Mac dictation & transcription · 100% on-device
Lesskeys is a dictation and transcription app in one. Dictate anywhere with a hotkey, and transcribe calls, interviews, and video with automatic speaker labels — 100% on your Mac, fully offline.
Download on the Mac App StorePay once. No subscription. · macOS 13+
Press ⌥ Space anywhere and just talk.
Lesskeys is a native macOS menu-bar app that turns speech to text anywhere on your Mac. Press a global hotkey (⌥Space) and speak — your words are transcribed on-device and copied to your clipboard, ready to paste into whatever app you're using. It also transcribes recorded calls, meetings, interviews, and audio or video files, automatically labeling who said what. Most tools make you choose between a dictation app and a transcription app; Lesskeys is both in one. Everything runs on-device on Apple Silicon's GPU, so your audio never leaves your Mac — no cloud, no account, no internet required.
Same convenience as cloud transcription tools — with none of the exposure.
Transcription runs locally on Apple Silicon's GPU. Nothing is uploaded. Works completely offline, even in airplane mode.
A global hotkey turns speech into text ready to paste into any app — email, docs, chat, code. Faster than typing.
Automatic on-device speaker labels for calls and interviews — know who said what, without any cloud service.
Capture screen or window video and transcribe it on your Mac, with a transcript-synced player.
Auto-detect across 99 languages — all offline.
No login, no telemetry, no subscription. Just a native Mac app that respects your privacy by design.
Hit ⌥Space anywhere in macOS and start talking.
Your Mac's GPU turns speech into text on-device, in real time.
Your words are copied to the clipboard — one ⌘V and they're in your document.
Most "private" transcription apps still send your audio to the cloud for the smart parts. Lesskeys doesn't — dictation, transcription, and speaker labeling all happen on your machine. That makes it a fit for anyone handling confidential recordings: journalists protecting sources, lawyers and researchers with sensitive interviews, or anyone who simply doesn't want their voice on someone else's servers. Your recordings stay on your device.
Dig into what Lesskeys does, or see how it compares to other Mac dictation and transcription tools.
Anyone who can't — or won't — send their audio to the cloud.
Yes. All speech-to-text runs on your Mac using Apple Silicon's GPU. Nothing is uploaded, no account is required, and it works fully offline — even in airplane mode.
No. Lesskeys is free to download, and one in-app purchase of $49.99 unlocks it permanently. You pay once and it's yours.
Yes. Lesskeys automatically labels speakers in calls and interviews using on-device speaker diarization — no cloud service involved.
Yes. Lesskeys can capture and transcribe screen or window video locally, and includes a transcript-synced player — all on your Mac.
Yes. Lesskeys records system audio directly on your Mac, so it can capture and transcribe meetings from any app — Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, Slack — locally, with automatic speaker labels. Nothing is uploaded. See private meeting transcription.
Lesskeys does dictation and transcription in one app, entirely offline: system-wide dictation plus call, interview, and video transcription with fully local speaker diarization — pay once, no subscription. Full comparisons: Superwhisper alternative and MacWhisper alternative.
99 languages with automatic language detection — all running on-device.
macOS 13.0 or later on an Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or later). Intel Macs are not supported.
Private, pay-once voice-to-text for your Mac.
Download on the Mac App StorePay once. No subscription. · macOS 13+