WhisperClip is cool because it transcribes as you are recording. Most other tools I've tried wait for the recording to finish before any transcription starts.
Re:Show HN: Privacy-First Voice-to-Text for macOS
by youniverse on Saturday September 27, 2025 @01:55PM
(#45397973)
I believe audio is normally processed on device but transcripts can be sent to apple.
Even apps like superwhisper I'm looking to ditch because during an update they swapped my local models to cloud models which is a crazy breach of trust.
Re:Show HN: Privacy-First Voice-to-Text for macOS
by malshe on Saturday September 27, 2025 @03:40PM
(#45398743)
Just now tried it. It's really good! I will keep using it more today to see if it performs well consistently.
I had a small issue while onboarding. The app asked for microphone access, which I granted. It showed the task was completed. But the blue Next button stayed grayed out. I forced quit the app and then it all worked out fine from that point onward.
Re:Show HN: Privacy-First Voice-to-Text for macOS
by irqlevel on Saturday September 27, 2025 @06:28PM
(#45399887)
This issue has been reproduced and fixed in version 1.0.44, now available on the website. Note that when you update the app, the models will be recompiled, so the app may briefly hang during recording. Each new app version → new hash → AI (MLX) code recompilation.
Re:Show HN: Privacy-First Voice-to-Text for macOS
by Leftium on Saturday September 27, 2025 @05:04PM
(#45399297)
The demo video[1] shows the transcription starts before recording is stopped, but I couldn't recreate this with the actual app. The transcription would not show after a minute of recording, but it was all there once I hit stop.
Was this changed since the video was made? Or is there a setting?
Re:Show HN: Privacy-First Voice-to-Text for macOS
by irqlevel on Saturday September 27, 2025 @05:19PM
(#45399394)
Sorry about that — this feature is no longer available due to its cloud-based nature, but I plan to bring it back. The video was recorded before open-sourcing, so I’ll remove it to avoid confusion.
Update: Replaced the site video with a demo showing the actual app behavior.
I'll definitely try this out
- (Show HN discussion: https://hw.leftium.com/#/item/44302416)
WhisperClip is cool because it transcribes as you are recording. Most other tools I've tried wait for the recording to finish before any transcription starts.
Even apps like superwhisper I'm looking to ditch because during an update they swapped my local models to cloud models which is a crazy breach of trust.
Very happy to see this stuff!
I had a small issue while onboarding. The app asked for microphone access, which I granted. It showed the task was completed. But the blue Next button stayed grayed out. I forced quit the app and then it all worked out fine from that point onward.
I am using M4 Pro Mac Mini running MacOS 15.6.1
And the overall onboarding/setup was clunky compared to other apps
- SuperWhisper (probably has the best onboarding)
- Handy
- Whispering
---
I think it could be improved by at least removing optional steps like downloading the LLM for transformations.
Was this changed since the video was made? Or is there a setting?
[1]: https://youtu.be/6n0jY7k-iz4
Update: Replaced the site video with a demo showing the actual app behavior.