How to Use Dictation Offline in macOS 13

Yes, you can use dictation without an active internet connection in macOS 13 Ventura. Thanks to on-device speech recognition, modern Mac systems process spoken audio locally, eliminating the need to send your voice data to Apple servers. This guide explains how offline dictation works, its requirements, and how to enable and use it on your device.

System Requirements for Offline Dictation

Offline dictation is supported natively on all Mac models with Apple Silicon (M1, M2, and later variants). For Intel-based Macs, on-device dictation is available in select languages, provided the necessary speech recognition files have been downloaded to your local storage.

How to Enable Dictation in macOS 13

To enable dictation and ensure speech files are ready for offline use, follow these steps:

Click the Apple menu in the top-left corner and select System Settings.
Scroll down the sidebar and click Keyboard.
Locate the Dictation section on the right side and toggle the switch to On.
If prompted to confirm, click Enable.
Set your preferred language under the Language menu. When you select a language, macOS will automatically download the offline recognition package if it is not already installed.
Choose your desired activation key in the Shortcut menu (the default is pressing the Microphone key or pressing the Fn key twice).

How to Use Dictation Offline

Once configured, you can test and use dictation without an internet connection:

Disconnect your Mac from Wi-Fi or unplug your Ethernet cable to confirm offline functionality.
Open any app that accepts text input, such as Notes, Pages, or TextEdit.
Click into a text field or document where you want your words to appear.
Press your configured Dictation shortcut. A microphone icon will appear on the screen indicating that your Mac is listening.
Speak clearly. Your speech will be converted to text in real time entirely on your device.
Press the shortcut again or click the microphone icon to finish dictating.