Impulse

Speech to text for Mac

Local, Offline & Private AI

Impulse is a dictation app for the Mac menu bar, and it is private by default. Speech recognition runs on your Mac, so your voice, your recordings, and your text stay there.

Impulse runs on a Mac. If you are reading this on a phone, open getimpulseapp.com on your Mac.

Download Impulse

Free. No account, no subscription.

Get started in three easy steps

  1. Download

    • Download Impulse.
    • Drag it into Applications.
    • Open it from Applications.
    10:24
    Illustration. The Impulse icon sits in the menu bar, near the clock.
    You should see
    • The Impulse icon sits in the menu bar, near the clock.
    Full instructions: Download

  2. Set up

    • Give Impulse three permissions: Input Monitoring and Accessibility for the shortcuts, and the microphone to hear you.
    • Download the speech model Parakeet TDT 0.6B v3, about 480 MB.
    • Click Select next to the model.

    Before the download

    Parakeet TDT 0.6B v3

    CC-BY-4.0 · 483.3 MB · Not downloaded

    Download

    After the download

    Parakeet TDT 0.6B v3

    CC-BY-4.0 · 483.3 MB · Ready

    Select

    After Select

    Parakeet TDT 0.6B v3

    CC-BY-4.0 · 483.3 MB · Ready · Selected

    Illustration of the Parakeet row in Speech to Text Models.
    You should see
    • Settings → Permissions shows a green check next to Input Monitoring and Accessibility. The microphone gets its check after your first dictation.
    • In Speech to Text Models, the Select button is gone, and Parakeet shows a green check.
    Full instructions: Set up

  3. Dictate

    Free the shortcut first

    • macOS uses Option Command Space to open a Spotlight search in a Finder window.
    • If a Finder window opens when you press it, turn that macOS shortcut off:
      1. Open System Settings, then click Keyboard.
      2. Click Keyboard Shortcuts, then click Spotlight.
      3. Turn off Show Finder search window, then click Done.
    • Or choose another shortcut in Impulse, in Settings → Hotkeys.
    • Click where you want text.
    • Press Option Command Space and speak.
    • Press Option Command Space again.

    While you speak

    After you stop, in the app you are using

    Illustration. The sentence is an example. The panel closes by itself when your text is in place.
    You should see
    • Your text appears where your cursor is.
    Full instructions: Dictate

If your text appeared, Impulse is set up.

If something does not work, read the common fixes.

Private by default

Read about privacy in the manual

What else Impulse does

None of these is required. The shortcut and one speech model are enough to dictate.

Filler Words

Filler Words is on by default. It removes sounds such as “um”, “uh”, and “hmm” from your transcripts, with or without Text Transform. You can edit the list.

Read about Filler Words

Custom Vocabulary

Add names and specialist terms to your word list. Whisper models read the list as a hint. With Parakeet, Impulse listens again for your terms and uses one only when the audio supports it.

Read about Custom Vocabulary

History

Find saved recordings and transcripts in History. You can play a recording, search the text, or transcribe a recording again with another model.

Read about History

Review HUD

The Review HUD is a panel that holds your text after a recording until you accept it, so you can edit it first. Press Control Option Command R while recording to turn it on. It stays on until you press the shortcut again.

Read about the Review HUD

Text Transform

Text Transform uses an AI model on your Mac to remove filler, sort out false starts, and fix punctuation. It is off until you download the model in Language Models and turn on Transform transcriptions with AI in Settings → Text Transform. It needs an Apple Silicon Mac. The model, Qwen3.5 4B, is about 3.1 GB. While Text Transform is on, Impulse keeps the model in memory, about 3 GB, so each dictation is tidied in a few seconds. In History, Show Original puts your original text beside the rewrite.

Read about Text Transform