Voice to Text for Mastodon
You joined the fediverse because you wanted something different — thoughtful conversations, longer posts, actual community. But thoughtful takes time to type. That considered reply sits half-written while you hunt for the right words on your keyboard. Blurt lets you compose toots by speaking. Hold a button, say what you're thinking, release. Your words appear as text in the compose box. The 500-character limit becomes liberating instead of constraining. Your fediverse presence stays active. The local timeline gets your best thoughts.
The Typing Problem
Thoughtful replies take too long to type
Mastodon culture values substance over hot takes. You want to write a real response — something that adds to the conversation, not just a like or a quick emoji. But typing out three paragraphs of nuanced thought while keeping track of your argument is exhausting. The reply you imagined in your head takes fifteen minutes to type. Half the time you give up, close the tab, and the conversation moves on without you.
Content warnings need proper context
You want to post about something sensitive, and you respect the community enough to use a content warning. But crafting both the CW summary and the full post means typing twice as much. The CW needs to be descriptive but not spoilery. The post itself needs to be complete. By the time you've typed both, you've spent more time on formatting than on your actual thoughts.
Following multiple instances is overwhelming
You're on a small instance but you follow people across the fediverse. The federated timeline moves fast. Your home timeline has interesting threads forming. Someone boosted something worth responding to. Typing responses to each means falling behind on everything else. You end up lurking instead of participating because keeping up with typed responses is a full-time job.
Thread replies lose context while typing
A fascinating thread is unfolding on your timeline. You want to contribute to multiple points in the discussion. But by the time you finish typing your response to the first post, five more replies have appeared. Your perfectly crafted response now seems out of context. The thread moved while your fingers were busy.
Alt text for images is important but tedious
You care about accessibility and always add alt text to your images. But describing an image in detail — which is what good alt text requires — means typing out a paragraph for every photo. The friction adds up. Sometimes you skip posting the image entirely because the alt text feels like too much work. That's not the community member you want to be.
How It Works
Blurt works anywhere Mastodon runs on your Mac — any web client, any instance, any browser.
Put your cursor in the toot compose box
Click into any Mastodon text field — new toot, reply, content warning, alt text. Any instance, any web interface.
Hold your hotkey and speak
Press your chosen shortcut and say your toot. Speak naturally — Blurt handles punctuation and understands your pauses.
Release and post
Your words appear as text instantly. Edit if needed, add your content warning, then hit publish. A thoughtful 500-character post takes seconds, not minutes.
Real Scenarios
Engaging with threads in real-time
A discussion is happening on your home timeline. Someone posted a question that sparked a dozen replies. You have insight to add. Cursor in the reply field, hold your hotkey, and speak your contribution: 'This is actually related to something that happened in the open source community last year. The issue was governance, not technical...' Your reply lands while the thread is still active. You're part of the conversation, not arriving after everyone has left.
Writing content warnings that actually help
You want to post about a difficult topic and you respect your community's CW norms. Click into the CW field, hold hotkey, speak a clear summary: 'Discussion of workplace burnout and mental health.' Then click into the main compose area, hold hotkey again, and speak your full post. Both fields filled out properly in less time than typing just one of them would take.
Describing images with proper alt text
You're sharing a photo and you want to do alt text right. Click the 'Describe for the visually impaired' field, hold your hotkey, and just... describe what you see: 'A sunset over the ocean with orange and purple clouds. In the foreground, a wooden pier extends into the water. Two silhouettes are sitting at the end of the pier.' Detailed, helpful alt text that took ten seconds to say instead of a minute to type.
Boosting with commentary
You want to boost something but add your own context — explain why it matters or add perspective. Quote the toot, then hold your hotkey: 'This is exactly what I was trying to explain in my thread from last week. The fediverse model handles this so much better than centralized platforms because...' Your boost becomes a contribution, not just amplification.
Participating across instances
You're browsing the federated timeline and see interesting posts from instances you don't follow. You want to engage, but replies to distant posts feel like shouting into the void if you can't type fast enough. With Blurt, you can reply thoughtfully to posts across the fediverse at the speed of conversation. Your instance becomes more connected because you're actually participating.
Introduction posts that actually introduce you
You're new to an instance, or you're doing a periodic re-introduction. These posts should be substantial — who you are, what you're interested in, what you post about. Hold your hotkey and just talk about yourself: 'Hi everyone, I'm a librarian interested in digital preservation and open source software. I post about...' An introduction that would take ten minutes to type becomes a two-minute conversation with yourself.
Long-form toots that use the full character limit
Mastodon's 500-character limit (or more on some instances) invites longer thoughts. But typing 500 characters is work. Speaking 500 characters is about 45 seconds of talking. Hold your hotkey and think out loud. Let your full thought come out. You'll naturally use more of the character limit because speaking removes the friction that made you self-censor.
Why Mastodon users choose Blurt over macOS Dictation
| Blurt | macOS Dictation | |
|---|---|---|
| Activation | Hold one key to dictate, release to finish — instant and controlled | Double-tap Fn, wait for activation, tap again to stop |
| Accuracy | AI-powered transcription handles complex vocabulary and fediverse terminology | Basic dictation struggles with technical terms and proper nouns |
| Speed | Text appears instantly as you speak with minimal latency | Processing delays, especially for longer dictation |
| Reliability | Works consistently in any text field on any website | Often fails to activate in browser text fields, requires troubleshooting |
Frequently Asked Questions
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