Changelog

New

Persistent recording, and Fn as the hotkey

Holding a key for the whole of a long dictation is tiring, and it ties up a hand you may need for something else.

Next to push to talk, which records while you hold its key, there is now persistent recording: press its hotkey once to start and once more to stop. New users get Fn for push to talk and Fn+Space for persistent recording; if you press Space while holding Fn, the recording carries on after you let go. Change both in Settings > Hotkeys; your own push to talk key stays as it was.

Dictate in several languages

You could dictate in one language, or leave the choice to Whisper, which sometimes heard a language you don't speak.

Now you select the languages you dictate in, from every language Whisper knows, and VoiceNoodler detects which of them you are speaking. Select them in Settings > Transcription, or from the language item in the menu bar menu.

A guided setup

A new user got the Settings window and had to work out the rest: which permissions, which model, which key.

The first start is now a guided setup of six steps: the permissions, a model, your microphone, your languages, your hotkeys and a test dictation that shows the text in the window instead of pasting it. When a permission goes missing later, it comes back for that step alone.

See that it is recording

While you held the key, nothing on screen told you that the recording was running, or that it heard you.

A small pill now floats at the bottom of the screen while you record, with bars that move with your voice. Click its × or press Escape to throw the recording away. Settings > Notifications moves it to another place on the screen or turns it off.

Choose your microphone

VoiceNoodler recorded from whatever microphone macOS had chosen.

Choose one in Settings > Microphone, where a meter shows that it hears you, or in the Microphone submenu of the menu bar menu. A microphone that isn't connected falls back to the system's, and is used again once it is back.