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OpenWhispr can start dictation two ways, and you choose which:
  • Tap — press the hotkey to start, press it again to stop. This is the default.
  • Hold — hold the hotkey down while you speak, release to stop.
Hold is for dictation only. The voice assistant, translation and meeting shortcuts are always Tap. The setting is under Settings → Hotkeys under App, labelled Activation Mode, directly beneath the dictation hotkey field.

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Which one to pick

Tap suits longer dictation — a paragraph, an email — because you aren’t holding a key for a minute. It also survives you pausing to think. Hold suits short bursts, and it’s harder to leave running by accident. If you’ve ever walked away from a recording that was still going, hold fixes that permanently.

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Where hold works

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Linux setup

On Linux desktops that can’t report the key release themselves — anything other than GNOME 48 or newer, KDE and Hyprland — hold needs permission to read keyboard input devices, which your user account doesn’t have by default. If it isn’t set up you’ll see Hold to Speak needs setup in settings, with the command to run:
Log out and back in afterwards — group membership isn’t picked up until you do. Until then the Hold option stays unavailable and dictation runs in tap mode.

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When the choice isn’t offered

On GNOME older than 48, the desktop reports a shortcut as a single press and can’t tell the app when you release the key, so without the input-device access above the mode is fixed at tap. KDE and Hyprland do report the release, so hold works there with any combination that includes a regular key; a modifier-only combination on those two desktops is tap only. On a Mac, a single ordinary key such as F8 can’t do hold either. The app says so — “Hold-to-talk needs a key macOS can see you release: Globe, a right-side key like Right Option, or a shortcut with a modifier. Tap works with any key.” Everywhere else the control is always shown. Hotkeys by platform has the full map.