stt is less friction. 3rd party apps jus", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "New accessibility features powered by Apple Intelligence"}, {"id": 771125872, "item_id": 48195367, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48195367", "by": "titzer", "date": "2026-05-19", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Apple dictation on MacOS is actually pretty dang good.", "excerpt": "Apple dictation on MacOS is actually pretty dang good. I've got it bound to a double-tap on fn and I use it pretty regularly.", "context": "", "use_case": "Speech-to-text on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "New accessibility features powered by Apple Intelligence"}, {"id": 771096449, "item_id": 48193528, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48193528", "by": "throw03172019", "date": "2026-05-19", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "because Apple STT is so frustrating", "excerpt": "I use Aqua Voice because Apple STT is so frustrating.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "New accessibility features powered by Apple Intelligence"}, {"id": 767081153, "item_id": 47942572, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47942572", "by": "subarctic", "date": "2026-04-28", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "apple's built in dictation is terrible", "excerpt": "I used it because of the integrated voice to text (since apple's built in dictation is terrible) but stopped using it when i replaced it with superwhisper", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Warp is now open-source"}, {"id": 762685568, "item_id": 47667848, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47667848", "by": "jonwinstanley", "date": "2026-04-06", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use the baked in Apple transcription and haven't had any issues.", "excerpt": "I use the baked in Apple transcription and haven't had any issues. But what I do is usually pretty simple. What makes the others vastly better?", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Ghost Pepper \u2013 100% local hold-to-talk speech-to-text for macOS"}, {"id": 756752770, "item_id": 47297048, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47297048", "by": "hubab", "date": "2026-03-08", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "come close in terms of accuracy", "excerpt": "The main differences are transcription quality and what happens after the transcript is generated. Utter uses GPT-4o Transcribe by default for cloud transcription, and in my experience it\u2019s best in class. The gap is most obvious on names, niche terminology, and technical vocabulary. I use it a lot for prompting coding agents, and I've found Apple\u2019s built-in dictation and most other apps don't come close in terms of a", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Utter, a local-first dictation app for Mac and iPhone"}, {"id": 749765617, "item_id": 46860351, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46860351", "by": "iswiftdev", "date": "2026-02-02", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "existing macOS dictation doesn't support all languages", "excerpt": "Hey HN, I built Voice Anywhere because I type a lot and existing macOS dictation doesn't support all languages. It uses AI as a fallback or mode if you toggle it on (default for some languages). Stays pinned on top of all windows and you can leave it on for as long as you want. check it out here: https://www.procoders.co/voice-anywhere", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Floating AI microphone types your voice it into any application"}, {"id": 742276066, "item_id": 46392254, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46392254", "by": "raw_anon_1111", "date": "2025-12-26", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "My wife is going to work with a Spanish tutor remotely who lives in Costa Rica and then work with her in person when we get there. As far me, I learned a little in school decades ago so I knew basic grammar. DuoLingo gives me a guided learning path to explore. But I use ChatGPT to create drills like creating sentences using words and phrases \u201cat an a2 level using present and past tense verbs\u201d using whatever I need to", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What skills do you want to develop or improve in 2026?"}]}