Is AuraScribe really free?

Yes. AuraScribe is free forever and open source under the MIT license. There is no paid tier, no subscription, and no account to create.

Does my voice get sent to the cloud?

No. Every word is transcribed on your own PC. The only network request the app ever makes is downloading a speech model once, after which it works fully offline.

How is it different from Wispr Flow, Superwhisper, or Dragon?

AuraScribe is free, open source, and 100% offline, with no account required. Wispr Flow and Superwhisper are paid and cloud-based; Dragon is expensive. It is the private, local alternative.

Which languages does it support?

English plus 25 European languages, roughly 40 Asian languages, and Malayalam and Kannada, using four on-device engines. Each auto-detects the language within its region.

What are the system requirements?

A microphone and one of: Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit), macOS on Apple Silicon, or Linux (Debian or Ubuntu). The download is about 9 MB and runs faster than real time on an ordinary CPU, no GPU required. No internet is needed after the first model download.

Is there a macOS or Linux version?

Yes. As of version 2.0, AuraScribe runs on Windows, macOS (Apple Silicon), and Linux (Debian and Ubuntu), all from the releases page. Windows is the most battle-tested; macOS and Linux are newer. On macOS you approve it once in Privacy and Security (it is not notarized) and grant an Accessibility permission; on Linux it works best in an X11 session. The download button picks the right build for your system automatically.

Does it work in every application?

Yes. Press the hotkey in any window and the finished text is typed straight into whatever app has your cursor: browsers, editors, terminals, chat boxes, and form fields.

AuraScribe on macOS: free offline voice dictation for Apple Silicon

How to run AuraScribe, a free and open-source offline dictation app, on an Apple Silicon Mac: install it, grant the Accessibility permission, set the hotkey, and dictate into any app with nothing sent to the cloud.

AuraScribe runs natively on Apple Silicon Macs, and like every other build it does all of its work on your own machine. Your voice is never uploaded. This guide walks through installing it, granting the one permission macOS requires, and setting up push-to-talk dictation that types into any app.

Install

Download the macOS build (a .dmg for Apple Silicon) from the releases page, open it, and drag AuraScribe to Applications. The app is not notarized yet, so the first time you launch it, macOS will hold it back. Open System Settings, go to Privacy and Security, scroll to the note about AuraScribe, and choose Open Anyway. You only do this once.

Grant the Accessibility permission

To type the finished text into whatever app has your cursor, AuraScribe needs the Accessibility permission, the same one that TextExpander, Raycast, and similar tools use. Open System Settings, Privacy and Security, Accessibility, and turn AuraScribe on. Without it the app can still transcribe, but it will not be able to insert the text for you. This permission stays on your Mac and grants no network access.

Set the hotkey and dictate

The default shortcut on macOS is Cmd + Shift + Space, and you can rebind it to any combination you like. From then on the loop is simple: press the shortcut in any window, from Safari to your terminal to a chat box, talk the way you would to a person, and release. Transcription runs on your CPU while you speak, and a local cleanup pass fixes punctuation and casing and drops the filler words, so clean text lands the moment you stop.

What you need

AuraScribe on macOS needs an Apple Silicon Mac (the M-series chips) and a microphone. The download is small, and after you pick a language the first time, the speech model downloads once and the app works fully offline after that. There is no account and no subscription.

If you have been looking for a private, local option instead of a cloud tool, that is exactly what this is. You can download AuraScribe for macOS now, or read how it stacks up as a free Wispr Flow and Superwhisper alternative.

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