Download Bocha Voice
Free local dictation for Mac with Apple Silicon and macOS 14 or newer. The app itself is small; a speech model of about 630 MB is downloaded separately on first run.
The build is being prepared
The DMG will appear here. Until then, this is what the first run looks like.
Move it to Applications
Open the DMG and drag Bocha Voice onto the Applications folder. Launch it from there rather than from the mounted disk image.
Allow the first launch
This build is not notarized, so macOS asks first. Close the warning, open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll to Security and choose Open Anyway — only if you trust this source.
Download a model
Start with Parakeet and wait for the download and preparation to finish. Whisper is available as an alternative in settings. Models are not included in the DMG.
Allow the microphone and insertion
The app asks for the microphone to record, and for Accessibility to paste text into other apps. Then choose a shortcut and try a sentence in an empty document.
About this early build
It is signed ad-hoc, without an Apple Developer ID or notarization, and running it on another Mac has not been verified. There are no scripts here for disabling Gatekeeper, removing quarantine or bypassing macOS permissions.
Speed and accuracy depend on the model, your Mac and the recording. Check the text before you send it.