How to dictate into any app on your Mac, on-device
Hold fn (or Right ⌥), say what you want to type, and let go. fab writes it down on your Mac and pastes it where your cursor was. Your recording never leaves your Mac.
You need: fab 0.2.14 on macOS 26 or later, Apple silicon · Microphone and Accessibility permission
Updated:
Steps
Step 1
Click where the words should go
Any text box in any app: a message, an email, a terminal, a document.
Step 2
Hold the talk key and speak
fn
The strip in the corner shows your words as you say them. Hold the key for as long as you’re talking.
Step 3
Let go
fab finishes writing and pastes the words where you were, even if you switched apps meanwhile. Your clipboard comes back as it was.
Step 4
For longer dictation, go hands-free
fnfn
Tap the key twice to keep listening without holding it. Press it once more to finish.
Tips
- fn is the talk key when the 🌐 key is set to Do Nothing in macOS. Otherwise it’s Right ⌥. You can pick Right ⌘ or Right ⌃ instead.
- Turn on “Press Return after” to send chat messages as soon as the words land.
- Prefer pressing once to start and once to stop? Set the mode to Toggle.
- Every take is kept in History. “Paste again” puts it back into the last app you used.
Questions
- Does it work offline?
- Writing your words down happens on your Mac. The first run downloads the voice model, about 600 MB; after that, dictation doesn’t need it again.
- Why weren’t my words pasted?
- Without Accessibility permission, fab can’t paste for you, so the words wait on your clipboard. Press ⌘V, or grant the permission in System Settings.
- Will it break my keyboard shortcuts?
- No. A press while another modifier is down isn’t a talk, and the left-hand modifier keys stay yours.
- What if it didn’t hear anything?
- fab says “Didn’t catch that” and pastes nothing. Hold the key and say it again.