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

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

- what would make you trust a tool like this for daily use