FlowMoose
On-device dictation bound to the fn key, with a lock mode for anything longer than a sentence.
What it does
Hold fn, talk, release: the audio is transcribed locally with Whisper and pasted into whatever field has focus — Mail, Slack, Xcode, a terminal. A double-tap locks recording open for a monologue and a single tap ends it, which is the difference between dictating a reply and dictating a paragraph.
Language is detected per recording across ninety-odd languages, so switching mid-session needs no setting changed. Every dictation is kept in a local, searchable history to re-paste from, and the audio itself is deleted once transcribed.
It is the paid, polished end of the same shelf as Handy and FluidVoice: one hotkey, no model management to speak of, and a licence instead of a repository.
Notes
- €49 once, covering two Macs and all future updates, after a 7-day trial that needs no account. No subscription.
- Apple Silicon only, macOS 14 or later.
- Not on the App Store, and the reason is structural: pasting into any app needs Accessibility, which the App Sandbox forbids.
- No Homebrew cask — the
.dmgcomes from the site.
Alternative to
| Alternative | Type | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Handy | Open source | Free and extensible, with the model left to you |
| Wispr Flow | Freemium | The best-known commercial dictation app; cloud transcription |
| Superwhisper | Freemium | Whisper-based, with local and cloud modes |
| MacWhisper | Freemium | Strong on transcribing files, less on live dictation |
| macOS Dictation | Built in | Free, and weaker on technical vocabulary and punctuation |