How to dictate on a Mac (built-in, and better)
Your Mac can already hear you. The question is whether what comes out is sendable. Here is the built-in way, its limits, and the upgrade.
- Built-in dictation setup in 30 seconds
- Why raw dictation reads like a run-on
- One hotkey for finished, formatted text
uh tell Alex I like the direction but the design still feels a bit too busy and maybe we should simplify the top section before Friday
Hey Alex, I like the direction overall. The top section still feels a little busy, so I think we should simplify it before Friday. Can you take another pass?
Tap a tone, same thought, reframed.
Turn on Apple's built-in dictation
Open System Settings, go to Keyboard, and turn on Dictation. Pick your language and the shortcut you want; by default you press the microphone key (or the Fn key twice) and start talking in any text field. On Apple silicon Macs it runs on-device, so it is fast and private.
That is genuinely all you need for quick snippets: a search box, a short reply, a filename.
Where built-in dictation falls short
Apple types what it hears. Punctuation only appears if you speak it ("comma", "period"), paragraphs do not happen on their own, and there is no sense of tone. A two-minute ramble becomes a wall of words you then edit by hand, which erases the time you saved by talking.
It also does not follow you: your dictation habits on the Mac do nothing for you on your Windows PC or Android phone.
The upgrade: dictation that writes
Speechy lives in your menu bar with two global hotkeys. Press ⌃⌥D, talk, press again: your words come back cleaned up (Dictation mode). Press ⌃⌥C instead and the same ramble comes back framed as the finished message, email or note you were trying to write (Clarity mode), pasted where your cursor is.
It is free to start, with no account and no API key, and the identical engine runs on Windows, iPhone and Android.
More than transcription, it frames the message.
Speak or type the messy version, and Speechy hands back the sendable one: the right tone, structure and context, in whatever app you're already in.
Framing, not transcription
Most voice apps stop at words on a page. Speechy gives you the message: the right tone, structure and context, ready to send.
Voice or messy text in
Speak it or type it. Either way you skip the part where you decide how to phrase it, and go straight to a sendable draft.
Native everywhere you think
macOS, Windows, iPhone and Android, including a real framing keyboard on mobile. Capture the thought wherever it happens.
Frames you can reuse and share
Turn the messages you dread into one-tap structures. Save your own, and (soon) share the best ones with everyone else.
Good questions, straight answers.
Does macOS have built-in dictation?
Yes. System Settings, Keyboard, Dictation. It is decent for short snippets but it types what it hears: you speak the punctuation and fix the structure yourself.
How do I dictate punctuation on a Mac?
With built-in dictation you say it: "comma", "period", "new paragraph". With Speechy you just talk; the AI places punctuation, paragraphs and tone for you.
Stop rewriting your thoughts.
Say the messy version. Send the clean one. Speechy turns it into something sendable in seconds, on every device you think on.