How to grant the three permissions?
As a macOS menu-bar voice-input tool, VoiceInput needs Microphone, Accessibility, and Input Monitoring to work end-to-end. This is macOS's security model — every app must be authorized once.
Why three permissions
VoiceInput's flow is "press hotkey → record → recognize → insert text." Each step needs one permission — none is optional:
- Input Monitoring: listen for the global hotkey (default ⌘+⇧+;) so VoiceInput responds in any app.
- Microphone: capture your voice for speech recognition.
- Accessibility: insert recognized text at the cursor position (so you don't have to ⌘V manually).
All three are local permissions — unrelated to "internet access" or "data upload." VoiceInput's free local engine runs fully offline. Even with mic permission granted, audio never leaves your machine.
1 · Microphone
For capturing your voice. Steps:
System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone → find "VoiceInput" → toggle on
If VoiceInput isn't listed, it hasn't requested mic access yet. Open VoiceInput and press the hotkey once to speak — macOS will prompt immediately. Click "Allow."
2 · Accessibility
Used to "insert" recognized text at the cursor (simulating keyboard input). Steps:
System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility → find "VoiceInput" → toggle on
macOS may require your password or Touch ID to change this toggle.
VoiceInput not in the list?
Click the + button below the list → in Finder pick /Applications/VoiceInput.app → Add. Then toggle on.
3 · Input Monitoring
Introduced in macOS 13+ specifically for "listen to keyboard events." VoiceInput needs this to respond to your hotkey from any app. Steps:
System Settings → Privacy & Security → Input Monitoring → find "VoiceInput" → toggle on
All three granted but still broken?
This usually means permission identity mismatch — macOS uses certificate fingerprints to identify authorized apps. If you've installed dev builds or older versions, the authorization may attach to the wrong build.
Fix
- Remove VoiceInput from all three permission lists (click
-) - Quit VoiceInput (menu bar → Quit, or ⌘+Q)
- Reopen
/Applications/VoiceInput.app - Press the hotkey once — macOS will prompt for all three permissions again. Grant in order.
Still broken? See Troubleshooting for other causes.
Do these permissions leak my privacy?
No. VoiceInput runs in the strictest privacy mode by default:
- Free local engine is fully offline: recording, recognition, and text insertion all happen on your machine. Mic permission is only used for capture — audio never leaves.
- History is in a local database: all recordings and AI tidy results live in
~/Library/Application Support/VoiceInput/. Delete the app and the data is gone. - Cloud engine is opt-in: with Pro you can switch to the cloud engine (more accurate + auto punctuation). Audio is sent to Volcano Engine for recognition and discarded — we don't store it.
Detailed privacy design will be on our blog (coming soon).