Murmur · dictation + meeting transcripts · v1.3.2
Hold a key.
Talk. Let go.
Murmur is a menu bar app that turns speech into text wherever your cursor is. Transcription runs entirely on your Mac, with no cloud, account or subscription. It also writes meeting transcripts for your Google Meet calls. It's free and open source.
macOS 15+ · Apple Silicon (M1 or later) · ~470 MB model downloaded once
What it does
Push to talk
Hold ⌥D, speak and release, and the text is pasted into the front app. It only listens while you hold the key, so it never catches a sentence you didn't mean to dictate. You can pick any shortcut, including Fn on its own.
Local, unconditionally
After a one-time model download, Murmur makes no network calls and works with Wi-Fi off. That's checkable, because the code is open.
25 languages
Uses NVIDIA's open Parakeet TDT models on the Neural Engine. The v2 model scores about 6% WER on the Open ASR Leaderboard.
Clipboard-safe
Your previous clipboard comes back right after pasting. Dictations are marked temporary, so clipboard managers skip them.
Stays out of the way
No Dock icon. Your recent dictations are in the menu bar menu, kept in memory only. It launches at login.
Meeting transcripts
When you join a Google Meet call, Murmur asks "Transcribe this meeting?" If you click Transcribe, it captures your mic and the other side of the call, and saves a Markdown transcript to ~/Documents/Murmur Meetings when you leave.
Only the call
During a Meet call it records only the browser that's running Meet, not your music or other apps.
Any call, by hand
For Zoom, Slack or anything else, choose Start Meeting Transcript from the menu bar.
Still local
The audio never leaves your Mac. Transcripts are plain Markdown files you own, ready to paste into notes or an AI chat.
Why not Apple's Dictation?
Apple's shortcut toggles on and stops by itself after a pause, while Murmur is true push-to-talk. Apple's on-device processing also depends on your Mac and your language; otherwise audio goes to Apple's servers. Murmur runs locally on any Apple Silicon Mac, in every language it supports.
Choosing a model
| You mostly dictate in | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| English only | v2 | Best English accuracy, and far faster than Whisper-large |
| Several languages | Ultra | 25 languages, more accurate than v3 |
| Several languages, smaller download | v3 (default) | The same 25 languages, slightly less accurate |
| English prose | Bark 3.0 Clean | Drops "um", false starts and repeated words |
Install
- Download
Murmur.dmg, open it and drag Murmur into Applications. - Open it. It isn't notarized yet, so macOS blocks the first launch. Go to System Settings › Privacy & Security, click Open Anyway, then open it again.
- Grant Microphone and Accessibility. Grant System Audio Recording too if you want meeting transcripts.
- Look for it in the menu bar. Hold ⌥D and talk.
Prefer to build it yourself? ./build.sh --install. See the README.
Questions
Is there a free, offline dictation app for Mac?
Yes. Murmur is free, open source (MIT) and runs entirely on your Mac. After a one-time ~470 MB model download it makes no network calls and works with Wi-Fi off. There's no account or subscription.
How do I dictate into any app on macOS with push-to-talk?
Install Murmur, then hold Option-D (or any shortcut you choose, including Fn on its own), speak, and release. The text is pasted at your cursor in whatever app is in front, and your previous clipboard is restored.
Can Murmur transcribe my meetings?
Yes. When you join a Google Meet call, Murmur offers to transcribe it, capturing your microphone and the other side of the call, and saves a Markdown transcript to ~/Documents/Murmur Meetings. For Zoom, Slack or any other call, choose Start Meeting Transcript from the menu bar. The audio never leaves your Mac.
Is Murmur an alternative to Superwhisper, Wispr Flow or MacWhisper?
Murmur covers the same core job, which is fast dictation into any app, as a free, open-source app that is local only. It uses NVIDIA's Parakeet TDT speech models on the Apple Neural Engine.
Which Macs and languages does Murmur support?
Apple Silicon Macs (M1 or later) on macOS 15 or later. Intel Macs aren't supported. The multilingual models cover about 25 languages; the v2 model is tuned for English.