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Introducing Sonar: A Simple Voice-to-Text App for macOS

2 min read
Sonar app icon

I got tired of subscription fatigue and feature bloat. So I built Sonar—a macOS app that transcribes your voice instantly. No cloud. No monthly fees. Just local, fast, and private.

Why I Made Sonar

I've been a user of Whisper Flow for a while. It's a solid app. But the constant subscription payments and the ever-growing feature list started to wear on me. Every update added something I didn't ask for. The app got heavier. The price stayed monthly.

I don't need cloud sync. I don't need team features. I don't need AI-powered summaries or integrations with twelve different services—yet. Maybe those will come if the demand is there. But right now, I just want to talk and have my words appear on screen. That's it.

So I decided to build exactly that.

What Sonar Is

Sonar is a native Mac app written in Swift using the latest Apple frameworks. It lives in your menu bar. You press a hotkey, speak, and your transcript pastes wherever your cursor is.

Under the hood, it uses OpenAI's Whisper models—the same technology that powers a lot of transcription tools out there. The difference is that Sonar runs these models entirely on your device. Your voice never leaves your Mac. No servers. No analytics. No creepy data collection.

The models are small, fast, and do a great job at voice-to-text. Apple Silicon handles them without breaking a sweat.

What Sonar Isn't

If you want a ton of features—cloud sync, collaborative editing, real-time translation, speaker diarization, integrations with Notion and Slack and your calendar—then Sonar isn't for you. Whisper Flow or similar apps might be more your cup of tea.

But if you want something small, fast, and privacy-focused, look no further.

The Details

  • $9.99 one-time purchase. No subscriptions.
  • 3-day free trial. Try before you buy.
  • 100% local. Runs on Apple Silicon using WhisperKit.
  • Global hotkeys. Push-to-talk or toggle mode.
  • Auto-paste. Text lands where your cursor is.

Check it out at aiprompt.dev/sonar.

That's it. A simple tool for a simple problem. Sometimes that's enough.

— Max