Does nchova work on a plane?

Yes. Dictation and meeting transcription run on the Mac: with the models downloaded, it needs no connection at all.

Is offline dictation less accurate?

It is the same dictation: nchova has no online mode. The model that types on the plane is the one that types at your desk.

Does it send anything once I am back online?

Never your voice. Back online, nchova looks for updates and, now and then, checks your Pro licence: the key and the Mac’s name, nothing else. Anything more is something you turned on: iCloud sync sends your meetings to your other Macs, and Claude Code or Codex, if they write your notes, get each new meeting’s transcript.

And meetings, offline?

They work the same way: a meeting around a table, with the Mac in the middle, is transcribed with no network, and its notes written on the Mac.

offline dictation

Dictation that works with the Wi‑Fi off.

nchova turns your voice into text on the Mac itself, so it types into any app on a plane, on a train or behind a company firewall. Nothing is uploaded and nothing waits for a server: hold Fn, speak, let go.

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macOS 26 · Apple silicon Mac

In short

Yes, fully offline: once its models are on the Mac, dictation needs no connection at all. Not a fallback mode: the only mode there is.
In any app: the text lands where your cursor is: Mail, Slack, Notion, a terminal, a form in the browser.
Free: with Apple’s speech model, in 10 languages, for good. Parakeet, NVIDIA’s model, comes with Pro: 25 European languages.

Hold the key: dictate yourself.

What runs on the Mac, and what needs the internet once

Everything nchova does with your voice happens on your Mac: dictation, the transcription of meetings, the cleanup of second thoughts, the notes when Apple’s model or Qwen writes them. None of it calls a server, so none of it cares whether you are online.

The internet is needed a few times, and never for your voice: to download a model the first time (macOS fetches each language for Apple’s engine; Parakeet is about 480 MB, once), to activate Pro, and to look for updates. After that, turn the Wi‑Fi off and forget about it.

Three things are online by nature, and only if you pick them: notes written by your own Claude Code or Codex, which send the meeting’s transcript to Anthropic or OpenAI; a cloud assistant such as Claude or ChatGPT connected to your meetings, which sends what it reads to its own model; and the sync of your meetings between your Macs through iCloud (Pro).

Two engines, both on the Mac

Pick one in Settings › Dictation. Whichever you pick, it also transcribes your meetings.

Apple speech recognition

built into macOS: nothing of ours to download, it dictates from the very first minute, in 10 languages. Free, for good.

Parakeet pro

NVIDIA’s speech model, about 480 MB once, in 25 European languages, including those Apple lacks, like Polish and Dutch. While it downloads, Apple keeps dictating.

No time limit

hold the key as long as you are talking; nchova transcribes the whole thing when you let go.

Set it up before you lose the signal

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. Let macOS fetch them, or Parakeet, while you are still online.
Turn the Wi‑Fi off and try it: hold Fn, speak, let go.

Questions, offline

00:00:04 You Does nchova work on a plane?: 00:00:09 nchova Yes. Dictation and meeting transcription run on the Mac: with the models downloaded, it needs no connection at all.
00:00:27 You Is offline dictation less accurate?: 00:00:32 nchova It is the same dictation: nchova has no online mode. The model that types on the plane is the one that types at your desk.
00:00:50 You Does it send anything once I am back online?: 00:00:55 nchova Never your voice. Back online, nchova looks for updates and, now and then, checks your Pro licence: the key and the Mac’s name, nothing else. Anything more is something you turned on: iCloud sync sends your meetings to your other Macs, and Claude Code or Codex, if they write your notes, get each new meeting’s transcript.
00:01:13 You Is there a time limit?: 00:01:18 nchova No. Hold the key as long as you are talking; nchova transcribes the whole thing when you let go.
00:01:36 You And meetings, offline?: 00:01:41 nchova They work the same way: a meeting around a table, with the Mac in the middle, is transcribed with no network, and its notes written on the Mac.