Speak. Polish. Translate. Anywhere on your Mac.
Your voice. Your words. Ready to use.
Native AI voice input for Apple Silicon Macs.
Dictate into any app, keep the raw transcript, polish it your way, translate it, and insert the result without breaking your workflow.
HUD · Features · AI engines · Translation · Install · Licensing
BOLABOL's floating HUD is more than a recording indicator — it is a compact control surface that stays available while you work in another app.
From the HUD you can:
- switch between Raw transcription and Polishing on the fly;
- choose polishing profiles D / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 without opening the main window;
- adjust the Humor level when the active polishing profile supports it;
- switch the active AI provider and model while dictating;
- choose primary and additional languages from the language popover;
- change the current workflow without stealing keyboard focus from the app you are typing into.
The idea is simple: configure the current voice workflow where you are using it, not several windows away in Settings.
| In practice | |
|---|---|
| Dictate anywhere | Press the global hotkey and speak while working in your browser, messenger, IDE, Notes, or another macOS app. |
| Keep the Raw transcript | Speech recognition and rewriting are separate stages. Your original transcription remains available even after polishing. |
| Polish your way | Light cleanup, stronger rewriting, custom prompt profiles, Markdown output, and adjustable humor. |
| Translate quickly | Use dedicated full and quick translation workflows, including post-ASR translation for transcription engines that do not translate speech natively. |
| Stay local when you want | Run transcription and text polishing on-device with Core ML / ANE and MLX models. |
| Use cloud models when useful | Connect your own API keys for stronger or specialized cloud models. |
| Insert the result anywhere | Copy to the clipboard or type directly into the active application with Accessibility permission. |
| Build a reusable workspace | Notes history, Raw / polished variants, glossary, prompt templates, translation tools, statistics, and in-app Help. |
Speak → Transcribe → Keep Raw → Polish → Translate if needed → Insert
BOLABOL deliberately separates transcription from rewriting. Questions, commands, or instructions inside a transcript are treated as text to transform — not as commands for the polishing model to execute.
| Engine | Runtime | Best fit |
|---|---|---|
| WhisperKit | Core ML | Strong multilingual transcription; Whisper models can also use native speech-to-English translation where supported. |
| Parakeet TDT 0.6B v3 | FluidAudio · Core ML / ANE | Fast local transcription for supported languages. |
| Canary Core ML | Core ML / ANE | Local multilingual ASR. Canary 1B requires macOS 15+. |
| GigaAM v3 | Core ML / ANE | Local Russian ASR; translation can be applied after transcription. |
Canary and GigaAM are used as ASR engines. When translation is requested, BOLABOL can translate the resulting text afterward through the selected local or cloud text model.
BOLABOL can run polishing locally through MLX Swift, including:
- Qwen 3.5 family;
- NVIDIA Nemotron-3 Nano;
- compatible custom/scanned MLX models from local folders or model caches.
Use your own API keys with:
Google Gemini · OpenAI · Qwen · OpenRouter · custom OpenAI-compatible endpoints
Cloud use is optional. Local transcription and local MLX polishing can stay entirely on your Mac.
The HUD remains non-activating, so the keyboard focus stays in the application you are dictating into.
The main workspace keeps your notes and audio together with transcription and polishing controls. Each note can preserve Raw text alongside polished variants so the original speech-to-text result is never lost.
BOLABOL includes both a full translation workspace and a lightweight quick-translation window.
| Full translation | Quick translation |
|---|---|
 |
 |
Default global shortcuts:
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| ⌥S | Start / stop dictation |
| ⌥1 | Full translation window |
| ⌥2 | Quick translation |
| ⌥~ | Settings |
BOLABOL is local-first, not local-only.
- Local ASR and local MLX models run on your Mac.
- Nothing is sent to a cloud provider unless you choose a cloud-backed feature.
- Cloud dictation sends audio to the selected cloud transcription service.
- Cloud polishing and translation send the relevant text and prompts to the provider you selected.
- API keys are supplied by the user; release builds do not include personal API keys.
- Apple Silicon Mac — M1 or later
- macOS 14 Sonoma or later
- macOS 15+ for Canary 1B
- Microphone permission for recording
- Accessibility permission only when you want BOLABOL to type directly into other apps or work with selected text
- Download BOLABOL.dmg.
- Open the disk image.
- Drag BOLABOL into Applications.
- Launch the app and complete the first-run setup.
The distributed macOS build is Developer ID signed and notarized.
Build from source
The application source is in Bolabol/.
git clone https://github.com/Pavan-Gopa/BOLABOL.git
cd BOLABOL/Bolabol
./script/build_and_run.shRelease tooling is available in Bolabol/script/.
Project structure
The native application is split into:
NativeBolabol— SwiftUI/AppKit application layer;NativeBolabolCore— shared models, stores, and services;NativeBolabolPolishWorker— out-of-process local MLX polishing worker.
BOLABOL uses Business Source License 1.1 with the Five-Person Grant and a three-year Freedom Clock.
Up to five active human users in one organization may use the current BOLABOL release in production for free. The sixth active user requires a commercial license. Commercial OEM, resale, white-label, hosted/managed service, and similar productized uses also require separate commercial terms.
Every specific BOLABOL version automatically becomes available under GNU GPL v3 or later three years after that version is first publicly distributed.
Before its Freedom Date, BOLABOL is source-available, not OSI Open Source. After that date, the specific version is Open Source under GPL v3-or-later.
Read the legal license, the plain-language licensing guide, and commercial licensing terms.
Free for people. Sustainable for builders. Open with time.
BOLABOL was previously released under the name SmartScribe. Current product documentation uses the BOLABOL name.