How to Use Voice Typing on Mac in 2026

Set up Auri Voice in two minutes

Auri Voice needs macOS 15 or later, one shortcut, and two permissions. Most of the setup is clicking Allow.

1. Install Auri Voice and follow onboarding.
2. Pick your shortcut. Left Function is the common choice. The default behavior is Toggle: tap once to start, tap again to stop. If you prefer push-to-talk, change it later under Settings > Shortcuts > Shortcut behavior, which also offers Hold and Automatic (tap to toggle, hold to talk).
3. Allow Microphone when macOS asks.
4. Allow Accessibility, which is what lets the text land at your cursor in other apps.
5. Click into Notes, press the shortcut, say one sentence, and press again. The text should appear where your cursor was.

If the text shows up in Notes but not in Slack, click the message field again and retry. Focus is the usual problem, not recognition. The shortcut guide covers the full troubleshooting list, including the Accessibility reset that fixes most stubborn cases.

What the cleanup pass does

Dictation engines type what you said. The cleanup pass turns it into what you meant. Auri describes it in one line in the app: it removes false starts and filler words, fixes punctuation, and follows spoken formatting commands. In practice:

You said: "hey can you, um, take a look at the deck before the call — sorry, before end of day"

Auri typed: "Hey, can you take a look at the deck before end of day?"

Three habits get the most out of it:

• Say the whole thought at normal speed. Do not stop to fix a sentence out loud; correct yourself plainly ("Tuesday — sorry, Wednesday") and the pass keeps the correction.
• Use spoken formatting when you want structure: "new line", "bullet point", "numbered list". Spoken punctuation ("comma", "question mark") converts too; that switch is Settings > Dictation > Text > Auto-convert punctuation, on by default.
• Glance at names and numbers before sending. Cleanup fixes grammar, not facts.

Rewrite by voice with Edit Mode

Auri Voice has a second shortcut most people find later than they should. Select any text, press the Edit Mode shortcut, and speak an instruction: "Make this more formal", "Fix grammar and spelling", "Summarize this". Auri rewrites the selection in place. With nothing selected, Edit Mode drafts from scratch: "Write an email asking for time off."

Press ⌘⇧/ to see all shortcuts, including Edit Mode, Cancel dictation, and Paste last transcript.

Choose a Voice Engine

The engine picker lives in Auri Voice's settings under Voice engine. Seven engines ship, each a card with its model name, download size, and languages:

• Fast Multilingual Dictation (Parakeet TDT v3, ~461 MB, 25 languages): the default on Apple Silicon. Keep it unless you have a reason to switch.
• Fast English Dictation (Parakeet TDT v2, ~443 MB): higher accuracy if you only dictate in English.
• Low-Latency Multilingual (Nemotron 3.5 ASR, ~668 MB, 32 locales): when response time matters more than peak accuracy.
• Lightweight, Any Mac (Whisper Base, ~141 MB, 99 languages): the default on Intel Macs and the smallest download.
• High-Quality Local (Whisper Large Turbo, ~1.5 GB, 99 languages): for noise, accents, and hard vocabulary. The app warns it needs 8 GB of RAM or more.
• Fast, Accurate, No Download (Auri Cloud, 99 languages with auto-detect): nothing to download, but it sends audio to Auri's servers and stops working offline.
• Built-In, No Download (Apple On-Device, 9 languages): Apple's own speech, requires macOS 26.

A Labs section below the production engines holds two experimental ones, marked as such in the app. Download local engines on Wi-Fi before you travel. The engine guide has the full decision logic, and custom vocabulary for names and jargon lives under Settings > Dictation > Text > Vocabulary. It works with every engine.

Where cleanup runs, plainly

Transcription and cleanup are separate steps with separate privacy answers. Transcription runs on your Mac by default. The cleanup pass sends the transcribed text — never audio — to the provider you pick in AI settings. Auri Cloud is the default. To keep both steps on the Mac, choose Auri Local, which runs small language models (LFM2.5, Gemma) on Apple Silicon and works offline. You can also bring your own key for OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google.

If you dictate confidential material, the setting worth checking is that one. A local engine plus Auri Local means nothing you say or write leaves the machine. The Mac privacy guide walks through the full checklist, including history.

Dictate from your Apple Watch

The Watch works as a close microphone for a Mac across the room, a loud kitchen, or a walk. Setup is a one-time pairing:

1. Install Auri on your iPhone and add the Watch app from it.
2. On the Mac: Auri Voice Settings > Apple Watch > Create Pairing. A QR code appears.
3. On the iPhone: Auri > Settings > Apple Watch Dictation, and scan the code.
4. On the Watch: hold to talk, pick Mac, release. The text types itself into the active Mac app, or lands on the clipboard if no field can accept it.

Watch audio is encrypted in transit and transcribed on your Mac by a local engine. Auri refuses to route Watch audio through cloud engines. The Mac needs to be awake with Auri Voice running; relayed audio is deleted after 15 minutes either way. The Watch guide covers the iPhone destinations too.

Where Apple Dictation still fits

Keep the built-in tool for throwaway fields: a Spotlight search, a two-word reminder. To enable it, open System Settings > Keyboard, turn on Dictation, and use the shortcut it shows (the mic key or a double-tap of Fn/Globe, depending on your keyboard).

Cost, for completeness: Auri Voice is free for your first 1,111 words of Mac dictation and two meetings. Pro is $10 a month billed annually, or $17 month to month, and removes the caps.

Privacy checklist before real work

Voice typing puts a live microphone inside your work apps. Two minutes of checking settles where things go:

• Recognition: which engine is selected? Local models keep audio on the Mac after the one-time download. Auri Cloud sends audio and needs the network.
• Cleanup: which AI provider? Auri Cloud (the default) receives your transcribed text; Auri Local keeps it on the machine.
• History: Settings > Dictation > History. Save transcriptions is on by default and stays on your Mac; Save audio is off by default. Delete everything with the trash button there.
• Permissions: recheck Microphone and Accessibility after major macOS updates.

Then write one rule you can say in a sentence. For example: client names and contract language stay on a local engine with Auri Local cleanup. A rule that fits in a sentence is one you will actually follow.

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