Sprecho is a desktop app: you install it once, and from then on you can dictate into any application on your Mac — Mail, Slack, Word, your browser, your code editor — using one key.
Installing takes about three minutes. Two of them are macOS asking whether it should trust the app, which is normal for anything that types on your behalf.
Before you start
- macOS 10.15 (Catalina) or later. Anything from 2019 onwards qualifies.
- An internet connection. Speech recognition and formatting run on Sprecho's servers in Germany, not on your Mac.
- About 200 MB of disk space.
You do not need a paid plan to install. The free plan covers 2,000 words per week, and the 14-day Pro trial starts without a credit card.
1. Download the right build
Open sprecho.ai/download. The page detects your Mac and highlights the correct build:
- Apple Silicon — every Mac with an M1, M2, M3 or M4 chip.
- Intel — Macs sold before late 2020.
Not sure which you have? Click the Apple menu, choose About This Mac, and look at the Chip line. If it says "Apple M…", take the Apple Silicon build.
2. Install the app
Open the downloaded .dmg file and drag the Sprecho icon onto the Applications
folder. Then eject the disk image and launch Sprecho from Applications or
Spotlight.
The first launch may take a few seconds longer than usual while macOS verifies the app's signature. That check happens once.
3. Grant the two permissions
Sprecho asks for exactly two macOS permissions, and it cannot work without either. The onboarding walks you through both.
Microphone
This is what records your voice. macOS shows a standard dialog the first time Sprecho tries to listen — click Allow.
If you dismissed it by accident, open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone and switch Sprecho on.
Accessibility
This is what lets Sprecho type the finished text into the app you are using. Without it, dictation still records and transcribes, but nothing appears in your document.
macOS never grants this from a dialog alone. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility, click the + button, add Sprecho, and make sure its toggle is on.
Restart Sprecho after granting Accessibility. macOS only hands the permission to a freshly launched process, so the app cannot pick it up mid-session.
4. Sign in and dictate
Sign in with the account you created on the website, or create one directly in the app.
Then put your cursor wherever you want text to appear and hold the fn key
while you speak. Release it, and a moment later your words land in the document,
punctuated and cleaned up.
fn is the default because it is the one key on a Mac keyboard that no
application uses for anything else. You can change it in Settings → General.
If something does not work
| What you see | What it usually is |
|---|---|
| Nothing is recorded | Microphone permission is off, or the wrong input device is selected |
| Recording works, no text appears | Accessibility permission is off, or Sprecho was not restarted after granting it |
| Text appears in the wrong app | The target app lost focus while you were speaking — click into it first |
If dictation used to work and stopped after a macOS update, macOS has almost certainly reset the Accessibility entry. Removing Sprecho from the list and adding it again fixes it.