Requirements
- macOS 12 (Monterey) or later for the app and cloud transcription
- macOS 13.3 (Ventura) or later for on-device models (local Whisper, Parakeet)
- Apple Silicon (arm64) or Intel (x64)
Permissions
macOS requires explicit permission grants. OpenWhispr requests these during onboarding.
If auto-paste stops working, go to System Settings > Privacy > Accessibility, remove OpenWhispr, and re-add it.
Globe key
On macOS, you can use the Globe/Fn key as your dictation hotkey. Packaged releases include the native listener. If you’re building from source, install the Xcode Command Line Tools so the listener can compile:
No Input Monitoring permission is needed.
Installation
Download the .dmg from the releases page. Drag OpenWhispr to your Applications folder.
On first launch, macOS may show a security warning for unsigned builds. Right-click the app and select Open to bypass this.
Uninstalling
- Drag OpenWhispr from Applications to Trash
- Optionally remove cached models:
rm -rf ~/.cache/openwhispr/
- Optionally remove app data:
rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/OpenWhispr/
