The latest articles on DEV Community by Greg Daynes (@greg_daynes_fa28219b855a4). https://dev.to/greg_daynes_fa28219b855a4 https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4208928%2F5dd803d8-ed2c-40ba-9af7-fdffc13faf98.png https://dev.to/greg_daynes_fa28219b855a4 en Greg Daynes Mon, 26 Oct 2026 15:06:59 +0000 https://dev.to/greg_daynes_fa28219b855a4/i-built-a-dictation-app-that-never-sends-your-voice-to-a-server-gnn https://dev.to/greg_daynes_fa28219b855a4/i-built-a-dictation-app-that-never-sends-your-voice-to-a-server-gnn <p>Most dictation apps work the same way. You talk, your audio goes up to a cloud server, and text comes back. That's fine for a shopping list. It's less fine when you're dictating a legal draft, patient notes, or an email about a deal that hasn't been announced.</p> <p>So I built <strong>Quiet Dictation</strong>: hold a hotkey, speak, release, and clean, punctuated text appears wherever your cursor is. The difference is that speech recognition runs entirely on your own laptop. No audio is uploaded or stored anywhere else.</p> <h2> Why on-device matters </h2> <ul> <li> <strong>Privacy:</strong> your voice never leaves your machine, so there's nothing on a server to leak, subpoena or train on.</li> <li> <strong>Offline:</strong> it works on a plane, behind a hospital firewall, or on terrible cafe Wi-Fi.</li> <li> <strong>Cost:</strong> with no servers transcribing audio, it can be cheap. It's $5/month or $39/year. Wispr Flow is $15/month.</li> </ul> <h2> What it does </h2> <ul> <li>Works in any app: Word, Outlook, Gmail, Google Docs, Slack, WhatsApp, your browser</li> <li>Double-tap the key for hands-free mode when you're dictating something long</li> <li>Personal dictionary for names and terms it should always get right</li> <li>Meeting recording and transcription</li> <li>Tuned for non-American and non-native English accents. I'm in South Africa, and most dictation tools treat my accent as an edge case.</li> </ul> <p>It runs on Mac (Apple Silicon, macOS 13+) and Windows 10/11. There's a 14-day free trial, no card needed.</p> <p>If you type all day, try it and tell me what breaks: <a href="https://www.quietdictation.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">quietdictation.com</a></p> productivity privacy ai showdev