Is there still a Dragon for Mac?

No. Nuance stopped selling Dragon Professional Individual for Mac on 22 October 2018 and has released no updates since; whoever bought it keeps a perpetual licence. Dragon Professional runs on Windows, and Nuance does not support it in Parallels on a Mac.

Does nchova need training?

No: there is nothing to read aloud first. Add the names and terms you use in Settings › Vocabulary, with how the engine hears them.

Can I dictate punctuation?

You do not need to: nchova writes the punctuation from the way you speak. There are no spoken commands.

Does it work in Word?

Yes, and in any other app: the text arrives where the cursor is, in Word, Pages, Google Docs in the browser, Mail or the terminal. With nowhere to type, it waits on the clipboard.

Is it private enough for legal or medical work?

Your voice turns into text on the Mac and is never uploaded: nchova has no online mode for dictation. Whether that meets the rules of your profession is for you, or your firm, to judge.

Thirty days with everything, no card and no account. Then it stays free with Apple’s model.

nchova vs Dragon

Dragon left the Mac. Dictation didn’t.

Nuance stopped selling Dragon for Mac on 22 October 2018 and has not updated it since; today’s Dragon runs on Windows. nchova is dictation for the Mac you have now: hold Fn and speak into any app, offline, with names and terms written your way. What it does not do is drive the Mac by voice: for that, macOS has Voice Control.

Try nchova free for 30 days no card, no account

macOS 26 · Apple silicon Mac

In short

Any app: Word, Pages, Mail, a form in the browser, the terminal: the text arrives where the cursor is.
On the Mac: speech turns into text on the Mac itself, offline: no account, nothing uploaded.
€29.99 once: for Pro, on up to three Macs; or free for good with Apple’s speech model.

Hold the key: dictate yourself.

Side by side

	Dragon	nchova
On the Mac	Dragon Professional Individual for Mac: no longer sold or updated since 22 October 2018. Dragon Medical One reaches a Mac only through Citrix or a Windows virtual machine	A Mac app, for Apple silicon and macOS 26
Dragon today	Professional and Legal v16 on Windows 10 and 11; Professional Anywhere in Microsoft’s cloud, for Windows; Anywhere on iPhone and Android, in the US and Canada	On your Mac, offline
Dictation	Live, and from recorded audio files	Live in any Mac app, and from audio or video files up to four hours
Voice commands	Custom commands and macros, editing and formatting by voice	None: for commands, macOS Voice Control
Your words	Custom words and word lists; Dragon Legal has a legal vocabulary built in	Settings › Vocabulary, with how the engine hears each word
Price	Not listed: Nuance’s page asks you to get in touch	Free with Apple’s model; Pro €29.99 once, up to 3 Macs

Coming from Dragon

What works the way you are used to, and what works differently.

No training

nothing to read aloud before you start: nchova types from the first sentence, with Apple’s model or NVIDIA’s Parakeet.

Your words

in Settings › Vocabulary: names, acronyms, terms of your trade, and how the engine hears them.

No commands

you do not say “comma”, “new paragraph” or “select that”: the punctuation is written for you, and you correct with the keyboard.

Second thoughts

“Friday, no wait, Monday” becomes “Monday”, once you turn the cleanup on in Settings › Dictation, with Apple Intelligence on. It only takes words out, never adds any.

Languages

29, up to three at once, sentence by sentence: 10 free with Apple’s model, 25 European ones with Parakeet (Pro).

And your meetings, written out

The same voice engine transcribes your calls and the meetings around a table, with no bot and no upload, and writes the notes when they end.

When Dragon, or Voice Control, is the better choice

If you need to work the Mac by voice, opening apps, clicking, selecting and editing, macOS has Voice Control built in: commands for the desktop and the apps, dictation and editing by voice, offline once it is downloaded. nchova only types.

If your practice runs on Windows, with word lists, macros and commands shared across a team, Dragon Professional and Dragon Legal are built for that.

For clinical notes inside a hospital’s systems, Dragon Medical One is made for it, though on a Mac it runs only through Citrix or a Windows virtual machine.

Dictating in two minutes

Download nchova and open it. It asks for the Microphone and Accessibility, and to set Press 🌐 key to to Do Nothing, so that Fn is nchova’s and not macOS’s own dictation.
Pick your languages, up to three, and add the names and terms you use most in Settings › Vocabulary.
Click in a document, hold Fn, speak, let go.

Questions, out loud

00:00:04 You Is there still a Dragon for Mac?: 00:00:09 nchova No. Nuance stopped selling Dragon Professional Individual for Mac on 22 October 2018 and has released no updates since; whoever bought it keeps a perpetual licence. Dragon Professional runs on Windows, and Nuance does not support it in Parallels on a Mac.
00:00:27 You Does nchova need training?: 00:00:32 nchova No: there is nothing to read aloud first. Add the names and terms you use in Settings › Vocabulary, with how the engine hears them.
00:00:50 You Can I dictate punctuation?: 00:00:55 nchova You do not need to: nchova writes the punctuation from the way you speak. There are no spoken commands.
00:01:13 You Does it work in Word?: 00:01:18 nchova Yes, and in any other app: the text arrives where the cursor is, in Word, Pages, Google Docs in the browser, Mail or the terminal. With nowhere to type, it waits on the clipboard.
00:01:36 You Is it private enough for legal or medical work?: 00:01:41 nchova Your voice turns into text on the Mac and is never uploaded: nchova has no online mode for dictation. Whether that meets the rules of your profession is for you, or your firm, to judge.
00:01:59 You Can I try it first?: 00:02:04 nchova Thirty days with everything, no card and no account. Then it stays free with Apple’s model.