Parlando
Hold a key, speak, and finished text lands at your cursor in any app on your Mac.
About
Parlando is dictation for Mac. Hold the right Option key, say what you mean, and let go. Your sentence lands at your cursor with capitals, punctuation, and your names spelled your way. It works in Mail, Slack, Messages, a browser, a document, or a chat with an AI. A small panel shows your words as you speak.
Transcription runs on your Mac using the speech engine Apple builds into macOS 26. In testing, finished text arrived 0.06 seconds after a short sentence ended, and the first words appeared within 0.54 seconds. Tap the key twice to keep listening hands-free for a long email or a whole section of a draft.
Your dictionary keeps names right. Add words to listen for, corrections that apply every time, mentions that turn “at Ken” into “@Ken,” and snippets that expand a short phrase into an address block or a sign-off. Four styles (Formal, Casual, Very casual, and Excited) set punctuation and capitals for each kind of app you write in.
Eight transforms rewrite selected text using Option 1 through 8. They include Polish, Prompt Engineer, Bullets, Email, and Strip the AI. A searchable history keeps every dictation. Insights counts your words, pace, and day streak, with each number linking back to the dictations behind it.
Hold, speak, let go
Hold the right Option key, speak, and let go. The finished sentence is typed where your cursor was, with fillers removed and sentences closed.
Your names, spelled your way
A personal dictionary of words to expect, corrections, mentions, and snippets turns each name and phrase into exactly what you meant.
The right tone for every app
Formal, Casual, Very casual, and Excited styles set punctuation and capitals for personal messages, work messages, email, and everything else.
Eight transforms on hotkeys
Select text in any app and press Option 1 through 8. Polish, Bullets, Email, Slack, and the rest rewrite it in place.
History and Insights
Every dictation is searchable and can be copied. Insights shows your words, pace, day streak, and the apps your words went to.
Meeting notes
Start meeting notes to transcribe both sides of a call and capture a snapshot of each shared slide. The transcript and snapshots are saved as a note you can open.