# Detexts — full reference

> Detexts is a local-first speech-to-text and translation menu-bar app for macOS. Everything runs on your own Mac; your voice and text never leave the device unless you explicitly pick a cloud API engine. No account, no tracking, no telemetry — we never collect or sell your voice, transcriptions, or translations.

Requirements: macOS 15 (Sequoia) or later, Apple Silicon (M-series).

## The three gestures
- **Hold Fn → voice-to-text.** Hold Fn, speak, release; Detexts transcribes locally and pastes at your cursor. The recording key and gesture are customizable (Fn by default; also Space long-press or Right Command; Hold / Toggle / Double-tap).
- **⌘C+C → text-to-text translation.** Hold ⌘ and double-tap C to translate highlighted or clipboard text; a popup shows the result in your target language.
- **⌘⇧2 → image-to-text translation.** Capture any region of the screen; Detexts OCRs the text in the image and translates it — for text you can't highlight (images, PDFs, apps).

## Who it's for (target users)
Primary: **ESL** (English-as-a-second-language) Mac users who work with English daily but aren't fully confident in it:
- **CJK** — Chinese (including Cantonese), Japanese, Korean.
- **European** — mainly German, French, Italian, Spanish.
- Anyone who constantly handles English content that isn't their strength.
Also: vibe coders / general employees looking for productivity tools. All on Mac.

## Why Detexts (value)
- **Works on any screen** — translate any highlighted text; can't highlight it? screenshot-translate (⌘⇧2).
- **Shortcut-first** — no need to open the app; quick preview + copy.
- **Curated local models** — we researched the best on-device models for ESL + productivity, so users don't have to.
- **BYOK, no markup** — bring your own LLM key (Claude / OpenAI / Gemini); pay your provider directly, we never add a cost.
- **Offline** — local models work offline once downloaded.
- **Privacy** — never sells or collects your voice/text data.

## Transcription (speech-to-text)
- Whisper via whisper.cpp with Metal acceleration. Models: Tiny, Small, Turbo (Turbo is most accurate; recommended). Multilingual, including CJK.
- NVIDIA Parakeet V2 (CoreML / Neural Engine): fastest local ASR, English only.
- Optional cloud: GPT-4o mini Transcribe (needs your OpenAI key).

## Translation
- Apple on-device Translation (offline).
- On-device Qwen2.5 GGUF via llama.cpp (offline).
- Bring your own API key for Claude, OpenAI, or Gemini (online, optional).
- Target languages include English, 繁體中文, 简体中文, 日本語, 한국어, and major European languages.

## Pricing
- Free: $0 forever. All on-device models, dictation + clipboard & screenshot translation, BYOK, English & 繁體中文, capped at 10 uses/day.
- Pro: Monthly $9.99 · 6 months $49.99 (3-day free trial) · Lifetime $79 (one-time). Purchase in-app.

## Positioning
- vs **Wispr Flow** (cloud AI-dictation subscription): Detexts runs on-device/offline, adds translation, one-time purchase, no account.
- vs **DeepL** (cloud translation): Detexts adds speech-to-text + screenshot translate, runs on-device, one-time purchase.
- vs **Spokenly** (local dictation): Detexts combines dictation + translation + screenshot translate + BYOK.

## Privacy
Speech recognition and translation run on your machine. Nothing is uploaded unless you explicitly choose a cloud API engine. API keys are stored in the macOS Keychain. No accounts, no tracking, no telemetry.

## Contact
Email support: hello+detexts@pugsky.com

## Links
- Home: https://detexts.com/
- Pricing: https://detexts.com/pricing
- FAQ: https://detexts.com/faq
- Docs: https://detexts.com/docs
- Changelog: https://detexts.com/docs/changelog
- Compare: https://detexts.com/compare
- About: https://detexts.com/about
- Contact: https://detexts.com/contact
- Privacy Policy: https://detexts.com/privacy.html