I Mostly Stopped Typing
I built the dictation app I wanted. It's called TongueType, and my daughter did the voice over for the video. (Family business.)
It hasn't gotten much traction yet, and I think I know why: dictation has been bad for so long that most people stopped paying attention. I don't blame them. But I don't think most people realize how good local models have gotten. The thing that was flaky and frustrating five years ago is genuinely good now, and it runs entirely on your Mac.
Downloads are low. But the conversion rate is great. The people who actually try it tend to stick around, which tells me the problem isn't the app, it's getting someone to give dictation one more honest chance.
The real hurdle is the habit
The hard part isn't accuracy. It's that talking instead of typing is a new habit, and new habits are awkward before they're automatic. For the first week it feels strange. You catch yourself reaching for the keyboard out of muscle memory.
Then one day it clicks, and you realize how slow typing was making you for certain things.
I still write code by hand. That's thinking, not transcribing, and I want my fingers on it (plus saying HTML tags and attributes out loud seems counterintuitive 😂). But for almost everything else, I talk.
- I prompt LLMs
- I send emails
- I reply on Slack
- I write commit messages
- I do most other text with my voice
The common thread is that the thinking is already done and the only thing left is getting the words out. That turns out to be a surprising amount of my day.
My desk setup
On the go, the MacBook's built-in mic works just fine. You don't need fancy hardware to get good results. But when I'm at my desk, my laptop is docked, so I pair TongueType with a Tula mic. It's small, portable, sounds great, and looks the part! (Kuru Toga mechanical pencil positioned for size comparison.)
One tip: use a wired mic if you can. Bluetooth adds latency, and latency is the enemy of a tool you reach for dozens of times a day. A wired connection makes the whole thing feel instant.
Honest caveat: it's probably not a great look in a co-working space. 😂
"Why is this better than macOS dictation?"
More accurate. Less flaky. More customizable. More fun.
I could list the features, but the honest answer is the same one I'd give for most things: just try it and you'll feel the difference immediately. It's free to start.
What's your experience been with dictation? If you wrote it off years ago, I'd genuinely love for you to give TongueType a shot and tell me what you think.