Show HN: TongueType – Local, privacy-focused Whisper dictation for macOS

Hi HN,

I'm a longtime web dev, but this is my first macOS app. Feedback is very welcome <3

I built TongueType because every dictation app I tried failed at least one of three things: it sent my audio to someone's cloud, it charged me monthly fee, or it felt clunky or enterprisy. The cloud thing kills it for anything sensitive. The subscription thing is insulting for what amounts to "Whisper + a hotkey."

TongueType runs Whisper locally on Apple Silicon via CoreML. It's built to feel like a second keyboard: tap the hotkey, talk, let go, words appear. It sits in the menu bar (no dock icon, no buttons to click). I use it constantly for LLM prompts, code comments, emails, and DMs. It gets out of the way completely. (It can also transcribe audio and video files.)

No accounts, no servers, zero telemetry. The free tier is 30 minutes of live dictation per month. Pro is $19.99 one-time for up to 5 Macs. No subscription, and I'm committing to keeping it that way.

I wanted the app to be fun and personal. I included twenty accent colors including Rainbow Mode that runs a satisfying gradient through a waveform while you talk. Custom listening labels, adjustable overlay position, spoken cues like "new paragraph" or "scratch that." And customizable post-processing rules! I want the app to feel like its yours instead of something you're renting.

Two things worth mentioning about what didn't work:

First, I tried building an iOS keyboard extension as part of the app. iOS dictation just isn't great, and a local Whisper keyboard would have been a real upgrade. Turns out keyboard extensions can't access the microphone API at all on iOS, so the the only workaround is bouncing out to a host app to record then back to the keyboard, which is a terrible experience. Because of that, it's macOS only.

Second, I originally submitted it to the Mac App Store and it was rejected under Guideline 2.4.5, which says an app can't use Accessibility APIs for non-accessibility purposes. This is the infamous rule that gets most dictation apps rejected. The irony is that third-party dictation apps have a very real accessibility angle. People with RSI, tremor, arthritis, post-stroke hemiparesis, etc. often find long-form typing to be painful or even impossible. Apple's stance is that "inserting text at the cursor" isn't an accessibility use case, even when the user literally can't use their hands. So it's a direct download, signed and notarized, outside the App Store.

And a huge shout out to what worked really well: Polar (polar.sh) was an absolute joy to setup and use for payments! It feels like Stripe circa 2011. It's simple, fast, intuitive, and just works.

Website and download: https://tonguetype.app/

(My daughter did the voiceover for the video...she did a great job!)

I'm happy to answer any questions, and genuinely want to hear what's broken or could be better!