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Talking to Homeling

Say what you need from any app, and make the shortcut yours.

Talk from any app

  1. Press ⌃⌥Space in any app. Homeling comes forward and starts listening.
  2. Say what you need. Your words appear as you speak.
  3. Stop talking. After a two-second pause it sends. You can also press ⌃⌥Space again, or hold the keys while you talk and let go.

Changed your mind? Press Esc or click Discard, and nothing is sent. Homeling's menu bar icon has Talk to Homeling too. The talk guide walks through it with pictures.

The microphone in the message box

Click the microphone in the message box, or press ⇧⌘M. This time your words wait in the box when you stop, so you can fix them before you send.

The first time

Homeling explains what it needs before macOS asks for the microphone and speech recognition. The first time you use a language, your Mac downloads Apple's speech files for it once; “Get voice ready” in Settings → Voice does that ahead of time.

Your words are turned into text on your Mac with Apple's on-device speech recognition. The recording isn't saved or sent anywhere.

Make it yours

In Homeling: Settings → Voice

  • Language: your Mac's, or another one under Listening.
  • Send when I stop talking: on for the shortcut and the menu bar, off for the microphone in the message box. Change either.
  • A different shortcut: click Change… and press the keys you want, or turn off “Talk to Homeling from any app”.
  • Read replies aloud: off unless you turn it on; Homeling stops as soon as you talk or press Esc.
  • Sounds when listening starts and stops and when a reply is ready: on unless you turn them off.
Homeling's Voice settings: the language, when to send, the Talk to Homeling from any app switch with the Control-Option-Space shortcut, and replies.
Settings → Voice.

If it doesn't work

  • Nothing happens when you press ⌃⌥Space: check that “Talk to Homeling from any app” is on in Settings → Voice. If Settings says the keys are also one of macOS's shortcuts, that's the one for switching keyboard languages: it only matters if you use more than one, and then picking another shortcut in Settings → Voice fixes it.
  • It hears nothing: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone and Speech Recognition, and switch Homeling on.
  • It keeps listening: background noise can keep it open; press the shortcut again or click Done.
  • The shortcut works whenever Homeling is running.