Speak instead of type.
Local-first speech-to-text and translation for macOS. Fully on your Mac, offline. Vibe-code by talking.
Three gestures. That's it.
Hold Fn to dictate
Hold the Fn key for a second, speak, and release. Detexts transcribes locally and pastes the text right at your cursor.
Hold ⌘ and double-tap C to translate
Copy anything, hold ⌘ and tap C twice, and a translation pops up in your target language — powered by Apple's on-device engine or your own API key.
Press ⌘⇧2 to translate on-screen text
Capture any part of your screen — Detexts reads the text in the image and translates it instantly.
Everything stays on your Mac
Local speech-to-text
whisper.cpp with Metal acceleration. Tiny, Small, or Turbo models — download what fits.
Offline translation
Apple's on-device Translation, or bring your own key for Claude, OpenAI, or Gemini.
Transcribe files
Drop in an audio or video file and get the transcript — no upload, no cloud.
History, on-device
Every transcript and translation is stored locally. Search, copy, delete — it never leaves.
English & 繁體中文
The whole interface speaks both, switchable instantly.
Lives in your menu bar
A quiet menu-bar app. Your shortcut works in any text field, in any app.
Private by design
Detexts runs speech recognition and translation on your own machine. Nothing is uploaded — unless you explicitly choose an API translation engine. No accounts, no tracking, no telemetry.
- On-device transcription
- Offline-capable translation
- No account required
- Open about what leaves your Mac
Get Detexts
Free while in development. macOS 15 Sequoia or later — Apple Silicon or Intel.
Requires microphone, Accessibility, and Input Monitoring permissions for the global shortcut.
Questions
Does it work offline?+
Yes. Speech-to-text and Apple's translation run fully offline. API translation engines (Claude/OpenAI/Gemini) are optional and need a connection.
What permissions does it need?+
Microphone (to record), Accessibility and Input Monitoring (to detect the global shortcut and paste text). All standard macOS prompts.
Which languages are supported?+
Transcription is multilingual (whisper). Translation covers major languages including 繁體中文, English, 日本語, 한국어, and more.
Does it run on Intel Macs?+
Yes. Detexts ships as a universal app that runs natively on both Apple Silicon (M-series) and Intel Macs, on macOS 15 or later.
Can I change the recording key?+
Yes — Fn hold by default, or switch to Space long-press or Right ⌘ in Settings → Shortcuts.