Your Mac’s audio
Everything your Mac plays is captioned live, labelled “Them”.
Captions for everything your Mac plays.
Live Transcript turns your Mac’s sound, and your microphone if you want, into live captions that drop down from the notch. Transcription happens entirely on your Mac.
or with Homebrew: brew install --cask polytopic-systems/tap/live-transcript
macOS 26 or later · Apple silicon
At a glance
- What it is
- Live Transcript for Mac, by Polytopic Systems: a menu bar app that turns whatever your Mac plays, and your microphone if you want, into live captions at the notch or in a floating panel.
- Who it’s for
- Anyone who wants to read what their Mac is playing as it’s spoken: calls and meetings, videos, podcasts and lectures, in one language or several.
- Requirements
- A Mac with Apple silicon running macOS 26 or later.
- Runs on your Mac
- Transcription (Apple Speech or Whisper), History and its search, and live translation. With Apple Intelligence, History’s titles, summaries, topics and answers come from Apple’s on-device model.
- Leaves your Mac
- Audio, never. Transcript text only when you ask a cloud AI provider you picked about a session, and only to that provider.
- What it doesn’t do
- It doesn’t transcribe in the cloud, ask for an account, or need a virtual audio driver such as BlackHole: it captures your Mac’s sound with macOS’s own Core Audio taps.
00:00:12,040What it hears
If your Mac can hear it, you can read it.
Calls, videos, podcasts, lectures: whatever is playing becomes text as it’s spoken.
Your microphone, if you like
Turn the microphone on and your side of the conversation appears as “You”.
Both sides of a call
With both on, a meeting reads like a script: who said what, in order.
00:00:31,500How it works
Heard on your Mac. Written on your Mac. Kept on your Mac.
There’s no account and no cloud transcription. Audio never leaves your Mac to be turned into text.
- 1 · soundYour Mac plays itSystem audio, plus the microphone when you turn it on.
- 2 · speech modelOn-device recognitionApple Speech or Whisper turns sound into words on your Mac.
- 3 · captionsAt the notchWords appear as they’re spoken, at the notch or in a floating panel.
- 4 · historySaved and searchableEvery session is kept on your Mac. Ask it in plain words.
- 5 · exportOnly when you chooseMarkdown, plain text, SRT, VTT or Apple Notes.
The coloured line marks what stays on your Mac.AI is optional. Apple’s on-device model keeps summaries local; Claude, OpenRouter or your own server only receive transcript text you choose to send them.
00:01:04,880Features
Built around the notch, not another window.
Captions that drop from the notch
While someone is talking, captions hang from the MacBook notch with a small level meter and a red dot that tells you it’s listening. When they stop, the notch tucks away.
Prefer a window? The floating glass panel goes wherever you drag it, and can be pinned above everything else.
Them …and the second half of the lecture covers how filters shape a signal over
Pinned
ThemLast week we looked at sampling.
ThemToday: filters, and why they matter.
Ask your history
Every session is saved to History on your Mac, as cards grouped by day, each with a title, a one-line summary, the app it came from and its topics. Search as you type: the list narrows to the best matches, and each card shows the passage that matched and why. Open one and the transcript jumps to that moment, ready to replay when audio was recorded.
Search the way you remember it. Dates (“yesterday”, “last week”, “in September”), apps (“in FaceTime”) and kinds of listening (audiobook, video, meeting) are understood, and “this and that” finds both. Ask a question and you get a short answer, written on your Mac, with numbered links to the moments it used; if your history doesn’t hold the answer, it says so.
Search, its index, and the titles, summaries and answers stay on your Mac. Apple Intelligence writes the titles, summaries, topics and answers when it’s available; without it, search still works on words and meaning, cards show the opening words, and questions aren’t answered. The separate Summary & Questions panel below uses the AI you choose.
Results update as you type. Up and down arrows move through them, Return opens one, Escape clears.
Try:
Today
Yesterday
Thursday
Sunday, Sep 27
✓ 6 sessions · searchable on this Mac
Restoring an old pickup
Summary
Pulling the tired engine, new door panels, and a five-speed swap.
carsrestorationengine swapTitle, summary and topics written on this Mac by Apple Intelligence.
Transcript
- 18:59ThemWelcome back to the garage. Today the old pickup finally gets its engine out.
- 19:00ThemFirst, disconnect the battery and label every hose. Trust me, label everything.
- 19:00ThemOld cars always hide rust, and the doors on this one are worse than we thought.
- 19:01ThemAnd the gearbox is getting swapped for a five-speed manual.
Take it anywhere
Export a session as Markdown or plain text, as SRT or VTT subtitles with timings, or send it to Apple Notes with the audio of the whole conversation attached as one file.
Pick a format to see the same short session exactly as the app writes it.
# Beta planning _2026-10-01 10:02_ **Them** `10:02:01` Okay, so the beta goes out on Thursday. We collect feedback over the weekend. **You** `10:02:08` Sounds good. I'll write up the release notes tonight. **Them** `10:02:12` Can someone send the recording to the design team? **You** `10:02:16` Already saved. I'll export it to Notes with the audio.
Apple Notes · the same session as a note, with the whole conversation’s audio attached as one file
Summaries and questions, with the AI you choose
Summarize a session or ask it something. Choose a provider to see where the text goes, what you need to set it up, and the kind of answer you get. Audio is never sent to any of them.
Stays on your MacNothing leaves your Mac. The transcript is read by Apple’s model on this Mac.
What you need
- Nothing to set up: it’s part of macOS on Macs that support Apple’s on-device model.
StatusAvailable on this Mac
Summarize
Summary
A short planning call about the beta. It ships Thursday, and feedback is gathered over the weekend.
Key points
- Beta goes out on Thursday
- Feedback is collected over the weekend
- The call was recorded
Action items
- You: write up the release notes tonight
- Send the recording to the design team
Find the engine that hears you best
Choose Apple Speech or Whisper in three sizes: Low (145 MB), Medium (216 MB) or High (632 MB), each downloaded the first time you use it. Not sure which? The wizard has you read a passage aloud once, runs every engine on that same recording, and scores each transcript against the passage. Press Record to watch an example run.
Find the engine that hears you best
Read the passage aloud once. Every engine transcribes that same recording, so you can compare accuracy and speed side by side.
Thanks everyone for joining. Before we start, a quick update: the Thursday review moved to Monday morning, and Priya will share the budget summary by Friday. Our main question today is whether we can ship the new onboarding flow before the end of the quarter without cutting the accessibility work.
Simulated here: this demo never uses your microphone.
Apple Speech
Built into macOS. Fastest and lightest; nothing to download for English.
Whisper Low
Small and quick. 145 MB download.
Whisper Medium
More accurate, a little slower. 216 MB download.
Whisper High
Most accurate, handles accents and mixed languages best. Uses more power. 632 MB download.
More than one language in the same conversation
Set Language to Auto-detect with a Whisper engine and it works out the language of each phrase on its own, so captions can follow a speaker who switches mid-conversation. Whisper High is the model designed to handle accents and mixed languages best. An engine set to a single language hears everything as that language.
Apple Speech can also switch between languages you list, checking sentence by sentence when the words stop making sense.
One speaker, two languages
Whisper High Auto-detect
- ENSo the launch is still on track for next week.
- ESPero todavía falta revisar las traducciones.
- ENSorry, I mean the translations still need a review.
- ESMarta puede hacerlo el lunes por la mañana.
One language English only
- ENSo the launch is still on track for next week.
- ENPetal toddy via fault are visa large traditions.
- ENSorry, I mean the translations still need a review.
- ENMartha played the cello loonies poor lot man Anna.
Live translation
Follow along in your own language: the translated line appears right under the captions as people speak.
Them Okay, so the beta goes out on Thursday.
Bon, la bêta sort jeudi.
Shares the notch with other apps
Already have something living in your notch? Live Transcript notices when another app is using it and makes room: captions hang just below the notch instead of on it, and it adapts as that app launches, quits or pops up.
It recognises popular ones such as Bartender, Boring Notch, NotchNook and Alcove, and AI coding-agent islands such as Vibe Island, and makes room for any other app that puts a panel on the notch. It also keeps clear of menu bar managers that drop a bar under the menu bar, such as Ice.
Hovering still opens Live Transcript; hold Option to leave the notch to the other app. It can make room automatically, always or never, and you can tell it not to make room for a particular app.
It never moves or hides other apps’ menu bar items, and needs no extra permissions to share the notch. Settings let you choose where the listening indicator sits when nothing is being said, beside the notch or under it, and whether captions may cover the menu bar beside the notch or keep clear of it.
Another app has a panel on the notch. Live Transcript leaves it alone: a slim listening line and a separate caption panel sit just below.
For the curious: stats for nerds
Turn on Developer mode in Settings › Overview and the menu bar menu gains a Developer Console (⌥⌘D): a live log, the app’s network requests and open connections, the audio pipeline lane by lane, and stats for nerds on the process, energy, speech models, the notch and the license. It samples only while it’s open.
It’s also the easiest way to see for yourself that transcription makes no network calls: start listening with a speech model already on your Mac, watch the words arrive, and the Network tab stays at no remote connections.
When something goes wrong, copy diagnostics report gives you a summary that’s safe to paste into a bug report: no transcript text, no keys, no personal paths. Try the console below; its session is invented.
The Developer Console loads here as you scroll.
00:02:20,310Plans
Buy a version, or every version.
Every edition has every feature. Pick how many Macs, and whether you want this version or all of them.
Personal
3Macs at once
- This version$10
The current version and every update to it. Free upgrade if the next version arrives within a year.
- Lifetime updates$50
Every version, now and later.
One-time payment, in US dollars. Buying opens soon.
Business
10Macs at once
- This version$25
The current version and every update to it. Free upgrade if the next version arrives within a year.
- Lifetime updates$75
Every version, now and later.
One-time payment, in US dollars. Buying opens soon.
How versions work
- You buy a version. It’s yours to keep, with every update to it.
- A version lasts at least a year. A new version comes when a new macOS brings features that warrant one.
- A new version within a year is free. If the next version arrives within a year of your purchase, you get it too.
- Lifetime covers every version, now and later.
- Installs are reusable. Personal covers 3 Macs and Business 10. Unregister a Mac in the app or on the account page and the install is free for another Mac.
A license is just a key. No account, no name. Your license is checked on your Mac, so it doesn’t need a connection to keep working day to day.Already have a key? Manage your installs.
00:02:58,000Questions
Short answers.
What does Live Transcript capture?
Everything your Mac plays (calls, videos, podcasts, lectures), labelled “Them”, and your microphone if you turn it on, labelled “You”. With both on, a call reads like a script: who said what, in order.
Does my audio go to a server?
No. Speech is turned into text on your Mac by Apple Speech or Whisper. Only if you ask a cloud AI provider for a summary does transcript text leave your Mac, and only to the provider you picked.
Do I need BlackHole or another virtual audio device?
No. Live Transcript captures your Mac’s sound with macOS’s own Core Audio taps, so there’s no audio driver to install or routing to change, and the sound keeps playing normally. More in the guide.
Which speech engines and languages can it use?
Apple Speech, or Whisper in three sizes: Low (145 MB), Medium (216 MB) or High (632 MB). Set Language to Auto-detect and Whisper works out the language of each phrase, so captions can follow a speaker who switches; Apple Speech switches between the languages you list. The engine wizard compares them on your own voice.
What needs Apple Intelligence?
Only History’s written extras: with Apple Intelligence, Apple’s on-device model writes each session’s title, one-line summary and topics, and answers questions you ask your history. Without it, captions, translation, export and search on words and meaning all work; cards show the opening words, and questions don’t get a written answer. The Summary & Questions panel uses whichever AI you choose in Settings.
Which Macs does it run on?
Macs with Apple silicon running macOS 26 or later.
How does licensing work, and on how many Macs?
A license is a key, with no account and no name. Personal covers 3 Macs at once and Business 10, and every edition has every feature. Buy this version, with every update to it, or lifetime updates for every version. It’s checked on your Mac, so it doesn’t need a connection to keep working day to day. The editions are under Plans.
I got a new Mac. How do I move my license?
Deactivate the old Mac from the app, or unregister it at the account page, then activate the new one. The install is free again straight away.
What happens when a new version comes out?
The version you bought keeps working, with all its updates. If the new version arrives within a year of your purchase, your license covers it too. With lifetime updates, every version is covered.
Does it work offline?
Transcription, History and search happen on your Mac, without the network. Activating a license needs an internet connection; after that the app checks in now and then when it’s online and keeps working through long stretches without one. Whisper models download the first time you use them, and macOS may download language files the first time you use a language. More in the guide.
I lost my key. Can I get it back?
If you added a recovery email, use “Lost your key?” on the account page and we’ll email you a replacement. If you didn’t, it may still be recoverable: contact Tech on Tires, LLC through the contact page at on.tires with the date you bought it and your payment receipt. Never send card details.
When can I download it?
Now: use the Download for Mac button on this page. What’s new in each version is in the changelog.
Can I install it with Homebrew?
Yes, from the Polytopic Systems tap: brew install --cask polytopic-systems/tap/live-transcript. It installs the same notarized disk image as the download button, and the app keeps updating itself. The tap is at github.com/polytopic-systems/homebrew-tap.
More in the docs and FAQ, and exactly what’s stored in the privacy notes.
Captions for everything your Mac plays.
There’s no mailing list to join: we don’t collect email addresses for marketing. What’s new in each version is in the changelog.
or with Homebrew: brew install --cask polytopic-systems/tap/live-transcript