What is Apple Dictation?
Apple Dictation is the built-in speech-to-text engine on macOS and iOS. On modern devices it runs on-device (no network required), supports many languages, and is deeply integrated with the OS — you can dictate into any text field by pressing a keyboard shortcut or tapping the microphone key. It's free and requires no setup.
What it doesn't do is clean up your speech. It transcribes what you say literally, including filler words, run-on sentences, and inconsistent capitalisation. You still have to edit afterward.
What does AiType add?
AiType is a cross-platform voice dictation tool that adds an AI cleanup pass on top of fast transcription. The ~250ms pipeline captures your speech, strips filler words, fixes punctuation and capitalisation, and rewrites awkward phrasing — so the text is paste-ready without manual editing.
It also works on Windows and Android, which Apple Dictation does not, and it adds features like a saved clipboard, voice history, one-tap Reply, swipe typing, and GIF search on mobile.
Side-by-side comparison
| Feature | AiType | Apple Dictation |
|---|---|---|
| Transcription speed | ~250 ms (cloud via Groq Whisper) | Near-instant (on-device) |
| AI cleanup pass | ✓ Fixes filler words, punctuation, capitalisation, wording | ✗ Verbatim only |
| macOS | ✓ | ✓ |
| Windows | ✓ | ✗ |
| iPhone / iPad | ✓ Full keyboard | ✓ Built-in key |
| Android | ✓ Full keyboard | ✗ |
| Works offline | ✗ Needs internet | ✓ On-device |
| Voice history / saved clips | ✓ | ✗ |
| Swipe / glide typing (mobile) | ✓ | ✗ |
| Reply / AI rewrite | ✓ | ✗ |
| Cost | Free tier + paid plans from $9.99/mo | Free (built-in) |
When Apple Dictation is the right choice
- You're entirely in the Apple ecosystem (no Windows, no Android).
- You need offline / air-gapped dictation — medical notes, secure environments, flights.
- You're happy editing the transcript yourself and don't want another app.
- You dictate in a language or dialect where AI cleanup might over-correct.
When AiType is the right choice
- You write a lot and paste-ready output matters. The AI cleanup pass saves real time on every long dictation.
- You work across Windows and Apple devices. One shortcut, same output, everywhere.
- You're dyslexic or have difficulty with manual editing. AiType is specifically designed to produce finished text without a correction pass.
- You use Android. Apple Dictation doesn't exist there; AiType's keyboard does.
- You want voice history or saved clipboard clips. Neither exists in Apple Dictation.
Privacy: where does the audio go?
Apple Dictation on modern devices processes audio on-device using the Neural Engine — nothing leaves your Mac or iPhone. AiType routes audio to Groq's Whisper API for transcription (sub-300ms), which is then processed for cleanup. AiType does not store your audio. See the privacy policy and data controls for specifics.
If your use case requires zero data leaving the device, Apple Dictation wins on this dimension. If you're fine with cloud processing in exchange for AI-polished output, AiType is the better tool.
Bottom line
Apple Dictation is excellent for on-device, verbatim transcription on Apple hardware. AiType is the better choice if you want clean, polished output ready to paste — especially if you're on Windows, Android, or simply tired of editing every dictation.
Try AiType free
14-day free trial. No credit card required. Works on Mac, Windows, iPhone, and Android.