The short answer
Voiceinator dictates on a Mac with no internet because the speech model and the cleanup model both come inside the app. You need an Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or newer) on macOS 14 or later.
Set it up in five steps
Setup is five steps, and the download is the slow part.
- Check your Mac. Apple menu, About This Mac. It should say Apple M1 or newer, and macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later.
- Install it. Download the DMG, or paste
curl -fsSL https://voiceinator.com/install.sh | bashin Terminal. The download is about 4.4 GB because the models are inside. - Allow Microphone, Accessibility and Input Monitoring when your Mac asks. Quit and reopen Voiceinator once.
- Click into any app, hold Right Option, talk, and let go. Clean text lands where your cursor is.
- Turn Wi-Fi off and do it again. It still works.
What needs internet, and what doesn't
Dictating, cleaning up and rewriting text need no internet. Only two things go online: the update check, and the optional Accurate speech model (a 2.9 GB download you can skip). The update check carries no account, no ID and nothing you've said.
What your Mac needs
Voiceinator needs an Apple Silicon Mac on macOS 14 or later, and 16 GB of memory is recommended.
| Chip | Apple Silicon, M1 or newer. Intel Macs aren't supported. |
|---|---|
| macOS | 14 (Sonoma) or later |
| Memory | 16 GB recommended. It uses about 5 GB while it runs. |
| Storage | About 6 GB for the app and its models |
| Speech to text | Whisper large-v3 turbo, 4-bit, on Apple's MLX |
| Cleanup | Qwen 2.5 7B Instruct, 4-bit, on Apple's MLX |
Not for you if
Voiceinator is not for you if you're on an Intel Mac, Windows or a phone. It's a Mac app for Apple Silicon only. On an Intel Mac or an iPhone, Apple's built-in dictation is the better fit. We compared the two on the Voiceinator vs Apple Dictation page.
Common questions
Offline dictation with Voiceinator needs about 6 GB of storage and works with Wi-Fi off.
Can you dictate on a Mac without internet?
Yes. With Voiceinator, speech to text and cleanup both run on your Mac, so dictation works with Wi-Fi off. It goes online only for updates and the optional Accurate model.
How much space does offline dictation need?
About 6 GB for the app and its models. The download is about 4.4 GB. The optional Accurate model adds 2.9 GB.
Does it work on an 8 GB Mac?
It runs, but it feels tight. 16 GB is recommended because the models use about 5 GB while Voiceinator is open.
Is my audio sent anywhere?
No. Audio and text stay on your Mac. There are no analytics and no crash reporting in the app.
Updated October 27, 2026.