{"slug": "show-hn-whisprnote-dictation-and-autocomplete-for-macos-no-cloud-or-account", "title": "Show HN: WhisprNote – Dictation and autocomplete for macOS, no cloud or account", "summary": "WhisprNote, a new macOS app launched on Hacker News, offers offline dictation and autocomplete that works in any app without an account or cloud, with local transcription and AI cleanup. The app supports 25 languages, custom jargon, and tone settings, and is free to try for 14 days, with Pro priced at $4.99 per month or $39.99 one-time.", "body_md": "### Works offline\n\nLocal mode transcribes on your Mac, and the AI cleanup can run there too. No Wi-Fi, no account, no audio leaving the machine.\n\nDictation & autocomplete for macOS · Free download\n\nYou speak at **150** words a minute and type at **40**. WhisprNote closes the gap. Press one key, talk, and polished text lands wherever your cursor is, in every app on your Mac.\n\nNo accountNo credit card\n\nHow it works\n\nFrom any app, any text field. A small pill appears at the bottom of your screen. Nothing else moves.\n\nTalk naturally. WhisprNote knows when you have stopped speaking and ends the take on its own, so there is no second keypress.\n\nThe polished version drops straight into the active window, and autocomplete ghosts in your next line, with `tab`\n\nto accept. Slack, VS Code, Mail, anywhere a cursor blinks.\n\nThe same message, started at the same moment. One of them is still typing.\n\nKeyboard\n\n40 wpm\n\nWhisprNote\n\n150 wpm\n\nBeyond dictation\n\nStart a sentence in any app and WhisprNote quietly suggests the rest in faint ghost text, and one key accepts it. It reads what's on screen for context and adapts to how you actually write.\n\nSpoken words arrive with ums, retakes and run-ons. Refine passes your dictation through the model you choose and types the polished version, with filler dropped, punctuation placed and your meaning intact.\n\n“um so basically can we uh move the meeting to thursday”\n\nCan we move the meeting to Thursday?\n\nWho it's for\n\nDetailed prompts get better answers, and nobody types them. Speak 300 words of context in 90 seconds and let the model do the rest.\n\nFirst drafts die between thinking speed and typing speed. Talk the messy version out at full speed, then edit like the professional you are.\n\nReply at conversation speed, with full sentences and real nuance, and take back the hour a day you spend being your own typist.\n\nFeatures\n\nLocal mode transcribes on your Mac, and the AI cleanup can run there too. No Wi-Fi, no account, no audio leaving the machine.\n\nTeach it your names, product terms and jargon once. \"Kubernetes\" never comes out as \"cooper netties\" again.\n\nPick a tone for each app: casual in Messages, formal in Mail, technical in your docs. The same take lands dressed for where it types.\n\nSay \"my work email\" and the whole address types itself. Build shortcuts for anything you repeat.\n\nDictate in 25 languages. WhisprNote detects which one you're speaking on its own.\n\nA searchable history keeps each transcript and its audio for exactly as long as you choose.\n\nOpenAI, Gemini, Anthropic, Grok or your own. Your keys stay on your Mac, stored securely by macOS.\n\nWorks everywhere\n\nSlack, Claude, Notion, your terminal. WhisprNote types the way your keyboard does, so every app on your Mac is already set up. No plugins. No per-app anything.\n\nPrivacy\n\nMost dictation tools upload every word you say to someone else's server. WhisprNote doesn't need the cloud at all. Local mode works entirely on your Mac, your audio is discarded once it becomes text, and you can use it this way forever. Cloud models are there if you choose them, and those requests go straight to the provider you picked. Either way, there is no WhisprNote server listening in the middle.\n\nDictation on the local models costs nothing and always will. Pro lifts the limits from $4.99 a month, or $39.99 once. Try everything free for 14 days, no card.\n\nQuestions\n\nWhich apps does it work in?\n\nAnywhere you can place a cursor: Slack, Mail, Notion, VS Code, Cursor, terminals, browsers, ChatGPT, Claude. WhisprNote types the way your keyboard does, so there are no plugins and no per-app setup.\n\nHow is this different from macOS dictation?\n\nBuilt-in dictation types your words literally, ums and missing punctuation and all. WhisprNote is far more accurate, and Refine cleans up filler and grammar before the text is typed. It also finishes your sentences as you type, which macOS doesn't do at all.\n\nDoes it work with accents and other languages?\n\nYes. Accents are handled well, and dictation works in 25 languages, not just English.\n\nDo I need an account or API key?\n\nNo account, ever. Local mode runs on your Mac with nothing to sign up for. If you would rather use a cloud provider such as OpenAI, Gemini, Anthropic or Grok, you bring your own key and macOS stores it securely.\n\nIs my audio stored anywhere?\n\nIn local mode your audio stays on your Mac and is discarded once it becomes text. If you choose a cloud provider, it goes straight to the provider you picked. Either way there is no WhisprNote server in the middle.\n\nWhat does it cost?\n\nThe download is free, and the free plan stays free: local dictation up to 2,000 words a week, with no account and no card. Pro lifts the limits from $4.99 a month, $24.99 a year, or $39.99 once, and there is a 14 day trial that needs no card. See the pricing page for what each plan includes. If you choose a cloud provider instead, you pay them directly for what you use.\n\nFree download · macOS 13 or later · Apple Silicon & Intel\n\nNo accountNo credit card\n\nFirst launch: right-click the app and choose **Open**, then grant Microphone and Accessibility permissions so WhisprNote can hear you and type for you.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-whisprnote-dictation-and-autocomplete-for-macos-no-cloud-or-account", "canonical_source": "https://whisprnote.com/", "published_at": "2026-09-02 08:54:43+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-02 09:22:36.025406+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-products", "ai-tools", "natural-language-processing"], "entities": ["WhisprNote", "OpenAI", "Gemini", "Anthropic", "Grok", "Slack", "VS Code", "Notion"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-whisprnote-dictation-and-autocomplete-for-macos-no-cloud-or-account", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-whisprnote-dictation-and-autocomplete-for-macos-no-cloud-or-account.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-whisprnote-dictation-and-autocomplete-for-macos-no-cloud-or-account.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-whisprnote-dictation-and-autocomplete-for-macos-no-cloud-or-account.jsonld"}}