Install the Apple Silicon Dictation beta and understand its limits
SpeechKit for macOS is an early beta that does Dictation only. It runs on
macOS 14 or newer on Apple Silicon. Intel Macs are not supported.The current public release is v0.70.3, published 2026-09-15.
The macOS bundle is signed ad-hoc, without an Apple Developer ID and without
notarization. macOS quarantines it and may claim the app is damaged. It is not.
Removing the quarantine label takes one documented command, described below.
Unzip the download and drag SpeechKit.app into your Applications folder.
Move it before the next step: macOS runs an app left in Downloads from a
hidden read-only copy, and SpeechKit cannot update itself from there.
Nothing is printed when it works. The command needs no password and affects
only this app.
Open SpeechKit from Applications and grant Microphone and
Accessibility when asked.
Read the full
unsigned-release notice
for the reasoning behind each step. Nothing in the procedure asks you to
disable Gatekeeper system-wide or to run anything as root.
Meeting system-audio capture, screen snapshots, wake word, local LLM
Not ported; each refuses with a typed error and its controls are hidden
The hotkey listener installs but receives no key events, so the menu-bar item
is the way to start a dictation until that is fixed. Use the
Windows client when you need the complete
feature set.
macOS remembers permission grants against an app’s exact signature. Every
ad-hoc signed build has a different signature, so macOS asks for Microphone
and Accessibility again after each update, and sometimes for keychain access.
That is expected for an unsigned beta.If an update leaves dictation unresponsive, open System Settings → Privacy &
Security → Accessibility and switch SpeechKit back on. It picks the
permission up while running; no restart is needed.
