Utter, a local-first dictation app for Mac and iPhone

Details

External ID

47296554

Source

HN

Company

—

Product

Utter, a local-first dictation app for Mac and iPhone

Website domain

utter.to

Launched

March 8, 2026

Cohort

—

Upvotes

6

Upvotes percentile

0.2853628536285363

Tags

—

Fetched at

Sept. 7, 2026, 9:26 p.m.

Updated at

Sept. 7, 2026, 9:26 p.m.

Description

I use dictation a lot for writing, notes, and prompting agents. After trying a bunch of dictation tools, I kept running into the same issues: recurring cost, unclear privacy/data handling, and not much control over how the final text was cleaned up.So I built Utter.The main idea is simple: it should work as both a fast dictation tool and a longer-form voice note / meeting capture tool, while still giving the user control over where processing happens and what the output looks like.A few things it does today: - global dictation with customizable shortcuts - saved modes for different workflows, with different prompts/models - remembers the last mode used per app - meeting recording with speaker-labeled transcripts, summaries, and action items - file transcription for audio/video - saved audio/transcripts with export options - prompt-based post-processing for turning raw speech into notes, messages, summaries, etc. - built-in note editor - iPhone app with dictation keyboard A big motivation was being able to use it locally. It supports local transcription, optional local post-processing, BYOK, or cloud providers depending on the workflow. I also wanted phone-to-desktop capture to feel simple, so it syncs through iCloud and doesn’t require an account.Curious to hear from people who use dictation heavily, especially on: - where current dictation tools still fall short - whether the “modes” idea makes sense in practice

• Source listing
• Website