Dictation for Mac

Talk instead of typing.Without subscriptions.

Steno turns speech into text on your Mac — nothing is uploaded, nothing is tracked. Then Profiles reshape it into whatever you're writing.

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Runs on your Mac
No account
$39 once

New Note

Listening 0:00 Dictation

How it works

Hold a key, talk, and paste.

01

Hold the Fn key

Press and hold the Fn key in any app. A small Steno window opens.

02

Talk

Say what you want to write. Steno turns it into clean, punctuated text.

03

Paste

Steno copies the text. Paste it into Mail, Notes, Messages, or any other app.

Profiles

Your words, in the shape you need.

Steno doesn't guess how your words should look — you decide. Create a profile with your own instructions, and Steno reshapes what you say to match: one for support replies, one for standup updates, or whatever you write most.

Customer email rewritten on your Mac

You said

"thanks for writing in, sorry about the trouble, it's almost always mic permission — open system settings, then privacy and security, then microphone, turn steno on, and restart it"

Steno wrote

Thanks for writing in, and sorry about the trouble.

This is almost always microphone permission:

Open System Settings
Go to Privacy & Security → Microphone
Turn Steno on, then restart it

Best,

Standup bullets rewritten on your Mac

You said

"today I shipped onboarding behind a flag, dug into the screen-two drop-off, I'm blocked on analytics from Priya, and tomorrow I'll run the A/B test if the events are wired"

Steno wrote

Done today

Shipped onboarding behind a flag
Investigated the screen-two drop-off

Blocked

Waiting on analytics from Priya

Tomorrow

Run the A/B test if the events are wired

What you get

Built to stay yours.

On-device, always: Speech-to-text and rewriting run on your Mac. Your audio and transcripts never touch a server.
Yours to keep: Pay once. No account, no subscription, and no cloud service to depend on.
History on your terms: Transcripts stay on your Mac. Choose how long to keep them, or delete everything at once.

Download from the Mac App Store

Get Steno.

A small, private app for talking instead of typing. $39 once — less than two months of a subscription, then it's yours, with nothing to renew.