FnScribe
macOS · Apple Silicon

Hold a key. The sentence lands where the cursor is.

FnScribe is dictation for Mac. Hold fn, speak, let go. The text pastes into whatever is already in front of you.

Recognition runs locally on Apple Silicon. English and German. No account. Cloud speech and AI cleanup stay off until you bring your own key.

Try it on this page How it works

Coming soon — one-time purchase. No download yet.

FnScribe Edit Window
Wed 09:36
Mail
SubjectThursday

Hi Lena,

fn

Auto-demo is playing. Hold fn to try it yourself.

fn

Hold. Speak. Let go.

Three moves, then you’re back in the sentence you were writing. The pill is the whole interface while you talk.

Step 1

Hold

Hold fn, or a key you choose. A small pill appears. If Music or Spotify is playing, it pauses.

Listening
Step 2

Speak

After ten seconds the pill counts up, so a long take doesn’t look frozen. Double-tap fn for hands-free — the pill stays until you finish.

0:12
Step 3

Let go

The text pastes where the cursor already is. Music resumes. You never switch into a special writing box.

I’ll send the notes before then.
Cleanup

Optional. Your key. Easy to skip.

Prompt, Code, and German are styles that run after recognition. They send text, not audio. If a sentence is already clean, FnScribe can skip the model entirely. A new Mac starts with cleanup off — it’s on in this preview only after you turn it on.

Cleanup
AI cleanup
What you said

What pastes

Notes

A note key for the long version.

Hold is for a sentence in Mail, a browser, a code editor. The note key, ⌥N, is for a longer take you want shaped. Six styles: Structured, Business, Bullets, To-do, Brainstorm, Journal. Same styles in German.

The raw words stay yours. The style is formatting, not a different memory of what you said.

Notes
Note

Word list

It will mishear a name. Teach it once.

Add Klaviyo to the word list. The next time a dictation comes out as Clavio, Fix a word swaps the near-miss — or you pick the suggestion yourself. The list stays on the Mac with the rest of your settings.

Edit the sentence. Add a word. The near-miss chips follow what you type.

Last dictation
On the last take, in place.

Word list
Home

The week, counted where you typed.

Words, speaking pace, and minutes saved against typing at 45 words per minute. It’s an estimate, shown on the Mac, not a chart we keep.

The last ten dictations stay on the machine. Select one and paste it again with ⌃⌥V, or the button. On this page, click the history row first so the shortcut has a target.

FnScribe
2,840words this week
146words / minute
44 minsaved vs typing

This week starts Monday 5 Oct. Thursday onward hasn’t happened.

    Frontmost app

    Paste again lands here.
    Privacy

    The microphone’s default path ends on this machine.

    Local recognition is whisper.cpp on Apple Silicon. That audio is not uploaded. There is no FnScribe account on that path.

    Cloud speech recognition is a switch you turn on. It sends that dictation’s audio to OpenRouter, Groq, or OpenAI with a key you bring. Cleanup, separately, can send text the same way. Export writes settings. It does not write the key.

    Settings

    Cloud speech recognition

    Off by default. On, audio for that take leaves the Mac.

    Microphonethis Mac whisper.cppApple Silicon The cursorpaste, then discard audio

    AI cleanup

    Off. A new Mac starts here. Text is not sent to a model.

    Hotkey

    Default is fn. Change it here and the demo above follows.

    Only one copy

    A second launch wakes the one that’s already running.

    Settings file

    Export never includes the API key.

    Also in the gesture.

    The parts that don’t need their own window, because they happen while you talk.

    Hands-free

    Double-tap fn

    The pill stays up without a held key. Tap again, or press Hands-free in the demo, and the text pastes. For a note that runs longer than a finger.

    Where it sits

    Pill at the bottom, or at the cursor

    Bottom is the default, out of the line you’re writing. At the cursor, it follows the caret. The switch in the demo moves the live pill.

    Music

    Pauses Music and Spotify

    While the pill is listening, playback pauses. It resumes when the text lands. If Music or Spotify is playing, it pauses for the take and resumes when the text lands.

    History

    Last ten, on this Mac

    Not a cloud transcript. Paste any of them again with ⌃⌥V. When an eleventh arrives, the oldest drops off the Mac — it is not archived anywhere else.

    Settings

    Export skips the key

    Move hotkey, word list, pill position, and toggles to another Mac. The API key is not in the file. Import on this page shows that with a sample.

    One process

    A second launch does nothing new

    Only one FnScribe runs. Launching again brings the open one forward. Try “Launch again” in Settings — the window shrugs, and that’s the feature.

    There is no account, and by default no upload.

    FnScribe cannot reset a password you never created. Audio from local dictation is not stored on a server of ours, because it is not sent. If you turn on cloud speech recognition, that audio goes to the provider on your key. If you turn on cleanup, the text goes the same way. We don’t sit in the middle of that request. An exported settings file leaves the key out. Lose the key, and you ask the provider for another one — not us.

    Apple Dictation is already on the Mac. This is a different job.

    Keep the system feature. FnScribe is for a word list, note styles, a short history, and a line you can see between on-device recognition and anything that uses a key.

    Apple Dictation A cloud dictation app FnScribe
    Where speech is recognized On device for languages Apple supports that way; otherwise Apple’s servers The company’s servers On this Mac, unless you opt into cloud
    Account The Apple ID already on the Mac Usually theirs None for local use
    Paste at the cursor Yes Usually Yes — hold, speak, let go
    Your own model key No No Optional, for cleanup or cloud speech
    Word list and fix-a-word System text replacements, separately Depends on the app In the app, on the last dictation
    Note styles No Rarely Six styles, English and German
    History you can paste again No Sometimes, on their servers Last 10, on this Mac, ⌃⌥V
    Works offline When the on-device language is downloaded No Yes, on the local path
    Intel Macs Yes, with limits Often Not supported
    Price Included with macOS Often a subscription Coming soon — one-time purchase

    Nothing here removes Apple Dictation. They can both be on the Mac. FnScribe does not replace the system keyboard, and it does not run on Intel.

    Pricing

    Coming soon — one-time purchase

    When FnScribe ships, the plan is a single purchase. Not a subscription. No account for local dictation. There is no download on this site and no checkout. This line will be replaced with a price when there is something to buy.

    Apple Silicon · English + German · Local by default

    Questions worth answering before there’s a download.

    Does my audio leave the Mac?

    Not on the default path. Local recognition runs on the machine and the audio isn’t uploaded. If you turn on cloud speech recognition, audio for that dictation is sent to OpenRouter, Groq, or OpenAI with your key. Cleanup, if you turn it on, sends text, not audio. The marketing site doesn’t receive either.

    Does it work offline?

    Yes, for local dictation. That path doesn’t need a network. Cloud speech and AI cleanup do, and only when you’ve turned them on and saved a key.

    Which languages?

    English and German. Both work on the same Mac. Other languages are not in this version.

    Will it run on an Intel Mac?

    No. Local recognition is built for Apple Silicon. There is no Intel build, and there isn’t a download yet for Apple Silicon either.

    How is this different from Apple Dictation?

    Apple Dictation is built in, and on Apple Silicon it can run on device. Keep it. FnScribe adds a hold-to-paste pill, a word list with Fix a word, note styles, a last-ten history, and optional cleanup with a key you supply. It is not a replacement for the system keyboard.

    Do I need an API key?

    Only if you turn on cloud speech recognition or AI cleanup. The key is yours, from OpenRouter, Groq, or OpenAI. It’s meant to stay on the Mac and to be left out of settings export. This website never asks for a key.

    What does export include?

    Hotkey, pill position, word list, and the on/off state of cloud speech and cleanup. Not the API key. The Export button in the settings demo writes that shape of file on the page, so you can read it.

    Where is the history stored?

    On the Mac. The last ten dictations. They are not a cloud history. Paste one again with Control-Option-V.

    Is there a Windows or iPhone app?

    No. FnScribe is a Mac app for Apple Silicon.

    Can I buy it yet?

    No. Coming soon — one-time purchase. This page has no checkout and no disk image. Nothing expires, because nothing is for sale.