Air-gapped dictation
Set it up once, then a month at a time with nothing going out.
- No network request
- 30 days per check
- Nothing uploaded
Free to try. No card. Offline included.
Apple Silicon · macOS 14 or later · Windows 11
You are the person who does not get dictation. Every app in the category is a microphone attached to somebody else’s server, so the answer from IT is no, and it is the right answer.
JotMic runs the whole thing on the machine instead. What follows is what that costs and where a network is genuinely still needed — because that is the part you have to be able to put in front of whoever approves it.
What needs a network, and what does not
Setup
A connection, twice
Sign in, and fetch the offline model — about 490 MB. Both on the machine itself.
Every day after
No request at all
Dictation is decided on your processor. Nothing uploads, and nothing waits to.
Once a month
One check, then 30 days
A paid plan is trusted for thirty days between connections, then renews in one.
How do you check this yourself?
Pull the cable and dictate a sentence. If it works, nothing was going out — and you have just proved it yourself rather than taking our word for it.
Run the same test on anything else you are considering. It takes ten seconds and it is the only claim in this category that does not need trusting.
Air-gapped means stays off, not never on
This is the distinction most pages in this category blur, so it is worth being plain about. A machine that has never been on a network cannot sign in and cannot fetch the model, and there is no offline installer that bundles both today. A machine that is connected once and then locked down works indefinitely, one thirty-day check at a time.
If the constraint you have is the first one rather than the second, JotMic is not the answer today and no setting will make it one.
Choose the paid plan, not the free tier
The free allowance is counted on the machine and reconciled when it is next online. On a machine that is rarely online, that count is the least dependable thing in the product — so the free tier is the wrong shape for this even though it is the cheaper one.
A paid plan replaces the count with a thirty-day window and a single monthly connection, which is a constraint an IT policy can actually be written around.
Try it on a normal machine first, then lock one down. Free to try, no card.
What runs on the machine
- The audio and the text both begin and end on your computer
- Punctuation, filler removal, custom vocabulary and modes, all unchanged
- Voice commands, decided locally, on Mac and Windows
- What you dictated is kept on the machine — clear it or turn it off
The one real cost
The transcription a server used to do runs on your processor and in your memory instead, so this wants a machine with room to spare. It is not a licensing limit and no plan removes it; it is what doing the work locally means.
Read next
Offline dictation
The same engine, written for a laptop on a plane rather than a locked-down desk.
Dictation and HIPAA
What we do not claim, and what actually happens to the audio on each path.
Dictation on Windows
The Windows build, and how it compares with Voice Typing.
Questions
Does JotMic work on an air-gapped machine?
Once it is set up, yes — dictation makes no network request at all. Setting it up needs a connection twice over: to sign in, and to fetch the offline model. A machine that has never been on a network cannot do either.
How long does it run without touching the network?
On a paid plan, 30 days between checks. The plan is read off a signed token and trusted for that long, so a machine that goes off the network for a month keeps working and needs one connection to renew the window.
What happens after the 30 days if it is still offline?
It falls back to the free behaviour rather than locking you out mid-sentence. One connection restores the full window.
Can I use the free tier on an air-gapped machine?
You can, but it is the wrong fit. The free allowance is counted on the machine and reconciled when it is next online, so on a machine that is rarely online the count is the least reliable part of the product. A paid plan and its 30-day window is the honest answer.
Does any audio leave the machine?
Not in offline mode. Nothing is uploaded and nothing is queued to upload later. The audio and the text both begin and end on your computer.
What does the account actually do?
Licensing, and nothing else. It is how the app knows which plan you are on. Your speech is not part of it.
Can I install it without an internet connection at all?
You can move the installer onto the machine yourself, but the first sign-in and the offline model download both need a connection on that machine. There is no offline installer that bundles the model today.
Does it work behind a proxy or a locked-down corporate network?
Offline mode makes no request, so there is nothing for a proxy to block. Setup and the 30-day check need to reach our servers once.
Do voice commands work air-gapped?
Yes, on both Mac and Windows. They are decided on your machine, the same as the dictation.
What does it need from the hardware?
A machine with room to spare. The transcription that a server used to do runs on your processor and memory instead, so it is the one real cost of working this way.
Free to try, no card. Offline is on the free tier.