Transcribe any audio on your Mac — Not just your voice through the microphone, but also system-wide audio or sound from a specific app. If your Mac can hear it, SpeechDock can turn it into text in real time.
Hear any text on your screen — Selected text, typed text, pasted content, or text captured via OCR from any screen region. If you can see it, SpeechDock can read it aloud.
Live subtitles and translation — Display real-time transcription as on-screen subtitles, with optional translation into 100+ languages using on-device or cloud providers.
Always accessible from your menu bar — Global hotkeys let you use STT and TTS from anywhere, without switching apps. Works immediately after installation with no API keys required. Cloud providers are optional enhancements.
English | 日本語
| Page | Description |
|---|---|
| Home | Overview and getting started |
| Basic Features | macOS native STT/TTS, OCR, subtitles, shortcuts |
| Advanced Features | Cloud providers, API keys, file transcription, translation |
| AppleScript | Scripting commands, properties, examples, error codes |
Convert speech to text using:
| Provider | Models | API Key |
|---|---|---|
| macOS Native | System Default (SpeechAnalyzer on macOS 26+) | Not required |
| OpenAI | GPT-4o Transcribe, GPT-4o Mini Transcribe, Whisper | Required |
| Google Gemini | Gemini 2.5 Flash Native Audio, Gemini 2.0 Flash Live | Required |
| ElevenLabs | Scribe v2 Realtime | Required |
| Grok | Grok Realtime | Required |
Note: On macOS 26+, the native STT uses Apple's new SpeechAnalyzer framework, providing real-time transcription without time limits and improved performance.
Convert text to speech using:
| Provider | Models | API Key |
|---|---|---|
| macOS Native | System Default | Not required |
| OpenAI | GPT-4o Mini TTS (Dec 2025), GPT-4o Mini TTS, TTS-1, TTS-1 HD | Required |
| Google Gemini | Gemini 2.5 Flash TTS, Gemini 2.5 Pro TTS | Required |
| ElevenLabs | Eleven v3, Flash v2.5, Multilingual v2, Turbo v2.5, Monolingual v1 | Required |
| Grok | Grok Voice | Required |
Capture text from any region of your screen and convert it to speech:
- Press the OCR hotkey (
Ctrl + Option + Shift + Oby default) - Drag to select the region containing text
- Recognized text appears in the TTS panel for editing
- Press Speak to read the text aloud
Uses macOS Vision Framework for text recognition. Requires Screen Recording permission.
Display real-time transcription as subtitles overlay during recording:
- On-screen subtitles - Show transcription as floating subtitles anywhere on screen
- Real-time translation - Optionally translate subtitles as you speak
- Customizable appearance - Adjust font size, opacity, position (top/bottom), and max lines
- Draggable position - Drag subtitles to any location on screen
- Auto-hide panel - Optionally hide STT panel when subtitle mode is active
Toggle with hotkey (Ctrl + Option + S by default) or from the STT panel/menu bar.
- Microphone - Record from any connected microphone with device selection
- System Audio - Capture all audio output from your Mac
- App Audio - Capture audio from a specific application
A floating microphone button for instant voice input without opening the STT panel:
- Enable Floating Mic Button from the menu bar
- Click the button or press
Ctrl + Option + Mto start recording - Speak — real-time transcription appears in a floating HUD
- Click again or press
Ctrl + Option + Mto stop - Transcribed text is automatically pasted into the frontmost app
The button can be dragged anywhere on screen, and its position is saved.
- Global keyboard shortcuts for STT and TTS
- Customizable panel shortcuts with modifier key support
- Panel windows for real-time transcription with paste target selection
- Panel windows for TTS with text editing and word highlighting
- Panel style selection: Floating (always-on-top) or Standard Window
- Audio output device selection for TTS
- Save synthesized audio to file (M4A/MP3 format)
- Language selection for STT and TTS
- Speed control for TTS playback
- Voice and model selection per provider
- VAD (Voice Activity Detection) auto-stop for hands-free recording
- Text replacement rules for STT output correction
- Translation (macOS on-device or cloud LLMs)
- Transcription history (auto-saved, up to 50 entries, accessible from menu bar)
- Text file drag & drop for TTS panel (.txt, .md, .text, .rtf)
- Real-time character and word count display
- Automatic WebSocket reconnection with exponential backoff
- AppleScript support for automation
- Automatic updates via Sparkle
- Launch at login option
- macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) or later
- Apple Silicon Mac (M1/M2/M3/M4)
- API keys for cloud providers are optional (required only if using OpenAI, Google Gemini, ElevenLabs, or Grok)
brew tap yohasebe/speechdock
brew install --cask speechdock
To update to the latest version:
brew upgrade --cask speechdock
- Download the latest
.dmgfile from the Releases page - Open the DMG file
- Drag SpeechDock to your Applications folder
- Launch SpeechDock from Applications
To use cloud providers, you need to configure API keys:
- Open Settings > API Keys
- Enter your API keys:
- OpenAI: OpenAI Platform
- Google Gemini: Google AI Studio
- ElevenLabs: ElevenLabs Settings
- Grok (xAI): xAI Console
API keys are securely stored in macOS Keychain.
SpeechDock requires or recommends the following permissions:
| Permission | Level | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Microphone | Required | Speech recognition input |
| Accessibility | Recommended | Global keyboard shortcuts and text insertion |
| Screen Recording | Optional | System/App Audio capture, OCR, and window thumbnails |
On first launch, SpeechDock displays a permission setup window with real-time status indicators. Grant permissions in System Settings > Privacy & Security — the setup window updates automatically without restarting the app. Features that require missing permissions are disabled in the UI with clear visual indicators.
| Action | Default Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Toggle STT Panel | Cmd + Shift + Space |
| Toggle TTS Panel | Ctrl + Option + T |
| OCR Region to Speech | Ctrl + Option + Shift + O |
| Toggle Subtitle Mode | Ctrl + Option + S |
| Quick Transcription | Ctrl + Option + M |
Shortcuts can be customized in Settings > Shortcuts.
| Action | Default Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Record | Cmd + R |
| Stop Recording | Cmd + S |
| Paste Text | Cmd + Return |
| Select Target | Cmd + Shift + Return |
| Cancel | Cmd + . |
| Action | Default Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Speak | Cmd + Return |
| Stop | Cmd + . |
| Save Audio | Cmd + S |
Click the SpeechDock icon in the menu bar for quick access to:
- Start/stop STT recording
- Open TTS for selected text
- Toggle subtitle mode and floating mic button
- Transcribe audio files
- Open transcription history
- OCR to speech
- Access Settings, Help, and About
Open Settings with Cmd + , or from the menu bar. The unified settings window uses a sidebar with the following categories:
- Speech-to-Text: Provider, model, language, audio input, auto-stop, panel behavior
- Text-to-Speech: Provider, model, voice, speed, audio output, panel behavior
- Translation: Panel translation provider/model, subtitle translation settings
- Subtitle: On/off, position, font size, text/background opacity, max lines
- Shortcuts: Global hotkeys and panel shortcuts
- Text Replacement: Built-in patterns and custom rules
- Appearance: Text font size, panel style, launch at login
- API Keys: Cloud provider API keys (optional)
- About: Version info, links, check for updates, support
Choose between two panel styles in Settings > Appearance:
- Floating: Always-on-top borderless panels that can be dragged from anywhere
- Standard Window: Regular macOS windows with title bar, can be minimized
Note: Only one panel (STT or TTS) can be open at a time. Opening one will close the other.
- Check microphone permission is granted
- Verify API key is configured (for cloud providers)
- Try macOS native provider to test basic functionality
- For System/App Audio, check Screen Recording permission
- Verify API key is configured (for cloud providers)
- Try macOS native provider to test
- Check audio output is not muted
- Try selecting a different output device
- Check Accessibility permission is granted
- Look for conflicts with other applications
- Reset shortcuts to defaults in Settings
- Grant Screen Recording permission in System Settings
- For App Audio, ensure the target app is running
- Refresh the app list from the audio source menu
- Grant Screen Recording permission in System Settings
- Ensure the text in the selected region is clear and readable
- Try selecting a larger region around the text
- API Keys: Stored securely in macOS Keychain, never transmitted except to the respective provider
- macOS Native: Audio processed entirely on-device, no data sent externally
- Cloud Providers: Audio sent to provider APIs (OpenAI, Google, ElevenLabs, Grok) for processing according to their privacy policies
- No Telemetry: SpeechDock does not collect or transmit usage data
Apache License 2.0 - see LICENSE for details.
Yoichiro Hasebe
SpeechDock is free and open source. If you find it useful, please consider supporting its development:
Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or pull request on GitHub.