Orater : Voice-to-text that actually works everywhere (no signup, offline support, free tier)
Hey! I wanted to share Orater, a voice-to-text app I've been working on that fixes a lot of the frustrations with built-in dictation.
Download: https://orater.ai/
What makes it different:
Works in literally any app (Slack, VSCode, Gmail, Discord, WhatsApp, Cursor, etc.)
Runs OpenAI's Whisper models locally – including large v3 for maximum accuracy
Fully offline mode for privacy
No signup, no account, no credit card required
Auto-cleans filler words and adjusts tone/style
Free tier includes:
Offline dictation (unlimited)
4,000 enhanced words/month
21-day Pro trial with unlimited usage
Orater comes with all supported Whisper models and is built for people who want fast, accurate dictation without sending their voice to the cloud.
Download: https://orater.ai/
https://preview.redd.it/5ff3mh9kg9ig1.png?width=2918&format=png&auto=webp&s=e965727bc9b02a57789fb3d3af0c612e7f385ffe
Would love to hear feedback from the community if anyone tries it out!
https://redd.it/1qz77ze
@macappsbackup
Hey! I wanted to share Orater, a voice-to-text app I've been working on that fixes a lot of the frustrations with built-in dictation.
Download: https://orater.ai/
What makes it different:
Works in literally any app (Slack, VSCode, Gmail, Discord, WhatsApp, Cursor, etc.)
Runs OpenAI's Whisper models locally – including large v3 for maximum accuracy
Fully offline mode for privacy
No signup, no account, no credit card required
Auto-cleans filler words and adjusts tone/style
Free tier includes:
Offline dictation (unlimited)
4,000 enhanced words/month
21-day Pro trial with unlimited usage
Orater comes with all supported Whisper models and is built for people who want fast, accurate dictation without sending their voice to the cloud.
Download: https://orater.ai/
https://preview.redd.it/5ff3mh9kg9ig1.png?width=2918&format=png&auto=webp&s=e965727bc9b02a57789fb3d3af0c612e7f385ffe
Would love to hear feedback from the community if anyone tries it out!
https://redd.it/1qz77ze
@macappsbackup
Orater.ai
Speak Your Email Confidently – Orater
Dictate emails effortlessly with Orater. Speak naturally, send confidently. Accurate voice-to-text dictation powered by the latest models — offline & private.
App for chatting with multiple AI models simultaneously?
A few days ago, a new app called 'AI Council' was presented here by u/Wacko_66. The dev, u/Techniciti popped up there too, also mentioning promo codes. The thread died a premature dead since for some reason the same day the account of the dev was banned from Reddit.
I thought the app was interesting and I started a search for similar apps. And I found the onces following below (starting with AI Council as this fired everything up).
I'm very curious to learn which apps:
* are very good
* are easy to work with
* are for general purpose use (not coding or a niche purpose)
* have good price/quality balance
And are there great apps like these that are not mentioned? What apps would you recommend?
[**AI Council**](https://ai.techniciti.eu/) \- Says: "AI Council queries multiple AI systems simultaneously, has them peer-review each other anonymously, and synthesises their best insights into one reliable response.'
**Pricing**: macOS € 29.99 One-time purchase. Free updates included. | iOS € 9.99 One-time purchase. Free updates included.
[**Chatwise**](https://chatwise.app/) \- Says: "Simple, Powerful and Privacy-Friendly AI Chat. And it works for any LLM."
**Pricing**: Free $0 - Pro $29 one-time payment
[**MSTY**](https://msty.ai/) \- Says: "Msty Studio is your all-in-one AI studio. Mix local & online models, build powerful assistants, automate workflows, and make AI work for you."
[**TypingMind**](https://www.typingmind.com/) \- Says: "Advanced chat UI for AI models. ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and more. All in one place."
**Pricing**: Standard $39 - Extended $79 - Premium $99
[**MindMac**](http://mindmac.app/) \- Says: "Connect seamlessly, chat effortlessly with ChatGPT on macOS
Modern. Native. Friendly UI. Compatible with OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Google Gemini and more. Designed for macOS."
**Pricing**: Basic $29 - Personal $49 - Standard $69
[**Chorus**](https://chorus.sh/) \- Says: "All the AI, on your Mac. Chat with o3, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek, and others all at once. The best models, as soon as they come out, in one open source app.
**Pricing**: free
[**Apollo**](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/apollo-powered-by-liquid/id6448019325) (Powered by [Liquid](https://www.liquid.ai/)) - Says: "Chat with private, local Als, connect to every open source Al, or your own locally-hosted private LLMs. Apollo is your own customizable client for accessing language models from all around the web."
Local model support (experimental): run smaller LLMs privately and securely on-device
OpenRouter support: bring an OpenRouter API key to chat with every model on the web.
Custom Backend support: Run an LLM on your computer with tools like LM Studio or Ollama and connect to it with Apollo to host your own private ChatGPT-like mobile app for your family.
**Pricing**: Free $0
https://redd.it/1qz8wwr
@macappsbackup
A few days ago, a new app called 'AI Council' was presented here by u/Wacko_66. The dev, u/Techniciti popped up there too, also mentioning promo codes. The thread died a premature dead since for some reason the same day the account of the dev was banned from Reddit.
I thought the app was interesting and I started a search for similar apps. And I found the onces following below (starting with AI Council as this fired everything up).
I'm very curious to learn which apps:
* are very good
* are easy to work with
* are for general purpose use (not coding or a niche purpose)
* have good price/quality balance
And are there great apps like these that are not mentioned? What apps would you recommend?
[**AI Council**](https://ai.techniciti.eu/) \- Says: "AI Council queries multiple AI systems simultaneously, has them peer-review each other anonymously, and synthesises their best insights into one reliable response.'
**Pricing**: macOS € 29.99 One-time purchase. Free updates included. | iOS € 9.99 One-time purchase. Free updates included.
[**Chatwise**](https://chatwise.app/) \- Says: "Simple, Powerful and Privacy-Friendly AI Chat. And it works for any LLM."
**Pricing**: Free $0 - Pro $29 one-time payment
[**MSTY**](https://msty.ai/) \- Says: "Msty Studio is your all-in-one AI studio. Mix local & online models, build powerful assistants, automate workflows, and make AI work for you."
[**TypingMind**](https://www.typingmind.com/) \- Says: "Advanced chat UI for AI models. ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and more. All in one place."
**Pricing**: Standard $39 - Extended $79 - Premium $99
[**MindMac**](http://mindmac.app/) \- Says: "Connect seamlessly, chat effortlessly with ChatGPT on macOS
Modern. Native. Friendly UI. Compatible with OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Google Gemini and more. Designed for macOS."
**Pricing**: Basic $29 - Personal $49 - Standard $69
[**Chorus**](https://chorus.sh/) \- Says: "All the AI, on your Mac. Chat with o3, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek, and others all at once. The best models, as soon as they come out, in one open source app.
**Pricing**: free
[**Apollo**](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/apollo-powered-by-liquid/id6448019325) (Powered by [Liquid](https://www.liquid.ai/)) - Says: "Chat with private, local Als, connect to every open source Al, or your own locally-hosted private LLMs. Apollo is your own customizable client for accessing language models from all around the web."
Local model support (experimental): run smaller LLMs privately and securely on-device
OpenRouter support: bring an OpenRouter API key to chat with every model on the web.
Custom Backend support: Run an LLM on your computer with tools like LM Studio or Ollama and connect to it with Apollo to host your own private ChatGPT-like mobile app for your family.
**Pricing**: Free $0
https://redd.it/1qz8wwr
@macappsbackup
AI Council
AI Council - Smarter AI Through Consensus
Consult multiple AI systems. Get consensus-driven answers with confidence scoring.
[macOS] I built a free, open source macOS screen recorder that feels native and supports all the modern capture features you'd expect
https://redd.it/1qza8af
@macappsbackup
https://redd.it/1qza8af
@macappsbackup
Russet: on-device AI assistant with 20+ local models and deep system integration. Designed purely for Apple silicon.
https://redd.it/1qzc2rn
@macappsbackup
https://redd.it/1qzc2rn
@macappsbackup
Reddit
From the macapps community on Reddit: Russet: on-device AI assistant with 20+ local models and deep system integration. Designed…
Explore this post and more from the macapps community
Pouring free Moonshine for beta testers, a menu bar app that remembers your entire workspace per monitor
Hey r/macapps,
I built Moonshine, a native Swift menu bar app that saves and restores your entire workspace — window positions, audio devices, dock settings, and running apps — automatically when you. connect or disconnect monitors.
The problem: Every time you dock your laptop at work, plug into your home setup, or go to a coffee shop, macOS scatters your windows, routes audio to the wrong device, and you spend 5-10 minutes getting everything back in place. No single app solves all of this together.
What Moonshine does:
\- Window memory — Saves and restores every window's exact position and size across all displays. Works with Chrome, VS Code, Slack, Finder, Terminal, Firefox, and more.
\- Multi-monitor profiles — Automatically detects your display setup by hardware (vendor/model/serial). Plug in your monitor and everything snaps back. Works with any number of displays.
\- Audio routing — Switches output and input devices per profile. Restores volume levels too. Go from laptop speakers at the coffee shop to your USB mic + headphones at your desk,automatically.
\- App launching — Remembers which apps were running per profile and silently launches them in the background when a profile activates.
\- Dock position — Saves dock orientation (bottom/left/right), autohide setting, and icon size per profile. Dock on the left with your ultrawide? Bottom with just the laptop? Handled.
\- Manual profiles — Same monitor at different locations? Create multiple profiles and switch manually from the menu bar.
\- Keyboard shortcuts — Ctrl+Opt+R to restore, Ctrl+Opt+C to re-capture.
What I'm looking for:
10 beta testers to try Moonshine before launch and report bugs, UX issues, or edge cases I haven't hit. Especially looking for:
\- Multi-monitor setups (2+ external displays)
\- Mixed monitor brands (e.g., Dell + LG + Apple)
\- Dock/undock workflows (MacBook + Thunderbolt dock)
\- Unusual app setups (lots of windows, niche apps)
What you get:
\- Free license for the final release (launching at $14.99, one-time purchase — not a subnoscription)
\- Direct line to me for feedback
Requirements: macOS 14 Sonoma or later. Requires Accessibility permission (not sandboxed — this is how window management works on macOS).
Website: https://moonshine.griffoncrest.com
If you're interested, join this discord and I will move you to the private channel that has the beta app link: https://discord.gg/9sRB6xCV
Even if you can't test, an upvote helps me gauge interest and motivates an earlier release.
Thanks!
https://redd.it/1qz9fx0
@macappsbackup
Hey r/macapps,
I built Moonshine, a native Swift menu bar app that saves and restores your entire workspace — window positions, audio devices, dock settings, and running apps — automatically when you. connect or disconnect monitors.
The problem: Every time you dock your laptop at work, plug into your home setup, or go to a coffee shop, macOS scatters your windows, routes audio to the wrong device, and you spend 5-10 minutes getting everything back in place. No single app solves all of this together.
What Moonshine does:
\- Window memory — Saves and restores every window's exact position and size across all displays. Works with Chrome, VS Code, Slack, Finder, Terminal, Firefox, and more.
\- Multi-monitor profiles — Automatically detects your display setup by hardware (vendor/model/serial). Plug in your monitor and everything snaps back. Works with any number of displays.
\- Audio routing — Switches output and input devices per profile. Restores volume levels too. Go from laptop speakers at the coffee shop to your USB mic + headphones at your desk,automatically.
\- App launching — Remembers which apps were running per profile and silently launches them in the background when a profile activates.
\- Dock position — Saves dock orientation (bottom/left/right), autohide setting, and icon size per profile. Dock on the left with your ultrawide? Bottom with just the laptop? Handled.
\- Manual profiles — Same monitor at different locations? Create multiple profiles and switch manually from the menu bar.
\- Keyboard shortcuts — Ctrl+Opt+R to restore, Ctrl+Opt+C to re-capture.
What I'm looking for:
10 beta testers to try Moonshine before launch and report bugs, UX issues, or edge cases I haven't hit. Especially looking for:
\- Multi-monitor setups (2+ external displays)
\- Mixed monitor brands (e.g., Dell + LG + Apple)
\- Dock/undock workflows (MacBook + Thunderbolt dock)
\- Unusual app setups (lots of windows, niche apps)
What you get:
\- Free license for the final release (launching at $14.99, one-time purchase — not a subnoscription)
\- Direct line to me for feedback
Requirements: macOS 14 Sonoma or later. Requires Accessibility permission (not sandboxed — this is how window management works on macOS).
Website: https://moonshine.griffoncrest.com
If you're interested, join this discord and I will move you to the private channel that has the beta app link: https://discord.gg/9sRB6xCV
Even if you can't test, an upvote helps me gauge interest and motivates an earlier release.
Thanks!
https://redd.it/1qz9fx0
@macappsbackup
Griffoncrest
Moonshine — Your Mac remembers how you work
Moonshine saves and restores your entire workspace across multiple monitors — window positions, audio devices, dock settings, and running apps — automatically.
Stop Making CRON Jobs!
Shell Text
TL;DR:
Cron is great on always-on Unix servers and mostly terrible on Macs. It has no awareness of sleep, login state, or network availability, so scheduled jobs often just don’t run. On macOS, the real scheduling system is launchd, which understands system events and conditions—but writing launchd jobs by hand is painful. If you need reliable background automation, use a GUI tool like Lingon Pro or LaunchD Task Scheduler. For user-level automations while you’re logged in, Keyboard Maestro and Apple Shortcuts are excellent—but they can’t replace launchd for true unattended tasks.
# Cron Was Made for Always-On Unix Servers
Early in my career, I used to get annoyed when the old hands would wave away every automation problem with, "Just make a cron job."
Cron dates back to the earliest days of Unix. It's simple, dumb, and dependable: once a minute it checks a text file, and if a line in that file matches the current time, it runs the associated command. Like most Unix tools, it works great--once you learn the arcane scheduling syntax.
For example:
0 3 /Users/amerpie/noscripts/backup.sh
To cron, that means: run this noscript every day at 3:00 AM.\*
Cron was designed for machines that live in server rooms--powered on 24/7, connected to stable networks, and rarely put to sleep.
macOS laptops are… not that.
The core problem is that cron has zero situational awareness. It doesn't know or care whether:
you're logged in
the network is available
the laptop is asleep
macOS has changed anything since 1993
modern features like sandboxing, power-saving modes, or System Integrity Protection exist
Cron just runs on schedule. If your Mac is asleep at 3:00 AM, tough luck.
That limitation makes cron a poor fit for most real-world Mac automation.
# That's Why We Have launchd
Apple introduced launchd over 20 years ago with OS X 10.4 (Tiger) to replace cron and a pile of other legacy services.
Unlike cron, launchd actually understands the modern Mac environment. It can handle:
starting and stopping apps
running background tasks
scheduling jobs
managing daemons
responding to system events
Most importantly, launchd isn't limited to "run at this time." It can trigger jobs based on state and context, including:
specific times or intervals
system boot
user login
file or folder changes
network availability
hardware events
on-demand conditions
In other words, launchd is designed for the messy, mobile, power-managed world Macs actually live in.
There's just one big catch.
You don't create launchd jobs with a simple line of text. Instead, you have to write XML property list files--verbose, picky, easy to mess up, and filled with cryptic keys you're expected to understand.
For most sane people, that's a hard pass.
# Useful Third-Party Apps That Make This Easy
Fortunately, it's 2026, and no one needs to hand-craft launchd XML files anymore. Several excellent Mac apps provide friendly interfaces for building launchd jobs or similar scheduled tasks.
# [Lingon Pro](https://www.peterborgapps.com/lingon/)
Lingon has been around for more than two decades, and it's still one of the best launchd tools available.
It gives you a clean GUI for creating complex jobs that can run:
whether your Mac is awake or asleep
whether you're logged in or not
with root privileges if necessary
with "keep alive" rules that automatically restart crashed processes
If you need serious, reliable background automation on macOS, Lingon Pro is the gold standard.
Price: $23.99 one-time, or $11.99/year subnoscription
Trial: Full-featured one-week trial
# **LaunchD Task Scheduler**
This is a simpler, cheaper alternative to Lingon Pro. It doesn't have quite the same depth, but it's more than enough for many users.
Key features:
Create,
Shell Text
TL;DR:
Cron is great on always-on Unix servers and mostly terrible on Macs. It has no awareness of sleep, login state, or network availability, so scheduled jobs often just don’t run. On macOS, the real scheduling system is launchd, which understands system events and conditions—but writing launchd jobs by hand is painful. If you need reliable background automation, use a GUI tool like Lingon Pro or LaunchD Task Scheduler. For user-level automations while you’re logged in, Keyboard Maestro and Apple Shortcuts are excellent—but they can’t replace launchd for true unattended tasks.
# Cron Was Made for Always-On Unix Servers
Early in my career, I used to get annoyed when the old hands would wave away every automation problem with, "Just make a cron job."
Cron dates back to the earliest days of Unix. It's simple, dumb, and dependable: once a minute it checks a text file, and if a line in that file matches the current time, it runs the associated command. Like most Unix tools, it works great--once you learn the arcane scheduling syntax.
For example:
0 3 /Users/amerpie/noscripts/backup.sh
To cron, that means: run this noscript every day at 3:00 AM.\*
Cron was designed for machines that live in server rooms--powered on 24/7, connected to stable networks, and rarely put to sleep.
macOS laptops are… not that.
The core problem is that cron has zero situational awareness. It doesn't know or care whether:
you're logged in
the network is available
the laptop is asleep
macOS has changed anything since 1993
modern features like sandboxing, power-saving modes, or System Integrity Protection exist
Cron just runs on schedule. If your Mac is asleep at 3:00 AM, tough luck.
That limitation makes cron a poor fit for most real-world Mac automation.
# That's Why We Have launchd
Apple introduced launchd over 20 years ago with OS X 10.4 (Tiger) to replace cron and a pile of other legacy services.
Unlike cron, launchd actually understands the modern Mac environment. It can handle:
starting and stopping apps
running background tasks
scheduling jobs
managing daemons
responding to system events
Most importantly, launchd isn't limited to "run at this time." It can trigger jobs based on state and context, including:
specific times or intervals
system boot
user login
file or folder changes
network availability
hardware events
on-demand conditions
In other words, launchd is designed for the messy, mobile, power-managed world Macs actually live in.
There's just one big catch.
You don't create launchd jobs with a simple line of text. Instead, you have to write XML property list files--verbose, picky, easy to mess up, and filled with cryptic keys you're expected to understand.
For most sane people, that's a hard pass.
# Useful Third-Party Apps That Make This Easy
Fortunately, it's 2026, and no one needs to hand-craft launchd XML files anymore. Several excellent Mac apps provide friendly interfaces for building launchd jobs or similar scheduled tasks.
# [Lingon Pro](https://www.peterborgapps.com/lingon/)
Lingon has been around for more than two decades, and it's still one of the best launchd tools available.
It gives you a clean GUI for creating complex jobs that can run:
whether your Mac is awake or asleep
whether you're logged in or not
with root privileges if necessary
with "keep alive" rules that automatically restart crashed processes
If you need serious, reliable background automation on macOS, Lingon Pro is the gold standard.
Price: $23.99 one-time, or $11.99/year subnoscription
Trial: Full-featured one-week trial
# **LaunchD Task Scheduler**
This is a simpler, cheaper alternative to Lingon Pro. It doesn't have quite the same depth, but it's more than enough for many users.
Key features:
Create,