--- title: "Local Transcription on Mac (Free, On-Device) — Mumr" description: "Mumr transcribes your meetings 100% on your Mac — Apple Speech, WhisperKit, or FluidAudio Parakeet. Offline, private, free, no cloud. The local, no-account meeting recorder for macOS." canonical: "https://mumr.app/local-transcription-mac" language: "en-GB" last-updated: "2026-08-23T13:18:59+01:00" source: "https://mumr.app — Markdown rendition of the HTML page at `canonical`" --- On-device · Offline · Private # Local meeting transcription on your Mac Most meeting tools upload your audio to a server to transcribe it. Mumr doesn't. It turns speech into text entirely on your Mac — offline, private, free — with the AI you choose handling the summary. No cloud, no account. Last updated: 28 June 2026 · By Mumr The short version - **Capture and transcription run 100% on your Mac** — your audio never leaves the machine. - Three engines, your choice: **Apple Speech**, **WhisperKit**, and **FluidAudio Parakeet**. - **Works offline**, with no minute caps, no per-seat fee, and no account. - The summary is yours to pick — and with Apple Intelligence or a local CLI, even that stays on-device. ## What "local transcription" actually means Cloud meeting assistants send your audio (or a live stream of it) to their servers, transcribe it there, and store the transcript in their cloud. **Local, on-device transcription** flips that: the speech-to-text model runs on your own Mac, so the audio and the resulting transcript never leave your machine. There's nothing to upload, nothing stored on a vendor's server, and nothing that can be used to train someone else's model. ## Three on-device engines, your choice Mumr ships three local transcription engines so you can trade speed for accuracy: - **Apple Speech** — built into macOS, instant, nothing to download. The fastest way to get a usable transcript. - **WhisperKit** — a Metal-accelerated build of OpenAI's Whisper that runs on your Mac's GPU. A strong balance of speed and accuracy. - **FluidAudio Parakeet TDT v3** — the highest accuracy on Apple Silicon. Best when you need the cleanest transcript. WhisperKit and Parakeet download their model files once (from Hugging Face) and then run entirely offline; Apple Speech needs no download at all. Apple Silicon is recommended for the heavier engines. ## Why keep transcription on your Mac - **Privacy.** For confidential calls — legal, healthcare, hiring, finance — you often can't send audio or transcripts to a third-party cloud. On-device transcription removes that exposure entirely. - **It works offline.** On a plane, on hotel Wi-Fi, or in a locked-down corporate environment, local transcription keeps working. - **No caps, no per-seat fee.** Cloud transcription is metered by the minute or the seat. Local transcription on your own hardware isn't. - **No training on your words.** Several cloud notetakers use customer audio to improve their models. Nothing you record in Mumr is ever used that way — there's no Mumr server to send it to. ## Where the summary fits Transcription is always local in Mumr. The one step that _can_ use the network is the summary — and that's entirely your choice. **Apple Intelligence** (macOS 26+) runs the summary on-device. A **local `claude`/`codex` CLI** runs as a subprocess on your Mac. Or you can bring your **own Anthropic/OpenAI key**, in which case only the transcript text — never the audio — goes to that provider under your own account. Pick the on-device options and the whole pipeline, capture to summary, stays on your Mac. See [how to record a meeting on a Mac](https://mumr.app/record-meeting-mac) for the full flow. ## Local vs cloud meeting tools Cloud assistants like [Otter.ai](https://mumr.app/compare/otter-ai-alternative) upload and store your audio; [Granola](https://mumr.app/compare/granola-alternative) captures locally but sends transcripts to its cloud. Local-first transcription tools like [MacWhisper](https://mumr.app/compare/macwhisper-alternative) and [Superwhisper](https://mumr.app/compare/superwhisper-alternative) keep transcription on-device too, but gate meeting recording or larger models behind a paid tier. Mumr keeps capture and transcription on your Mac _and_ is free for the meeting job. ## Transcribe on your Mac, free Mumr records and transcribes your meetings entirely on your Mac — offline, private, with the summary AI you choose. [Download for Mac](https://mumr.app/download) Free on the Mac App Store · macOS 15 or later ## FAQ ### What is local (on-device) transcription? The speech-to-text runs on your own Mac instead of a server, so the audio never leaves your machine. Mumr uses Apple Speech, WhisperKit, or FluidAudio Parakeet. ### Does it work offline? Yes. Once a model is on your Mac, transcription runs with no internet. Apple Speech is built in; WhisperKit and Parakeet download their model once, then run locally. ### Which engine is most accurate? On Apple Silicon, FluidAudio Parakeet TDT v3 is the most accurate; WhisperKit is a strong middle option; Apple Speech is built in and instant. You choose per recording. ### Is local transcription free? With Mumr, yes — recording and on-device transcription are free, with no caps and no account. Cloud services charge per minute or seat and upload your audio.