Mac dictation

Use Aria’s hotkey to type speech into an app. Complete installation and setup, then open Aria from Applications. It appears in the menu bar. To run setup again, open Aria Setup in Settings → General.

Permissions

Aria needs two permissions:

• Microphone to hear you. Allow access when macOS asks. If you previously denied it, turn on Aria in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone.
• Accessibility to read the hotkey and type into other apps. When macOS asks, choose Open System Settings and turn on Aria. The switch is under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Device Control and Data Access (Accessibility before macOS 27). If Aria isn’t listed, click + and choose /Applications/Aria.app/Contents/Helpers/Aria.app. Use ⌘⇧G in the file picker to enter that path.

Try it

1. Open an empty document in a text editor and click where you want the text.
2. Tap right Option (⌥), say a short sentence, then tap it again to stop.
3. Keep that app and text field focused until processing finishes.

Transcribed words appear as segments become ready.

Tap or hold

Tap the key to start and tap again to stop. You can also hold it to record; recording starts half a second into the hold, and releasing the key stops it.

If you forget the second tap, Auto-stop ends the recording once you stop speaking. It waits 10 seconds by default. Change or turn it off under Settings → Dictation. Change the key to Fn under Settings → Shortcuts if you prefer. Fn then stops running the action set in Press fn key to in Keyboard settings, such as changing the input source.

Other keyboard or mouse input while you hold the key can cancel the recording.

Stop and send with Return

Press Return in the app you’re dictating into. Aria stops recording, types the rest, then presses Return for you.

If Aria can’t type the rest, or sees you moved to another field, it doesn’t press Return. The status pill then says return not sent.

Return in another app reaches that app, and recording goes on. With Output set to Copy to the clipboard, Return always reaches the app. Turn this off with Return sends under Settings → Dictation.

Cancel with Esc

Press Esc to cancel:

• A dictation you started with the Aria key or the wake word. Aria types nothing more, and text it already typed stays. The status pill says canceled, and Aria doesn’t save the dictation to history.
• An ask or a prompt while you speak it.
• A prompt while it runs. Once Aria starts typing the result, it types all of it.

Esc works in any app, and that app doesn’t receive it. Esc with Shift, Control, Option, or Command reaches the app. While Aria shows an ask’s reply, Esc goes to the Aria window, unless a prompt is running.

A dictation you start in the terminal keeps its own keys. See Stop by hand.

Ask or pick a prompt

Settings calls the key you tap the Aria key: right Option, or Fn if you chose it. Hold it, tap a second key, then let go:

• ⇧ Shift asks your assistant. Speak, then tap the Aria key to send. Aria opens on the chat and shows the reply there. Tap the Aria key again while Aria thinks to cancel.
• ⌘ Command opens Aria, where you pick a prompt.

Each is a setting under Settings → Shortcuts: keep the combo, record a shortcut of your own instead, or turn it off. Restore Defaults brings the combos back.

While Aria shows a chat, Ask follows up in it once its reply arrives. Once you close Aria, the next ask starts a new chat. While a prompt runs, pressing its combo again does nothing. The Aria key alone sends and cancels a question or prompt.

Any other key pressed with the Aria key cancels the press. Option shortcuts in other apps keep working. These presses need Accessibility access.

Choose a speech model

Settings → Dictation → Speech model lists the speech models your Mac can run. Models already on your Mac come first. The rest sit under Download, with their size.

Choosing a model that isn’t on your Mac downloads it. Your current model keeps working until the download finishes. Click Cancel to stop the download. Aria keeps the partial files, and choosing the model again resumes it.

Aria switches models between dictations, without a restart. If you’re dictating, the switch waits until you finish. The first dictation after a switch may wait a moment while the new model loads.

Whisper Tiny and Parakeet (MLX) type only after recording stops. While you use one of them, Deliver stays at After recording stops. Your choice returns when you switch back to a model that types while you speak.

While Recognize speech on your server is on in Settings → Recognition, your server chooses the model.

A model stays on your Mac after you switch away from it. To free its space, open Settings → General → Storage and click the trash button beside it. Models that a setting loads have no trash button. Choose a deleted model again to download it.

When your speech model can’t type while you speak, Transcription uses Parakeet. Parakeet still has a trash button then. If you delete it, Transcription reports it missing when a transcription starts.

Captions

Turn on Show captions in Settings → General to see what Aria hears in a panel while you record. Captions work with either delivery choice.

Settings → Dictation → Deliver decides when Aria types. With While speaking, Aria types finalized segments as you speak. With After recording stops, it types the completed text when you stop. If you switch away while Aria types segments, it keeps recording. The status pill shows the icon of the app it’s waiting for. Aria types what you said once you’re back in that field. If you stop while away, the status pill says where the words went: copied, saved to history, or not typed.

While Aria types segments, words it has heard but not typed yet show faintly at the cursor. Aria may still change them before it types them. Apps that do not report their cursor show none, and neither does Only type my voice. Turn them off with Show inline preview under Settings → General → On screen.

If output is set to copy, paste the text after recording. Copying always uses the completed text. Output choices are under Settings → Dictation.

Per-app settings

Settings → Apps gives an app its own output and delivery. Click +, pick the app, then choose its settings. Aria uses them when that app is in front as dictation starts. Switching apps mid-recording changes nothing. Other apps use Settings → Dictation. Flags such as aria dictate --mode copy still win.

Switch off the switch at the top of an app’s page, and Aria starts no dictation or chat and types or copies nothing while that app is in front, even from the phone. A dictation started in another app keeps recording. Its words wait for that app.

Dictate from iPhone and Apple Watch

Switch on Phone pairing under Settings → Phone. Aria restarts and shows a code for Aria for iPhone to scan. Switching it off keeps paired phones for next time.

Copy Code puts the code on the clipboard, marked hidden from clipboard managers and wiped when the code expires. Universal Clipboard may still carry it to your other devices meanwhile. Revoke All… unpairs every phone at once, and each phone scans a new code to pair again.

Keep Aria running

Dictation needs Aria’s background service. Opening the app starts it; choosing Quit Aria stops it until you open the app again. Keep Aria allowed under System Settings → General → Login Items → Allow in the Background.

You can enable Launch at login under Settings → General.

Once dictation works, you can correct project names or review its history.