OpenWhisp blog
Local, private dictation — guides & comparisons
Honest write-ups on dictating and editing text by voice on a Mac, keeping it on-device, and how OpenWhisp compares to the alternatives.
- |5 min read
Per-app dictation tone on a Mac: casual in Slack, formal in Mail, verbatim in your terminal
OpenWhisp can set how AI cleanup reshapes your dictation per app — casual in Slack, formal in Mail, and verbatim in code editors and terminals. Wispr Flow's best-loved feature, done on-device.
Read - |6 min read
Parakeet: real-time streaming dictation on a Mac (words ~0.3s behind your voice)
OpenWhisp's new on-device Parakeet engine streams words to the screen about 0.3s behind your voice, with live punctuation — final text lands ~50ms after you release the key. Fully local, no cloud.
Read - |6 min read
Automate your dictation: run Shortcuts, webhooks, and files when you finish speaking
OpenWhisp can do something the moment a dictation finishes — append to a file, run a Shortcut, POST a webhook, open a URL. Plus an openwhisp:// scheme to drive it from Raycast or Alfred. Fail-open, on-device.
Read - |5 min read
Transcribe audio and video files locally on your Mac (with SRT/VTT subtitles)
Drop an MP3 or MP4 into OpenWhisp and get a transcript — or .srt/.vtt subtitles — generated entirely on your Mac. Batch queue, automatic chunking, and watch folders. No upload, no cloud.
Read - |4 min read
Hands-free dictation on a Mac: talk without holding a key
Tired of holding a key while you dictate? OpenWhisp's hands-free mode locks the mic open with one tap — speak with your hands free, tap or Esc to stop. On-device, with a silence safety net.
Read - |4 min read
Dictate anywhere on your Mac — even with no text field to type into
Most dictation needs a focused text field. OpenWhisp's floating Scratchpad gives you an always-on-top note to talk into anytime — a quick, fully-local capture surface.
Read - |6 min read
You don't need a giant AI model for dictation — your Mac is enough
Dictation cleanup is a small, well-scoped task, so a tiny local model handles it fine. And because OpenWhisp is open source with a bundled llama.cpp, you can point it at a self-hosted Qwen3 32B if you want more.
Read - |7 min read
The human in the loop for a swarm of agents
As people run many coding agents at once, the bottleneck becomes human attention. Here's why OpenWhisp could become the place a swarm of agents reaches you — a thesis, not a shipped feature.
Read - |6 min read
Talk to Claude Code by voice: OpenWhisp is now an MCP server
OpenWhisp's Agent Bridge turns it into a local MCP server: Claude Code, Cursor, and other coding agents can ask you questions by voice — fully on-device.
Read - |5 min read
Private, on-device AI dictation with no cloud
Dictate and refine text with AI that runs entirely on your Mac. No account, no server, no audio or text sent to the cloud — here's how.
Read - |4 min read
How to dictate on a Mac completely offline
You can dictate on a Mac with no internet at all. Here's how on-device transcription works and how to set up fully offline voice typing.
Read - |5 min read
OpenWhisp vs Superwhisper: a free, open-source alternative
Comparing OpenWhisp and Superwhisper for Mac dictation — free and open source vs paid and closed, both fully on-device. An honest look.
Read - |7 min read
The best local & private dictation apps for Mac (2026)
A practical guide to Mac dictation apps in 2026 — local vs cloud, free vs paid, and which to pick if privacy or price matters most.
Read - |4 min read
How to edit text by voice on a Mac (not just dictate)
Most dictation apps only type new text. OpenWhisp lets you select text in any Mac app, double-tap, and rewrite it by voice — edited in place, on-device.
Read - |5 min read
OpenWhisp: a free, local Wispr Flow alternative for Mac
Looking for a Wispr Flow alternative? OpenWhisp is a free, open-source Mac dictation app that runs entirely on-device — no subscription, no cloud.
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