AeriVoice for Mac / Practical guides
How to use offline dictation on Mac with AeriVoice
Prepare a local engine while online, then dictate without cloud transcription or AI cleanup. Here’s how to set it up and check it before you need it.
01 / Prepare while online
Before you start
You need an Apple Silicon Mac running macOS 26 or newer. Initial setup needs an internet connection to download the app and any missing model or language assets. Complete those downloads before disconnecting.
Install and open AeriVoice
Download AeriVoice, open the DMG, and drag the app into Applications. Launch it from Applications and look for it in the menu bar. You do not need an AeriVoice account or cloud API keys for offline setup.
Grant both permissions
Follow the setup prompts for Microphone and Accessibility. Microphone access captures your speech during dictation; Accessibility lets AeriVoice insert the finished text. Review either permission in macOS System Settings → Privacy & Security.
Check your shortcut
Open AeriVoice Settings and review your shortcut before testing. Hybrid is the default: tap to start and tap again to finish, or hold while speaking and release to finish. See Your first dictation for the other shortcut behaviors.
02 / Download once, use locally
Choose and prepare a local engine
Choose Local in Dictation settings, then choose your local engine: Apple Speech or NVIDIA Nemotron — Recommended. Open Providers → Local models → Manage to check readiness and manage downloads or language support. Local-model setup is also available during onboarding.
- NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5
- An English on-device model with an approximately 611 MB download. Download its weights while online and wait for verification to complete. You do not need an Apple Speech language download for this engine.
- Apple Speech
- Uses macOS speech recognition and system-managed language assets, without NVIDIA weights. Choose a supported language. Installed assets are reused; missing language support needs an explicit download from Apple. Wait until setup confirms the language is actually ready.
For a non-English dictation, check Apple Speech’s available languages rather than assuming Nemotron supports it. Apple Intelligence is not a separate requirement or an offline cleanup option. Recognition accuracy varies; review important text.
If the local model is still preparing when you try the shortcut, speech is not captured during preparation. Wait until it is ready, then press the shortcut again.
Local transcription is not the same as Offline mode. Local transcribes audio on your Mac, but your existing cloud cleanup settings may still send the transcript to a cleanup provider. Enable Offline mode for local transcription with no cloud cleanup.
03 / Make the mode explicit
Enable Offline mode
Confirm the selected engine is ready
Check Providers → Local models → Manage after the model or language download finishes. Offline mode can use only installed local engines and languages.
Turn on Offline mode
Enable Offline mode from General settings, the menu bar, or local-model onboarding. Finish any active dictation or Apple language download request first; the mode cannot change while either is active.
Expect the local transcript, not AI cleanup
Offline mode uses the selected local engine and inserts its transcript without AI cleanup. Cleanup styles and Custom instructions are not applied. You do not need to add cloud keys or clear your saved provider settings.
While enabled, Offline mode blocks new AeriVoice-initiated network requests and cancels pending app requests. This includes cloud cleanup, provider warmups, credential checks, catalog refreshes, model downloads, and update checks and downloads.
This is an app mode, not a system firewall. It does not block networking by the rest of your Mac. macOS manages shared Apple speech assets and may maintain them or retry a language download requested before Offline mode was enabled.
04 / Check before you rely on it
Test dictation with the network disconnected
Use this practical check after setup. It checks your installed engine, microphone, shortcut, and destination together; it is not a network audit or a guarantee about other Mac processes.
Confirm the mode, then disconnect
Check that Offline mode is enabled. Turn off Wi-Fi and disconnect Ethernet or any other active network connection. Disconnecting a network alone is not a substitute for enabling the app’s mode.
Focus an editable field
Open a local document in an app such as TextEdit and click into its text field. Keep the field focused as you finish dictation.
Record a short sentence
Use your configured shortcut, speak in the selected engine’s language, and finish recording. Check the destination for the transcript. A green check means the Paste shortcut was sent; it does not itself confirm the text arrived.
Review the result
Confirm the words arrived, then review recognition and punctuation. If AeriVoice reports that it copied the result instead, follow its status message and paste with ⌘ + V. If dictation fails, use the checks below before relying on it away from a network.
You can reconnect your network after the test and leave Offline mode enabled. AeriVoice’s app-level network restrictions remain in effect until you turn the mode off.
05 / Recover without a cloud fallback
Troubleshoot offline dictation
The local model or language is unavailable.
Open Providers → Local models → Manage and read the selected engine’s readiness status. Local setup remains accessible in Offline mode, but downloads are disabled. Missing or failed assets keep the app offline; AeriVoice does not silently fall back to cloud transcription.
To download or repair assets, reconnect your network and explicitly turn Offline mode off. For an interrupted Nemotron download, use Resume download. For Apple Speech, check the selected language’s setup status and any reported failure. Wait for readiness, re-enable Offline mode, then repeat the disconnected-network test.
The shortcut does not start recording, or no speech is captured.
Confirm AeriVoice is running in the menu bar and check your configured shortcut. Review Microphone permission in macOS System Settings → Privacy & Security. Check Settings → Dictation → Microphone for the intended input. If the engine was preparing, wait for readiness and start a new recording.
The transcript did not appear in my app.
Check Accessibility permission and focus an editable destination field before finishing. Secure fields and unsupported editors may require manual Paste. Follow the app’s status message; if it copied the transcript, paste it yourself. Avoid copying something else as dictation finishes: AeriVoice preserves new clipboard content rather than overwriting it with the transcript.
Retry in a local TextEdit document to separate recognition from destination-app insertion. See Documentation troubleshooting for clipboard restoration behavior.
My language is missing, or recognition is poor.
Nemotron 3.5 is configured for English. Apple Speech supports the languages offered by its selector, and the selected language must have ready local assets. Download missing supported language assets while online with Offline mode off; then enable it again. Do not assume every language is available offline.
Check the microphone and selected language, try a short sentence, and review the transcript. Offline mode does not apply cloud cleanup to correct or rewrite recognition errors.
I cannot change Offline mode.
Finish or cancel the active dictation and wait for any active Apple language download request to finish before changing modes. To stay offline, choose only an installed local engine or language. Choosing a cloud model while offline turns Offline mode off before enabling cloud setup.
06 / Keep your setup
Return online without resetting settings
Reconnecting Wi-Fi or Ethernet does not turn Offline mode off. When you want AeriVoice to use its normal online workflow again, finish any active dictation and turn Offline mode off from General settings or the menu bar.
Your normal provider and cleanup selections remain saved and return when the mode is turned off. Offline mode itself is remembered across app launches. You do not need to remove local assets or re-enter keys to switch modes.
If you leave Local selected outside Offline mode, transcription still happens on your Mac, but cloud cleanup may receive the transcript. Recheck the mode before dictating anything you intend to keep out of cloud processing.
07 / Further reading
Sources and next steps
This guide’s product behavior was checked against the AeriVoice app source documents at revision 6b72c2e. The disconnected-network steps above are a check for you to perform, not a claim that a particular Mac or engine was tested for this page.
AeriVoice Documentation for shortcut options, permissions, and everyday use.
Still stuck? Open an issue on GitHub with your app version, macOS version, selected local engine and language, and steps to reproduce. Keep private dictation and API keys out of your report.