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SayCtrl

Install

Four steps, once.

It’s a menu-bar app, with no window to keep open.

Download for Mac
  1. 1

    Drag it to Applications

    Open the DMG and drop SayCtrl into Applications.

  2. 2

    Open it once past Gatekeeper

    The app isn’t notarised, so macOS warns that it can’t verify it. Press Done, then System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway. First launch only.

    Or, if you’d rather do it from a terminal:

    xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/SayCtrl.app
  3. 3

    Choose where the words are recognised

    Pick Local in Settings › Transcription and download a model: free, offline, on-device. Or paste an OpenRouter, OpenAI or ElevenLabs key and pay cents an hour, at cost. The key stays on your Mac.

  4. 4

    Give it the fn key

    Set System Settings → Keyboard → “Press 🌐 key to” to Do Nothing, so holding fn belongs to SayCtrl. Then grant Accessibility, Input Monitoring and Microphone when it asks.

Coming from Kotha or Open-Wispr?

Same app, new name. Your key, dictionary, phrases, history and models move across on first launch. The bundle id changed, so re-grant the three permissions, then drag the old app to the Trash or it keeps answering the same fn key.