Docs and FAQ

Getting started

Live Transcript runs on Macs with Apple silicon and macOS 26 or later. It lives in the menu bar. The download isn’t available yet; this page will link to it on release day.

Start listening from the menu bar. The first time, macOS asks for permission to record system audio, and for the microphone if you turn it on. Your Mac’s sound is labelled Them; your microphone is You.

Captions at the notch, or in a panel

While someone is speaking, captions drop down from the notch with a level meter and a red dot showing it’s listening. Words appear lighter while they’re still being recognised and settle as they’re confirmed.

The floating glass panel shows the running transcript in a window you can move anywhere and pin above other windows.

Sharing the notch with other apps

If another app is already using the notch, Live Transcript notices and makes room: a slim listening line shows under the notch and captions open in a panel just below it, adjusting as that app launches, quits or pops up. It recognises popular ones such as Bartender, Boring Notch, NotchNook and Alcove, and AI coding-agent islands such as Vibe Island, and makes room for any other app that puts a panel on the notch. It also keeps clear of menu bar managers that drop a bar under the menu bar, such as Ice.

Hovering still opens Live Transcript; hold Option while hovering to leave the notch to the other app. In Settings, choose whether it makes room automatically, always or never, and switch it off for a particular app.

It never moves or hides other apps’ menu bar items, and needs no extra permissions to share the notch. Settings also let you choose where the listening indicator sits when nothing is being said (beside the notch or under it), and whether captions may cover the menu bar beside the notch or keep clear of it.

Speech engines

Choose between Apple Speech and Whisper in three sizes (Low, Medium and High). Larger Whisper models are generally more accurate and use more power; each downloads the first time you pick it (Low 145 MB, Medium 216 MB, High 632 MB).

Not sure which to use? The engine wizard asks you to read a passage aloud once, runs every engine on that same recording, and shows how each one did with your voice, side by side.

More than one language

Set Language to Auto-detect. With a Whisper engine, the language of each phrase is worked out on its own; Whisper High is designed to handle accents and mixed languages best. With Apple Speech, list the languages to choose between: it starts with the first and switches when speech stops making sense in it.

History and export

Every session is saved to History on your Mac, where you can search across all of them. Export any session as Markdown, plain text, or SRT or VTT subtitles, or send it to Apple Notes with the recorded audio attached.

AI summaries, questions and translation

Ask for a summary of a session (a short summary, key points and action items) or ask it a question. You choose the AI in Settings › AI:

• Apple on-device model: nothing to set up, and nothing leaves your Mac.
• Claude, through the installed claude tool: uses the Claude Code sign-in already on your Mac.
• Claude, with an Anthropic API key: your key, kept in your keychain.
• OpenRouter: sign in once in your browser to use many models.
• Custom server: anything that speaks the OpenAI protocol (Ollama, LM Studio, OpenAI…). Enter the server address, a model name and, if the server needs one, an API key, which is sent as a Bearer token.

Only transcript text you ask about is sent, and only to the provider you picked; with Ollama or LM Studio running on your Mac, it stays on your Mac. Audio is never sent.

Live translation shows each line in another language right under the captions as people speak.

Your license

How versions work

You buy a version, and it’s yours to keep with every update to it. A version lasts at least a year; a new version comes when a new macOS brings features that warrant one. If the next version arrives within a year of your purchase, your license covers it too. Lifetime covers every version. An older version keeps working with your key whatever comes later.

Activating a Mac

Enter your key in the app. Keys look like LT-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX; capitals and dashes are optional, and an O or an I typed by mistake is read as 0 or 1. Activating needs an internet connection; activating the same Mac again never uses a second install.

Working offline

Your license is verified on your Mac. The app checks in with the license service now and then when it’s online, and keeps working through long stretches without a connection.

Moving to another Mac

Deactivate the old Mac from the app, or unregister it on the account page (useful when the old Mac is gone). The install is free immediately; activate the new Mac with the same key.

Lost your key?

Keys are stored only as hashes, so nobody can look yours up. If you added a recovery email on the account page, use Lost your key? there and we’ll email you a replacement key. The old key stops working; your activated Macs stay activated.

Never added a recovery email? It may still be recoverable: contact Tech on Tires, LLC through the contact page at on.tires with the date you bought it and your payment receipt (its receipt or order number). Never send card numbers or other payment details. Adding a recovery email now is the quickest way to avoid this.

FAQ