What is Echoic?
Echoic is a private voice intelligence app for Mac. It records meetings, creates transcripts and notes, and lets you dictate into Mac apps.
Remember every meeting without inviting a bot.
Record meetings, get private transcripts, and dictate into any Mac app. Speech processing stays on your device by default.
No bot joins your callsAudio transcribes locally by defaultNo account required to start
Free for macOS 14.2+ · Apple Silicon recommended
Built for meetings in classrooms, labs, clinics, offices, and teams.
Classrooms
Labs
Clinics
Client work
Teams
Start recording in seconds.
Download Echoic, grant microphone permissions, and capture the next conversation without inviting a bot.
01
Download & Install
Download the DMG, drag Echoic to Applications. It lives in your menu bar.
02
Set Your Hotkey
Pick any key combo. That's your dictation trigger — works in every app on your Mac.
03
Hold & Speak
Hold your hotkey, talk, release. Text appears at your cursor instantly.
What you'll need
- ✓A Mac running macOS 14.2 or later
- ✓Apple Silicon recommended
- ✓~600 MB free storage for speech models
- ✓Microphone and Accessibility permissions
Capture the conversation. Keep the context.
Echoic starts with meeting recall, then adds dictation and AI assistance for the moments when you need to turn speech into work.
How it works
Start recording, stay present, leave with notes.
1
Record
Microphone and system audio are captured together.
2
Transcript
Speaker-labeled speech appears while you stay in the conversation.
3
Notes
Summaries, exports, and action items are ready after the meeting.
Meeting mode
Transcripts, summaries, action items, and exports.
- Dual-Stream CaptureRecords microphone and system audio simultaneously — your voice and everyone else, cleanly separated.
- Live TranscriptWatch the conversation unfold in real time with speaker-labeled chat bubbles.
- Speaker DiarizationIdentifies and separates speakers into "Me" and "Them" channels with inline renaming.
- AI Summaries & Action ItemsGet meeting summaries and extracted action items from any AI provider you choose.
- Calendar IntegrationSee upcoming meetings in the menu bar. Quick-start recording from any calendar event.
- Multi-Format ExportExport as Markdown, DOCX, or PDF. Markdown is Obsidian-vault compatible.
Dictation mode
Speak into any app on your Mac.
- Type Into Any AppHold your hotkey, speak, and text appears at your cursor — in VS Code, Slack, Terminal, anywhere.
- Sub-500ms LatencyNear-instant transcription with local neural models. No round-trip to the cloud.
- Voice Commands"New line", "delete that" — natural editing commands built in.
- Concurrent ModeDictate while recording a meeting — both modes run simultaneously without interference.
Private by default, plain about how it works.
Echoic keeps the privacy story concrete: speech processing happens on your Mac by default, meetings do not need bots, and audio is not uploaded for transcription unless you choose a workflow that sends data elsewhere.
On-device speech
Speech recognition runs on your Mac by default.
No meeting bot
Capture system audio without adding another attendee to the call.
No audio upload by default
Meeting audio does not need to leave your machine for transcription.
No Audio Uploaded
Speech recognition runs on your device by default, so meeting audio is not uploaded for transcription.
Designed for sensitive workflows
Local-first processing can help reduce exposure of sensitive audio. Echoic is not a compliance certification by itself.
What leaves your Mac?
| Data type | Default | If you connect cloud AI |
|---|---|---|
| Audio | Stays on your Mac for local transcription. | Not sent for transcription by default. |
| Transcript | Stored locally in Echoic workflows. | May be sent to the AI provider you choose for summaries, cleanup, or chat. |
| Meeting notes | Generated and stored locally when using local AI. | May be generated by the selected provider from transcript text. |
| Calendar metadata | Uses local or Apple calendar permissions you grant. | Depends on the calendar account you connect in macOS. |
Simple Pricing
Start Free. Go Pro When Ready.
Start free for light use. Upgrade when regular recording, advanced dictation, and custom AI workflows become part of your week.
Local speech engines10+ AI providersUnlimited dictationEvery export format
Free
$0forever free
Best for trying Echoic or light personal use
10 recordings or raw audio transcriptions per month
- Import existing notes and transcripts anytime
- Unlimited local history
- Cross-meeting search and chat
- System-wide plain dictation
- Core local speech engines
- AI summaries & action items
- Apple Calendar
- iCloud syncsoon
- All export formats (MD, DOCX, PDF)
Everything runs locally by default. No account required.
Download Free for macOSMost Popular
Pro
$79/year
Less than $7/mo
Best for professionals who record regularly
Upgrade when you need unlimited recordings, advanced dictation, custom AI workflows, and priority support.
- Everything in Free
- Unlimited recordings and raw audio imports
- Advanced local speech engines
- Custom AI templates
- Advanced dictation commands
- Code command dictation
- Priority support
Coming soon, included in Pro
- Obsidian sync
- Google & Outlook Calendar sync
- Speaker research dossiers
- CLI bridge for agents, Hermes & OpenClaw
Annual subscription, billed yearly. Renews automatically. Cancel anytime.
Go Pro — $79/yearNo credit card required to start
Cancel anytime, no questions
Mac App Store coming soon
BYO AI Provider
Local first. Bring your provider when you need more.
Get summaries, action items, and answers from transcripts. Pick the routing mode first; provider details stay available for power users.
Fully local
Use Ollama or Apple Intelligence when transcripts should stay on your Mac.
Bring your own API key
Connect OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, OpenRouter, Groq, xAI, or DeepSeek.
Use external login
Route through Codex Login when you manage that account in Terminal.
Ollama
Fully local, 100% offline AI
OpenAI
GPT-4o and beyond
Codex Login
Use your local Codex CLI login
Anthropic
Claude 3.5 Sonnet
Groq
Ultra-fast inference
xAI
Grok models
Apple Intelligence
On-device Apple AI
OpenRouter
Any model, one API
Gemini
Google Gemini models
DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 & V3
What AI can do in Echoic:
Meeting SummariesAction Item ExtractionCustom AI TemplatesDictation CleanupPer-Feature RoutingStreaming Generation
Local AI mode available
No internet connection required
Use Ollama locally —
zero data leaves your Mac
Choose speed, accuracy, language support, or zero-download Apple Speech.
Every speech engine runs locally on your Mac. The technical model names are available when you want to tune the tradeoff.
Fastest EnglishParakeet v3
Most languagesWhisper
Smallest downloadMoonshine
No model downloadApple Speech
Use cases
Built for conversations worth remembering.
Meeting notes for teams and operators
Remember decisions, owners, and follow-ups from standups, planning calls, customer meetings, and one-on-ones.
Learn moreLecture transcripts for teachers and students
Capture lectures, seminars, and office hours so important explanations are easier to review later.
Learn moreInterview transcription for research and hiring
Capture interviews, customer calls, and candidate conversations with less friction and more privacy.
Learn morePrivate transcripts for research work
Build a private archive of research conversations, lab meetings, field notes, and analysis sessions.
Learn moreClient call notes for consultants
Remember client requirements, objections, decisions, and next steps without breaking conversational flow.
Learn morePrivate voice notes for sensitive professional work
Use Echoic for sensitive professional conversations where privacy and careful wording matter.
Learn moreFAQ
Questions people ask before recording.
Clear answers about privacy, meeting capture, dictation, and Mac compatibility.
Does Echoic work without a meeting bot?
Yes. Echoic runs as a native Mac app, so you can capture conversations without inviting a visible meeting bot into the call.
Is Echoic private?
Echoic is designed around local-first speech processing and user-controlled AI providers, so you can keep transcription on your Mac by default.
Does Echoic upload my meeting audio?
Speech recognition runs on your Mac by default, so meeting audio does not need to be uploaded for transcription. Optional AI features may use providers you choose.
When does my data leave my Mac?
Audio stays on your Mac for local transcription by default. Transcript text may leave your Mac only when you route summaries, cleanup, or chat to a cloud AI provider you choose.
Does Echoic work with Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, and FaceTime?
Yes. Echoic records from your Mac instead of joining as a meeting bot, so it is designed to work with common meeting apps and browser calls that play through your system audio.