Handless is a free, open-source speech-to-text application designed for macOS (version 12 and above). It enables users to convert spoken words into text across any app by pressing a keyboard shortcut, allowing for hands-free dictation and transcription. The tool addresses the need for flexible and private speech recognition by offering both fully local, on-device transcription for privacy and the option to use personal API keys for cloud-based models to enhance accuracy.
Users can select from a wide range of supported speech-to-text engines, including Whisper, Parakeet, Moonshine, SenseVoice, Breeze ASR, OpenAI, Cartesia, ElevenLabs, Groq, Mistral AI, Soniox, Deepgram, AssemblyAI, and Fireworks AI. AI, OpenRouter, Cerebras, and Apple Intelligence. The application allows customization of the transcription output with various "polish" levels, ranging from mild correction of filler words and punctuation to aggressive restructuring for clarity, or even user-defined prompts. Real-time captioning is supported, and users can choose to hold, toggle, or keep the dictation feature always on.
Handless includes features such as a dictionary for adding custom terms, ensuring specialized vocabulary is recognized accurately, and maintains a full transcription history with daily statistics and words-per-minute tracking. The application is built using Tauri and Rust, resulting in a lightweight and fast native experience on macOS. Voice activity detection is implemented to automatically stop recording when the user stops speaking, further streamlining the transcription process.
The tool is offered without subscriptions and is positioned as a privacy-focused solution for users who require speech-to-text capabilities on macOS. By supporting both local and cloud-based transcription options, Handless provides flexibility for users with varying privacy and accuracy needs.
In the Voice, TTS & speech space, Handless takes a focused approach. It focuses on providing fast, private, and flexible speech-to-text transcription for macOS users with both local and cloud options. Handless is an open-source project aimed at macOS users needing speech-to-text. The project is open source (MIT). Handless is available on the web and macOS.
Behind Handless is Elwin Vink, and the product first shipped in 2025. The project is developed in the open on GitHub with 61 stars and 33 commits in the last 90 days. Among its 6 catalogued features are speech-to-text, local transcription, and BYOK API keys.
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