Dictation and audio transcription for students on Mac
Students have two recurring jobs: writing a lot of text, and getting spoken material into a form they can search and study. WhisprDesk helps with both on a Mac: dictate into any text field, and upload a recording to get a transcript saved as a note.
Dictate essays and notes
Click into your document or notes app, press the hotkey, and talk through your argument. Speaking a rough version first, then editing it, is a common way to get past a blank page.
Turn a lecture recording into a transcript
If you record a lecture with your phone or a voice recorder, open Upload in WhisprDesk, drop the file in, and click Transcribe. Accepted formats are MP3, WAV, M4A, WebM, OGG, FLAC, AAC, MP4, WMA and Opus. The transcript is saved as a note in Notes, where you can copy it or export it as Markdown or plain text.
With a local model, the file is transcribed on your Mac with no size limit enforced by WhisprDesk. WhisprDesk reads the file where it is and does not keep a copy; only the transcript is saved. Very long files have not been tested, so try one first. With cloud transcription, files are limited to 25 MB.
Always check that you are allowed to record a class or lecture before you do.
Search what you saved
With the WhisprDesk window open, press Cmd+K to search your note titles and contents along with your 50 most recent dictations. Note search works best with English letters and numbers.
Privacy and cost
Where your voice goes depends on the engine you choose. With a local model (NVIDIA Parakeet is about 680 MB), transcription runs on your Mac and your audio is not uploaded. With a cloud provider, your audio goes directly to the provider whose key you entered. WhisprDesk does not receive it either way.
WhisprDesk is a one-time $24.99 purchase with no subscription, and a 7-day free trial with no credit card.
Frequently asked questions
- Does it label different speakers?
- No. WhisprDesk produces a single transcript and does not label speakers.
- Does it work offline?
- Yes, with a local model you have already downloaded you can transcribe without an internet connection. The app re-checks its license about every 24 hours and keeps working for up to 7 days without a connection.
- Which Macs does it run on?
- Macs with Apple Silicon (M1 or later) running macOS 14 Sonoma or later.