How to dictate offline on a Mac

Offline dictation used to mean poor accuracy. Not anymore: modern speech models like NVIDIA's Parakeet and OpenAI's Whisper fly on Apple silicon, turning what you say into text the moment you stop talking.

Here's how to set it up, and how to verify it.

#Option 1: Apple Dictation

macOS Dictation processes many languages on the device on Macs with Apple silicon. Turn it on in System Settings › Keyboard › Dictation. If your language shows as downloaded, it works without a connection.

It's free and reliable for short bursts. It doesn't remove fillers, learn your vocabulary, or keep a history.

#Option 2: An app that runs speech models locally

Apps such as Sayburst download an open speech model once and run it on your Mac's Neural Engine or GPU. After that, your voice never needs to leave the machine.

Sayburst's default model, Parakeet v3, covers English and 24 European languages. Whisper Large v3 Turbo covers 99 languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi and Arabic. Downloads are checked against published checksums before they're installed.

#How to check offline functionality

1. Finish setup and any model downloads while connected.
2. Disconnect network connections, including Wi-Fi and Ethernet if connected.
3. Click into a text field and dictate a sentence.

If text appears, the tested workflow worked without a network connection. This does not establish what requests the app makes while online. With Sayburst, read the documented data flow on our privacy page, and use the local versus cloud checklist to separate recognition, rewriting, storage and the destination app.

#What still needs the internet

• Downloading a model or language — once.
• Cloud AI rewriting — if you choose a cloud provider. With Sayburst you can use a local model through Ollama or LM Studio instead.
• License checks for paid apps. Sayburst checks about once a week and keeps working offline for up to 60 days between checks.

Questions people ask

Does Apple Dictation work offline?

On Macs with Apple silicon, many languages are processed on the device once the language is downloaded, so they work without internet. Some languages and features still use Apple's servers.

Does Sayburst work offline?

Yes. After you download a speech model once, transcription and cleanup run entirely on your Mac. Only optional features you turn on, like a cloud writing provider, need a connection.

How can I tell if dictation is really on-device?

After setup, disconnect all network connections and try dictating sample text into a local document. This tests offline functionality, but does not prove that the app makes no requests when connected. Read the documented data flow as well.