Babbl

Intelligent voice-to-text for macOS. Transcribe speech locally with automatic filler word removal.

Free and open source. If Babbl is useful to you, consider supporting the project.

Features

• Local transcription — powered by WhisperKit, runs entirely on-device with zero network calls
• Smart filler removal — context-aware filtering of "um", "like", "you know", "basically", etc. with per-word toggles in Settings
• Media pause/resume — automatically pauses YouTube, Spotify, or any playing media during recording, resumes when done
• Recording overlay — floating waveform visualization + timer while recording, status on completion
• Auto-paste — transcribed text is pasted directly into the active app, with clipboard fallback
• Configurable hotkeys — double-tap Option (default), or set a custom shortcut
• Multiple Whisper models — choose from Tiny to Large depending on speed/accuracy needs
• Encrypted history — transcription history is AES-256-GCM encrypted with Keychain-managed keys
• Menu bar app — lives in your menu bar, no Dock icon
• Launch at login — optional, configurable in Settings

Requirements

• macOS 14.0+
• Apple Silicon Mac
• Xcode 16+ (for building from source)

Setup

1. Clone the repo
2. Create a Local.xcconfig file in the project root:

   DEVELOPMENT_TEAM = YOUR_TEAM_ID
   

3. Generate the Xcode project:

   xcodegen generate
   

4. Open Babbl.xcodeproj and run (Cmd+R)
5. Grant microphone and accessibility permissions when prompted

Privacy & Security

• No network access — audio and transcriptions never leave your Mac
• Transcription history encrypted at rest (AES-256-GCM, keys stored in macOS Keychain)
• Clipboard cleared after paste
• Temporary audio files cleaned up immediately after processing
• Hardened runtime enabled
• Minimal entitlements (microphone access only)

Tech Stack

• Swift / SwiftUI
• WhisperKit (on-device speech-to-text)
• Core Audio / vDSP (native sample rate recording + resampling)
• CryptoKit (AES-256-GCM encryption)
• KeyboardShortcuts (hotkey management)
• AVFoundation (audio capture)

Support

Babbl is free to use. If it saves you time, consider supporting its development — pay whatever you feel it's worth.

• Ko-fi — one-time or recurring, no account needed

License

MIT