Show HN: Yap – OSS on-device voice dictation for macOS with no model to download(github.com)
41 pointsby pancomplex11 hours ago4 comments
  • heresalexandria3 hours ago
    I don't think get it unless I'm missing something - how is this different from just using the built in Mac OS dictation feature?

    At first I thought it was going to be a CLI/package to interface with that API which sounded interesting, but I already use a hotkey to dictate text on my Mac via the OS.

    • pancomplex2 hours ago
      I don't think you're missing something - Apple's built in dictation is pretty good. The biggest issue is that it still executes parts of it online via Apple's servers and even has a disclosure that it "sends information like your voice input, contacts, and location to Apple."

      This project uses the on-device SpeechAnalyzer API directly and makes zero network calls, and since it's open source you can verify that nothing leaves your Mac. It also keeps a local searchable history. Finally, I also added press-to-stop with a preview so you can cancel a bad take before it inserts, instead of typing live (very useful in terminal).

      What type of package were you hoping it was?

      • heresalexandria2 hours ago
        Ahh that makes sense, I was under the impression that OS dictation used exclusively on device models for dictation now but you're right - they do still send this data for transcription.

        That definitely changes my take and I'm interested in trying this!

        My initial assumption was that this was something I could invoke via CLI or within scripts to transcribe audio from files or user input using on-device models, which is something I would presently probably use Whisper for.

      • HaloZeroan hour ago
        Does the new SpeechAnalyzer API not call Apple Servers? I remember when I was building on the last version, it you wanted real time transcription you needed at least to upload it to Apple Servers for processing.
    • 2 hours ago
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  • hbn42 minutes ago
    I thought I was familiar with this project but I think it’s unrelated to this one I remembered from last year? Same name and also more or less an app layer for the new speech to text APIs introduced in OS 26.

    https://github.com/finnvoor/yap

  • __erik3 hours ago
    This is super cool! The brew install path in the readme doesn't seem to work

    remote: Repository not found. fatal: repository 'https://github.com/frigadehq/homebrew-tap/' not found

    • pancomplex2 hours ago
      My bad - this is now fixed. Thank you!
  • eric_khun3 hours ago
    link to the benchmark against parakeet TDT v2 (the one im using now with spokenly) : https://get-inscribe.com/blog/parakeet-moss-apple-speech-ben...

    NVIDIA Parakeet TDT v2 still best, but look like apple is not far behind.

    i'd be happy to switch to yours if you add parakeet support, but that ight defy the purpose of the repo

    • pancomplex2 hours ago
      Thanks for linking! I've used both Apple's and Parakeet locally for a while and haven't been able to spot the difference in quality and speed is better on Apple's model (+ doesn't take several gigs of memory). Have you noticed any quality differences anecdotally?