tutorials · · 9 min
Mac dictation not working? Start with the symptom
Four symptoms, four causes. The one nobody covers: dictation that works everywhere except one app is macOS Secure Input, and it is usually your terminal.
Halopen Learn
Voice typing on Mac, in depth.
Guides, workflows, and the craft behind Halopen — the native macOS dictation app that writes what you said.
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- developers · · 7 min
Claude Code has dictation now. When do you need more?
The built-in /voice is good, free, and tuned for code. Its own docs say audio is not processed locally, and it only works inside Claude Code. That is the whole decision.
- engineering · · 6 min
I fact-checked my own marketing. It did not go well.
Seven false claims about my own product, all written by me, none of them lies. What I found, and the check that had been quietly passing for four months without working.
- fundamentals · · 6 min
Why your dictation app rewrites what you said
Most dictation runs a silent cleanup pass after transcription. It is usually helpful, and it quietly costs you the words you actually chose.
- fundamentals · · 7 min
Your dictation cleanup should have to show its work
The AI tidying pass is the one step that can change your meaning without looking like it did. What it takes to hold it accountable: a veto, an appeal, and a receipt.
- fundamentals · · 7 min
Why dictation misspells the names you added to it
A custom dictionary usually just whispers a hint to the model, and models are free to ignore hints. What it actually takes to make a name spell right, every time.
- fundamentals · · 6 min
Hold-to-talk dictation, and why there is no toggle
A toggle can leave you recording a room you thought was silent, or not recording the sentence you just nailed. Holding a key removes the mode error entirely.
- developers · · 5 min
The best voice-to-text app for vibe coding on a Mac
Which Mac dictation app to use for prompting Claude Code, Cursor and Codex — what breaks, what to require, and a practical comparison for reviewing dictated prompts.
- privacy · · 7 min
Obsidian voice dictation that can stay on your Mac
How to dictate into Obsidian on macOS — with setup, formatting and the difference between local speech recognition and vault storage.
- workflow · · 4 min
A coding session with voice: what to check at each step
Evaluate a Mac dictation workflow for coding: choose the input, review the transcript, inspect the diff and check the result before accepting a change.
- privacy · · 8 min
Offline dictation on a Mac: what works without internet
Dictate on an Apple Silicon Mac with no connection once setup is done. What needs internet and when, what changes offline, requirements and plans.
- privacy · · 3 min
The Halopen audit log: what it is and how to read it
Read Halopen’s local transcript and event log, recover a draft, control retention, and understand what the log cannot prove about network activity.
- privacy · · 4 min
What on-device dictation means in Halopen
Understand local speech recognition on Apple Silicon, model setup, local history and the network activity that remains separate.
- writers · · 3 min
Mac dictation that handles multilingual code-switching
Evaluate multilingual dictation on Mac with your language pair, names and numbers. Review mixed-language output and understand processing limits.
- developers · · 4 min
Mac dictation for AI coding: choosing an input workflow
Evaluate a Mac dictation workflow for coding: choose the input, review the transcript, inspect the diff and check the result before accepting a change.
- developers · · 5 min
Voice typing for prompt engineering on Mac
Dictate system prompts, evaluation rubrics and long-context requests on Mac. Review constraints and test the result with these illustrative exercises.
- developers · · 4 min
Voice typing in the terminal on Mac — patterns
Draft terminal requests by voice on Mac, then review flags, paths, quoting and destination before execution. Includes illustrative practice examples.
- developers · · 6 min
Voice typing patterns for Claude Code on Mac
Claude Code prompt exercises for migrations, refactors and reviews. Adapt the examples, check exact identifiers and verify each completed request.
- developers · · 5 min
Voice typing patterns for Cursor on Mac
Cursor prompt exercises for selected edits, chat and broader changes. Review file context, preserved behavior and verification before sending.
- developers · · 6 min
Voice typing for Cursor on Mac
Evaluate voice typing in Cursor on Mac: native chat input, Halopen setup, prompt review, code symbols, context settings and insertion troubleshooting.
- developers · · 6 min
Voice typing for Claude Code on Mac
Compare Claude Code’s native voice input with a separate Mac dictation workflow. Set up Halopen, review code symbols and troubleshoot incomplete prompts.
- fundamentals · · 2 min
Halopen — hold-to-talk dictation for Mac
Meet Halopen: a native Mac dictation app with Verbatim output by default, optional cleanup and local or Cloud transcription.
Try Halopen
Hold the function key. Speak.
Halopen is free for 14 days, no credit card.