mouthtype

A SMALL START

Your first words.

A key, a thought, and somewhere to put it.
Here’s how to get Mouthtype ready on your Mac.

0.4.0 · macOS 26+ · APPLE SILICON

Download for Mac Source code (GPL-3.0) Linux test client

  1. Make yourself at home.

    Download the Mouthtype ZIP using the button above, expand it, then drag Mouthtype.app into Applications. Quit an older copy before replacing it, and open the app from Applications.

    This is 0.4.0 (build 18), for Apple Silicon Macs running macOS 26 or later. This is a stable release; read the notes below before your first dictation.

  2. Let it hear. Let it type.

    Allow Microphone access to record your voice and Accessibility access to insert text into the app you’re using. Set Up Mouthtype focuses on one card at a time and advances when each prerequisite is ready. You can defer it and reopen it from Settings → General.

  3. Give it a moment.

    The speech model downloads on first launch. Wait until it’s ready before your first take. Downloads need internet access; speech recognition and cleanup then run on your Mac.

    Basic cleanup works without a separate cleanup model. Fast and Thorough are optional downloads. You can explore those later.

  4. Say your thing.

    Click a blank TextEdit document. Hold Fn, say a short sentence, then release. Wait for your words to appear. The shortcut can be changed if Fn isn’t your thing.

    Try a second sentence without clicking or typing between takes. Each take should appear once, with a space between them. Read the result before sending it anywhere.

A little help, if you need it.

Read the documentation for shortcuts, cleanup, saved words and recovery.

No text?

Check Microphone and Accessibility access, wait for the model to be ready, and confirm that a text field is selected. If a warning appears, check whether the text already appeared before trying again.

Keep the words.

If delivery fails, use the recovery card’s Copy action. Saved Recordings keeps retained audio available. Check the destination first so a second paste doesn’t duplicate a take.

Something sounds wrong?

Names and recognition can still be wrong. Include your Mouthtype version, macOS version, destination app, what you said and what appeared when reporting a problem. Share only the text or audio you choose.

What’s in this release?

0.4.0 puts Mouthtype in one redesigned window with a new palette and SF Symbols in the sidebar: Home, Stats, Dictionary, Transforms, Style, Appearance and a Settings modal. Choose Transform Selection from the menu bar to clean up a selection or run Fix grammar, Make shorter, More formal or More casual on the Thorough model, then edit the preview and Accept. Accept replaces the text only while the original selection is unchanged.

Transcribe Audio File opens in its own window. mouthtype:// URLs and a command-line script can start, stop and toggle dictation, but only after you turn on the automation switch. Quiet other audio is on by default, and stays off if you turned it off before. Fresh installation, VoiceOver, and Bluetooth and USB microphones weren’t verified on a device.

0.3.0 added a Home page. Open Mouthtype from the menu to see your last 50 takes, newest first, with Copy and Recover. Recover works for any take whose audio is still saved and offers the text again without changing the history entry. Home updates as you dictate, and it shows your stats and records: words today, this week and all time, a 14-day chart, speed, streaks and time saved compared with typing at 40 WPM. They’re worked out on your Mac from your own history, and takes from secure fields are never counted.

Saved spellings now suggest spellings from your recent takes: names it keeps mishearing, brand names that come out lowercase, and words that get split apart, each with examples. Add, Remove or Dismiss, and Undo right after. It also flags saved heard forms that rewrite everyday words. In Settings, with Keyboard navigation on, the page scrolls to follow Tab and Shift-Tab. Fresh installation, VoiceOver, and Bluetooth and USB microphones weren’t verified on a device.

0.2.0 added Transform Selected Text: choose Fix grammar, Make shorter, Make more formal or Make more casual on the Thorough model, then edit the preview and Accept, Retry or Cancel. Accept replaces the text only while the original selection is unchanged, and Cmd-Z or Copy original gets the old text back.

Boost my saved words while recognising is off by default. It favours your saved spellings during recognition. First use downloads an English speech model of about 100 MB, and dictation never waits for it. App and website rules can now set a cleanup level as well as a tone, Formal tone removes or softens swearing at Basic, Fast and Thorough, and saved spellings warn when a heard form is an everyday word. In Settings, Tab reaches the page controls with Keyboard navigation on, and Appearance previews Light and Dark. Fresh installation, VoiceOver, and Bluetooth and USB microphones weren’t verified on a device.

Since 0.1.0 the app has also included clipboard and audio restoration after a take, a take cut off by Quit offered on the next launch, and paged Saved Recordings with retryable cleanup downloads. Review the destination before retrying a take; hardware and app-specific behavior still needs feedback.

It includes app and website tone rules and an editable Basic selected-text cleanup preview, plus opt-in microphone priorities. Website rules fall back when a document URL is unavailable. Selected text needs explicit Accept and an unchanged original selection; microphone fallback is a separate choice.

This release includes Transcribe Audio File…: choose one WAV, AIFF or M4A, then review and explicitly Copy or Save Text. It preserves your original, with no automatic paste. See the file transcription guide.

Alpha.8 adds Saved audio in Settings → General: choose a completed-recording age and size limit for the next launch. Text and recovery recordings stay. Microphone setup now follows actual recording readiness. See saved audio.

Settings includes a remembered microphone choice, optional Quiet other audio and Live words. Quieting is on by default from 0.4.0 and provisional words are off by default. The finished take still inserts once. Settings groups controls into General, Writing, Appearance and Diagnostics.

Coming from alpha.1–3? Download the current Mac release once and replace the app manually to get the built-in updater. After that, use Check for Updates… in the menu or Settings → General. Linux source testing is experimental; there is no packaged Linux desktop release.