Choose private dictation software by where it recognises speech, whether it sends text for rewriting, and what it saves afterward. On a Mac, start with Apple Dictation’s processing notice. Consider a dedicated app when you need explicit model choices or different history controls for the way you write.
Local speech recognition can keep audio processing on your Mac after setup. A later cloud rewrite can still send the resulting text to a remote service, and a local transcript can still be saved or synced by your editor. Check the complete route you intend to use.
Disclosure: Alex Burlis is the founder of Paraspeech. We sell the app discussed here and are not affiliated with Apple.
Documentation checked: 23 October 2026. Paraspeech’s public appcast lists Mac 1.7.3/build 372 with a macOS 14 minimum. The native observations used here remain dated 1 October 2026.
Start with the controls that change your decision
| What you need to control | Apple Dictation | Paraspeech on Mac |
|---|---|---|
| Where speech is recognised | Read the text below System Settings → Keyboard → Dictation for your configuration. General text dictation and a search box can have different processing boundaries. | Select a supported local speech model on Apple Silicon, or an eligible cloud-backed model. Check the effective processing path, including fallback. |
| Whether text is rewritten | Treat later Writing Tools or an editor’s AI features as separate operations; Dictation’s processing notice does not describe those tools. | Turn Rewrite off, select an eligible downloaded on-device rewrite model in the direct app, or choose cloud rewriting that sends text for processing. |
| Saved dictation history | Apple offers a separate Delete Siri & Dictation History action. Deleting history does not change the audio-sharing setting. | Enabling Privacy Mode clears existing dictation history and recordings and stops saving new dictation entries. Preserve anything you need before enabling it. |
| What happens after insertion | Check whether the destination document or service syncs the text. | Check the destination and any copies or exports separately; dictation history controls do not delete them. |
Apple’s optional improvement programme has a separate control: Privacy & Security → Analytics & Improvements → Improve Siri & Dictation. Turning it on permits Apple to store and review samples of audio and transcripts. That choice is separate from the speech-processing location and history deletion. This guide does not establish an equivalent Paraspeech audio-improvement control.
Apple documents the Dictation processing notice, optional improvement setting, and history deletion. The history link describes macOS Tahoe 26; use its version selector for your Mac. Paraspeech’s Privacy Mode documentation and processing requirements describe its controls.
If Apple Dictation meets the task and its displayed processing arrangement fits your needs, keep using it. Paraspeech is worth comparing when you want its shortcut workflow, speech-model choices or an explicit choice between plain transcription and rewriting.
Match local models to your Mac
Paraspeech’s application minimum is macOS 14. Its supported local speech models require Apple Silicon, a completed model download and eligible access. Check the selected model’s own requirements; the application minimum does not promise that every speech or rewrite model works on every macOS 14 Mac.
On-device rewriting is a separate feature in the direct-download Mac app, with its own downloaded model, supported hardware and access requirements. Turn rewriting off when you do not need it. Intel Macs use eligible cloud-backed subscription models, so Paraspeech is not a local/offline Intel recommendation. Mac requirements and model choices
For a plain private note, the simplest path is a ready local speech model with rewriting off. Add local rewriting only if it improves the editing task and your setup supports it.
Check cloud fallback as well as the model name
A saved preference for a local model does not establish which model handled a particular recording. In eligible online dictation, Paraspeech can temporarily use cloud processing when local processing is unavailable. Speech and rewrite decisions are separate.
For dictation that must avoid cloud speech recognition and cloud rewriting, use Privacy Mode with the required local models already downloaded. If local processing is unavailable, that mode blocks the cloud path; choosing it does not download or repair the model for you. Review the history deletion effect before turning it on. Paraspeech Privacy Mode
The Mac speech-to-text flow explains the capture, recognition, formatting and insertion stages. Use those stages to identify which part of a workflow you are evaluating.
Keep dictation history and meetings separate
For Paraspeech dictation, Privacy Mode clears stored history and recordings and prevents new dictation history from being saved. It does not erase text you have already pasted into Notes, sent in a message, exported or backed up elsewhere.
Meeting Mode has a separate boundary. It saves meeting recordings separately and automatically attempts cloud summaries after recording, sending transcript text for processing. Do not apply the dictation Privacy Mode statement to meeting archives or summaries. Paraspeech processing documentation, Privacy Policy
Account access, purchases, downloads, updates, support and diagnostics are other operations with their own network behaviour. They do not all become offline because a speech model runs locally. Review the controls relevant to your use instead of treating a successful dictation as proof about the entire app.
Run a harmless offline check in your writing app
Use a sentence without sensitive information for the initial check.
- Confirm your Mac supports the chosen local speech model and finish its download while online.
- Turn rewriting off, or choose an eligible downloaded on-device rewrite model.
- Preserve any history you need, then enable Privacy Mode if you are testing Paraspeech’s dictation-only cloud block.
- Temporarily disconnect from the network and dictate a harmless sentence in the destination you actually use. Check both the text and whether insertion works; an unsupported field may need copy and paste.
- Check the saved-history behaviour you selected, then reconnect when the test is complete.
A successful result establishes that this setup produced text without a connection during that test. It does not establish what the same tool sends while online, what another feature stores, or whether a workflow meets a professional confidentiality requirement. For work with specific contractual or regulatory duties, check those requirements separately from the product’s feature labels.
Try the setup before choosing a plan
If Paraspeech’s hardware and processing choices fit your work, download the Mac app and try the harmless workflow above. Direct Monthly and Yearly subscriptions offer a seven-day trial with unlimited transcriptions; eligible referral and App Store offers can differ. Lifetime covers eligible local features, with twelve months of updates and continued use of the last covered version. Current plans and terms
For broader editing and app-selection criteria, use the Mac dictation buyer guide. Choose the processing and storage controls you need before choosing a price.
