tl;dr
Pick a private dictation app by what it does on a fresh install, not by what its settings allow. Four answers decide it: where audio goes, where the transcribed text goes for cleanup, where history lives, and how long anything is retained. This guide puts a named shortlist through those questions: Auri Voice, Apple Dictation, Superwhisper, Wispr Flow, and MacWhisper, with a full worked evaluation of Auri Voice, cloud cleanup default included.
The four questions
You can answer all four from settings pages and one short test, without reading source code. The local speech recognition guide explains the machinery behind the first two; here you only need the questions.
- Audio: does recognition run on the device after a model download, or does microphone audio go to a server?
- Text: does the cleanup or formatting step send the transcript to a server, and can you move it on device?
- History: where do transcripts live afterward, and how do you delete them?
- Retention: how long does the vendor keep whatever it received, and who else gets it?
The retention guide covers the fourth in depth, including the red-flag answers.
Defaults beat capabilities
Ask every question twice: what can the app do, and what does it do before you touch a setting. Settings pages are visited once and forgotten. An app with a local option and a cloud default is a cloud app in practice for most of its users.
Applied to our own product first: Auri Voice transcribes on your Mac by default. The cleanup pass sends the transcribed text (never audio) to the provider you pick — Auri Cloud unless you change it; choose Auri Local in AI settings to keep both steps on the Mac (Apple Silicon). By this guide's own test, Auri Voice is local for audio and, until you flip that one setting, cloud for cleanup. The shortlist below gets the same treatment: default named first, option second.
A shortlist with verdicts
Five options cover most Mac needs. Prices are as of August 2026.
| App | Arrangement | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Auri Voice | Local transcription by default, seven engines; cleanup by the provider you pick, Auri Cloud by default with Auri Local optional. Free for 1,111 words; Pro $10/month billed annually. | The pick for cleaned-up dictation in every app, with a fully local lane one setting away. |
| Apple Dictation | Built into macOS, free; on-device for some languages; literal output, no cleanup pass. | The pick for occasional short notes you edit by hand. |
| Superwhisper | Local and cloud modes; free 15-minute pro trial, then about $8.49/month. | The pick if you want to run local and cloud modes side by side on a subscription. |
| Wispr Flow | Cloud processing; free tier of 2,000 words a week. | A cloud app in this guide's terms, so judge it by its retention policy rather than a local switch. |
| MacWhisper | Local transcription of audio files; one-time purchase. | The pick for transcribing existing recordings on device without a subscription. |
The free tiers differ in kind: Auri Voice's 1,111 words and Superwhisper's 15-minute trial are one-time allowances, while Wispr Flow's 2,000 words reset weekly. For a comparison beyond privacy, see the best Mac dictation apps guide.
The worked example: Auri Voice
One evaluation in full, so the shortlist verdicts have something behind them.
Audio. Stays on the Mac by default. The default engine is local (Fast Multilingual Dictation on Apple Silicon; Lightweight, Any Mac on Intel), downloaded once in Settings > Voice engine. Audio goes to a server only if you select the Auri Cloud engine yourself.
Text. Goes to the cleanup provider you pick. Auri Cloud, the default, receives the transcribed text and never the audio. Auri Local in AI settings runs cleanup on the Mac (Apple Silicon), and you can bring your own OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google key instead.
History. Stored on the Mac. In Settings > Dictation > History, Save transcriptions is on by default, Save audio is off by default, and the trash button offers Delete all history.
Retention. On the Mac, dictation keeps only what History holds. Meeting audio has its own dial under the gear in Meetings > Capture and storage > Saved audio: Keep for 30 days by default, with Keep until I delete it and Delete after notes are ready as the alternatives. For what Auri's servers retain when cloud cleanup is on, read the privacy policy.
With Wi-Fi off, the local engine keeps transcribing and cloud cleanup stops until you reconnect or switch to Auri Local.
Run the ten-minute test on your pick
Whatever you shortlist, give it ten minutes offline before trusting it: dictate with the network off and compare the output to what you got online. The on-device guide explains how to read the result. Keep both outputs and the app version in a note so you can spot a change after an update.
FAQ
What is the single most useful question to ask?
Where does the text cleanup step run by default. Most people ask about audio and stop, and cleanup is where transcripts leave the machine.
Why judge defaults instead of options?
Because most people never change them. A local mode buried in settings protects only the people who find it; the default is what happens to everyone else.
Is a cloud default ever the right choice?
Yes, for low-sensitivity writing where quality and convenience matter more, and on platforms with tight limits such as iOS keyboard extensions. Auri Keyboard's On-Device option is English-only, so its cloud default covers the other languages.
How do I compare apps without technical tools?
Dictate offline: Wi-Fi off in Control Center on a Mac, Airplane Mode on a phone. What fails was remote. Output that works but reads rougher than usual means recognition is local and cleanup was not.
Does a privacy policy tell me enough?
It tells you retention and review policy, which no test can. It does not tell you what runs on your machine today. You need both.