Turn Your Voice into Text on Mac and Windows
Voice dictation turns your speech into written text as you talk, and drops the words into whatever app has focus: a document, an email, a chat window. You hold a hotkey, speak, and let go, and the transcript appears where your cursor was sitting.
ScreenApp’s dictation runs as Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows apps, not a browser extension or a website, so it works the same way in any application that accepts typed text instead of one app at a time.
What you get:
- Speech typed directly into any Mac or Windows app, with no setup per application (hold a hotkey to dictate, then release it and the transcript lands in whatever app has focus)
- Fast returns the transcript exactly as spoken; Best removes filler words and fixes punctuation with an AI pass; Answer treats what you said as a question and inserts the AI's answer instead
- add your own list of names, jargon and terms and transcription applies them
- Dictation output in any of 100+ languages
- included on every plan, with no separate word limit
How Voice Dictation Works
- Hold the hotkey: Pick your trigger key from Left Option, Right Option, Right Alt, Right Ctrl, Scroll Lock, or Fn/Globe on an Apple keyboard in the desktop app’s settings, on Mac or Windows.
- Speak naturally: Talk at your normal pace, correcting yourself if you need to, then release the key when you are done.
- Read the result: The transcript, or the AI-cleaned version of it in Best mode, lands where your cursor was. Terms you add to your vocabulary list apply automatically from then on.
Accuracy depends on your microphone and how much background noise there is. A quiet room with a laptop or headset mic gives the cleanest result. See how we measure accuracy.
Voice Dictation vs Other Apps
| Feature | ScreenApp | Dragon | Otter.ai | Wispr Flow | Apple Dictation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platforms | Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows apps | no current public price page; Nuance's Dragon for Individuals and Dragon Professional pages redirect to Microsoft's health solutions site | Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet | Mac, Windows, iOS and Android | Mac, iPhone, iPad |
| Free tier | included on every plan, with no separate word limit | Not stated | 300 min/month | 2,000 on desktop and 1,000 on iPhone | Free, built in to macOS |
| Length limit | None | Not stated | 30 min per conversation (free) | Not stated | None, stops after 30 seconds of silence |
| Languages | 100+ | Not stated | 6 | Not stated | Not stated |
| Paid plan | $19/month annual | No current public price | $8.33/month annual | $12/month annual | Free |
Sources, checked 2026-09-17: ScreenApp desktop apps, ScreenApp pricing, screenapp.io/accuracy#languages, nuance.com/dragon/dragon-for-individuals.html, otter.ai/otterpilot, wisprflow.ai/pricing, otter.ai/pricing, support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/use-dictation-mh40584/mac
- vs Dragon: no current public price page; Nuance's Dragon for Individuals and Dragon Professional pages redirect to Microsoft's health solutions site, so there is no current consumer price to compare against. ScreenApp runs on Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows apps at $19 a month annual for the paid plan, with dictation itself included on every plan.
- vs Otter.ai: Otter’s free plan caps you at 300 minutes a month and is built around transcribing meetings, not typing into whatever app has focus. ScreenApp’s dictation carries included on every plan, with no separate word limit.
- vs Wispr Flow: Wispr Flow’s free plan caps you at 2,000 on desktop and 1,000 on iPhone, and its paid plan is $12 a month billed annually. ScreenApp’s dictation has no separate word cap on any plan.
- vs Apple Dictation: Free and built in to macOS, and it does not time out mid-sentence, it only stops after 30 seconds of silence. It has no custom vocabulary list and is limited to Apple hardware, while ScreenApp runs on Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows apps.
Who Uses Voice Dictation
Professionals writing reports and correspondence. Consultants, analysts, and managers dictate memos and client emails instead of typing them, then edit the result by hand. A vocabulary list keeps client names and project terms spelled the same way every time.
People with RSI, carpal tunnel, or limited hand mobility. Dictation replaces the keyboard as the main way of getting words onto a screen, with a hotkey instead of a mouse click to start and stop.
Students and researchers. Notes, summaries, and early drafts of a paper get spoken out loud instead of typed, then cleaned up during editing. A vocabulary list picks up field-specific terms once they are added.
Customer support and sales teams. Replies to the same kinds of tickets and emails get dictated instead of typed, saving the retyping for messages that need more thought.
Content creators drafting scripts and outlines. Speaking a rough draft out loud keeps the ideas moving, with the AI cleanup in Best mode removing filler words before the text needs editing.
People who work across languages. Dictation output is available in any of 100+ languages, so a document can be dictated in the language it needs to be written in rather than typed and then translated.
