Installing Diktat on the Mac

Open the downloaded DMG file. Drag the Diktat icon into your Applications folder. You can close the window afterward, you won't need the DMG file again. Diktat comes straight from us, not from the Mac App Store, because its sandbox blocks pasting into other apps.

macOS points out that the app came from the internet the first time you open it. Confirm the prompt with Open. Diktat is notarized by Apple, so an extra right-click usually isn't necessary.

Diktat needs microphone permission to record your voice. macOS asks for it during your first recording. For Accessibility permission, open System Settings, then Privacy & Security, then Accessibility, and turn Diktat on there. Without this permission, Diktat can't insert the text into the focused field. It still ends up in your clipboard.

Right after the permissions, Diktat walks you through a short, guided practice dictation once. It doesn't count toward your 5 dictations a day, and it isn't saved anywhere. On macOS 26, Diktat already uses Apple's built-in speech engine for this. That engine loads extra language data straight from Apple in the background when needed. On macOS 15 through 25, Diktat downloads Parakeet TDT once instead, 625 MB for 25 languages. How long that one-time download takes depends entirely on your internet connection. After that, the engine keeps recognizing speech even with no network connection at all.

Diktat checks for new versions on its own, regularly, after every launch. Find one, and it downloads it automatically over a secure connection. You then install the new version with just a single click. You won't need the original DMG file a second time for that. The check itself needs a brief internet connection each time it runs. Your dictations never go online at any point, only the version check does. That's how you stay current, even though Diktat doesn't come from the Mac App Store.

1. Open the downloaded DMG file.
2. Drag the Diktat icon into your Applications folder.
3. Launch Diktat and confirm the macOS prompt with Open.
4. Grant microphone permission and Accessibility permission when macOS asks.