# Yap

17 Hacker News commenters recommended Yap and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Free, open-source voice dictation for macOS that runs Apple's on-device speech API with zero network calls. Critics mostly say it is still alpha.

## Why people recommend it

- Fully on-device, no network calls (3 comments): "makes zero network calls, and since it's open source you can verify that nothing leaves your Mac" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49084548)) "This project uses the on-device SpeechAnalyzer API directly and makes zero network calls" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49079055)) "On-device speech recognition on macOS is such a game changer for privacy and speed." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49080237))
- Uses Apple's SpeechAnalyzer API (3 comments): "the only one I've seen so far that uses the new/improved speech-to-text API in MacOS 26 that outperforms the Whisper models" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49515587)) "yap/Speechanalyzer is about 50% slower than fluidaudio on M1. yap interface is nicer though." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48897345)) "This project uses the on-device SpeechAnalyzer API directly and makes zero network calls" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49079055))
- Nice interface, impressive results (3 comments): "yap/Speechanalyzer is about 50% slower than fluidaudio on M1. yap interface is nicer though." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48897345)) "Amazing! This is something I wanted to look into too." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49080105)) "I tried it and was pretty impressed." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48454695))

## What people warn about

- Looks AI-generated, Claude-authored code (2 comments): "Last commit authored by Claude and Claude desktop... Well this is no longer of interest for me!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48706044)) "this looks like yet another AI generated whisper wrapper" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48706042))
- Concern about input being logged (2 comments): "I don't want my input to be logged at all. It has no utility." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49081301)) "I believe input should be ephemeral and not logged." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49081110))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Handy](https://hackerapproved.com/p/handy.md): 150 recommend
- [Wispr Flow](https://hackerapproved.com/p/wispr-flow.md): 52 recommend
- [MacWhisper](https://hackerapproved.com/p/macwhisper.md): 31 recommend
- [macOS Dictation](https://hackerapproved.com/p/macos-built-in-dictation.md): 26 recommend
- [Hex voice-to-text app for macOS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hex.md): 26 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Yap", https://hackerapproved.com/p/yap/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).