Reed Dictation by W20 Labs
Looking for an Apple Dictation Alternative?
Every Mac comes with Dictation built in. Reed is a free Mac app that adds a hold-to-talk shortcut and on-device cleanup of filler words and restarts. Which one fits depends on your Mac, the languages you speak, and how much editing you want to do afterwards.
Download Reed — FreeApple Silicon (M1 or newer) · macOS 14 or later · English · No account
Reed is free and licensed under the Apache License 2.0.
Published by W20 Labs, the maker of Reed. Apple Dictation details checked against Apple’s support guide, feature-availability page, privacy page and newsroom, retrieved , for macOS 27.
Reed and Apple Dictation at a glance
This compares Reed’s currently available free Mac app with the Dictation built into macOS 27. The linked sources explain the requirements behind each row.
On a narrow screen, scroll the table sideways to read both.
| Feature | Reed | Apple Dictation |
|---|---|---|
| Getting it | A free download; open source, with no account or subscription. Setup. | Built into macOS; nothing to install. Apple’s Dictation guide. |
| Which Macs | Every Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or newer) on macOS 14 or later. Requirements. | Dictation on every Mac. Apple’s “more advanced dictation” needs a Mac with M3 or later and at least 12 GB of unified memory. Apple’s announcement. |
| Languages | English. Supported language. | 63 language and region entries for Dictation, 49 of them on-device. Feature availability. |
| Text cleanup | Removes filler words such as “um”, keeps the version of a restarted phrase you meant, adds punctuation and capitals, and writes spoken numbers as digits, on every supported Mac. Cleanup details. | Inserts commas, periods and question marks automatically in supported languages. On Macs that support more advanced dictation, it captures “polished text”, handling capitalization, punctuation and formatting. Apple does not say whether it removes filler words or restarts. Guide, announcement. |
| Processing | Speech recognition and cleanup always run on your Mac; the app blocks the dictation path from the network. Processing details. | Keyboard settings shows whether your audio and transcripts are processed on your Mac; otherwise they are sent to Apple’s servers. Apple’s privacy page. |
| Starting and stopping | Hold Control + Option, speak, release. The shortcut is customizable. Shortcut setup. | Press the Microphone key or the Dictation shortcut, or choose Edit > Start Dictation; press again or Escape to stop. It stops by itself after 30 seconds without speech. Starting Dictation. |
| Spoken commands | None documented: Reed writes what you say, then cleans it up. | Punctuation, “new line”, “new paragraph” and emoji names. Commands. |
What cleanup means here
Natural speech is full of “um”, “uh” and sentences you start twice. Reed’s rules remove the fillers and keep the version of a restarted phrase you meant, while emphasis, quotations and negations stay as spoken. On macOS 26 or later with Apple Intelligence available, Reed also uses the on-device Apple model for harder sentences. You can turn cleanup off to keep the raw transcript. See how cleanup works.
Apple describes its newest Dictation as capturing “polished text with greater precision, automatically handling capitalization, punctuation, and formatting.” If you have a Mac that supports it, try the same sentences in both and compare how much you still need to edit. Read Apple’s description.
Where your speech is processed
Apple says your Mac indicates in Keyboard settings whether dictation is processed on the device; otherwise it is sent to Apple. Apple does not store the audio unless you opt in to Improve Siri and Dictation. Read Apple’s privacy page.
Reed processes every dictation on your Mac. It still makes separate connections for the one-time model download and for updates, and has no analytics or crash reports. See What We Collect for exactly what those connections carry.
When Apple Dictation may be the better choice
- You want nothing to install. Dictation is already on your Mac; you turn it on in Keyboard settings.
- You dictate in languages other than English. Apple lists 63 language and region entries; Reed currently supports English.
- You speak your punctuation and formatting. Apple documents commands such as “new paragraph” and emoji names.
- You have a Mac with M3 or later and 12 GB of memory. Apple’s more advanced dictation is built for it.
When Reed may be the better choice
- You want fillers and restarts cleaned up on any Apple Silicon Mac. Reed’s cleanup runs on M1 and M2 Macs and on macOS 14 or later.
- You want every dictation processed locally, by design. Reed has no server path to switch on.
- You prefer hold-to-talk. Hold the shortcut while you speak; release and the text lands.
- You want software you can inspect. Reed is open source under the Apache License 2.0.
Try a typical email, a few names you use often, and a longer thought with pauses in your own apps. Compare the text each one gives you and how much editing it needs.
Try Reed on your Mac
Download Reed, finish the model setup, and try the shortcut where you already write. See the Reed homepage for examples or follow the setup guide. Comparing more apps? See Reed and Wispr Flow.
Download Reed — FreeApple Silicon · macOS 14 or later · English. Reed is free and licensed under the Apache License 2.0.