ShoutFlow's recording overlay sits around the MacBook notch, offering a live transcript while the user talks; the completed text gets inserted at the cursor in any program.
This new menu-bar application turns spoken words into polished, formatted text across any Mac app for a flat $25 fee. No subscription required, and all audio is processed locally on the Mac.
Dictation has moved toward $15 monthly subscriptions that send your voice to the cloud. ShoutFlow flips that model: pay once, own it, and keep your audio on your Mac”— Lewis Cookson, ShoutFlow co-founderLONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, August 8, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Recurse LTD has officially launched ShoutFlow, an AI dictation application for the Mac that
transforms speech into clean, ready-to-use text within any application — available for a single payment of $25
instead of a recurring monthly fee.
Voice has quietly emerged as one of the quickest ways to compose text: most individuals speak roughly three times
more rapidly than they type. However, leading Mac dictation tools now demand $10–$15 each month and send
recordings through their own cloud infrastructure. ShoutFlow was created on a completely different principle. It is a
one-time purchase, and by default it handles audio processing on the Mac itself, leveraging speech models that run
locally on Apple Silicon — meaning in local mode, a user's voice never exits their computer.
ShoutFlow resides in the menu bar. Users press a hotkey, begin speaking, and see a live preview of their
words appear in a small recording overlay that fits neatly around the MacBook notch or can float
anywhere on the display. Once they stop, ShoutFlow transcribes the audio, removes filler words, corrects
punctuation and formatting, and places the final text directly at the cursor — in Mail, Slack,
Safari, a code editor, or any other application.
"Dictation has shifted toward $15 monthly subscriptions that upload your voice to the
cloud," stated Lewis Cookson, founder of ShoutFlow. "ShoutFlow is the opposite: pay once, own it, and
your audio can remain on your Mac."
Key features at launch:
– Works system-wide: dictate into any macOS application, with automatic insertion at the cursor
and clipboard fallback.
– On-device by default: transcription and text cleanup run locally on Apple Silicon; in local
mode, no audio is uploaded anywhere.
– Live preview: see words appear as you speak, in an overlay designed for the MacBook notch.
– Personalisation: a custom dictionary for names and jargon, reusable snippets, and per-app tones
so a Slack message reads differently from a formal email.
– Transcription history: every dictation is saved locally and can be copied again later.
– Optional bring-your-own-key cloud mode: users who prefer cloud models can connect their own
OpenAI, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, DeepSeek, Kimi, or xAI account. Keys are stored in the macOS
Keychain and audio goes directly from the Mac to the chosen provider — never through ShoutFlow's
servers.
ShoutFlow costs $25 as a one-time purchase, and a single license covers two Macs. There is no
subscription and no account required to try it: a seven-day free trial starts with one click and
asks for no card details. The app is a signed, notarized direct download from
https://shoutflow.ai and requires macOS 14 or later on an Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or newer).
The launch positions ShoutFlow against a market that has consolidated around subscription pricing.
Over three years, a $12-per-month dictation subscription costs more than seventeen times
ShoutFlow's one-time price. For writers, developers, founders, and anyone who answers a large
volume of email, ShoutFlow aims to make speaking the default way to write on the Mac — without a
recurring bill and without shipping recordings to a third party.
ShoutFlow is available today at https://shoutflow.ai.
Lewis Cookson
Recurse LTD
email us here
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Local Dictation for Mac, No Subscription: ShoutFlow Walkthrough
