Voice to Text for Apple Notes

Your brain moves faster than your fingers. You have ideas in the shower, insights on your morning walk, and fleeting thoughts that vanish if you don't capture them now. Apple Notes is already on your Mac, syncing to every device. But typing still creates friction between thought and capture. Blurt removes that friction. Hold a button, speak your idea, release. Your words appear in Notes instantly. No hunting for dictation buttons. No waiting for Siri. Just think out loud and capture.

First 1,000 words free Works anywhere in Apple Notes macOS only

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The Typing Problem

Ideas vanish in the time it takes to type them

You're in the middle of something else when a brilliant idea strikes. You open Notes, find the right folder, click into the note. By the time your fingers hit the keyboard, the idea has faded. You type a fragment of what you meant. The full thought is gone forever. The gap between thinking and typing is just wide enough to lose your best insights.

Journaling becomes a chore instead of a practice

You want to journal every day. You know it helps you process thoughts and track your mental state. But after a long day, typing feels like work. You sit down, stare at the blank note, and your fingers feel heavy. You write three sentences and quit. The journal habit never sticks because typing is exhausting when you're mentally drained.

Meeting notes miss the important details

You're in a meeting trying to capture key decisions and action items. Someone makes a crucial point while you're still typing the last one. You abbreviate, skip context, use shorthand you won't understand later. A week from now, your notes say 'John - Q3 thing - check w/ team' and you have no idea what it means.

Quick thoughts never get captured

You have a quick reminder, a phone number to remember, a random observation worth saving. Opening Notes and typing feels like overkill for ten words. So you tell yourself you'll remember. You never do. The small captures that would make your life easier don't happen because typing them takes longer than thinking them.

Building checklists takes forever

You're planning something that needs a list: groceries, packing, project tasks, errands. Each item means type, hit enter, type, hit enter. Fifteen items takes two minutes of tedious keyboard work. By item ten, you're rushing and skipping things. The checklist ends up incomplete because typing each line individually is mind-numbing.

How It Works

Blurt works anywhere you can type in Apple Notes on your Mac. Quick Notes, folders, checklists, tables, anywhere.

Click into any note

Open Apple Notes and put your cursor wherever you want text to appear. Any note, any folder, any spot.

Hold your hotkey and speak

Press your chosen shortcut and talk naturally. Say your idea, your list, your stream of consciousness. Blurt handles punctuation.

Release and continue

Your text appears at the cursor. Keep capturing more, or close Notes and move on. The thought is saved.

Real Scenarios

Capturing ideas the moment they arrive

You're staring out the window when the solution to a problem clicks. The full thought is clear for exactly this moment. Open Notes, cursor in your ideas note, hold hotkey: 'The real issue with the redesign is we're optimizing for new users when retention is the problem. We should A/B test the onboarding simplification against the power user features.' Fifteen seconds. Thought preserved. Back to staring.

Morning journaling without typing fatigue

It's 6 AM. Coffee in hand. You want to journal but your hands aren't awake yet. Hold hotkey and just talk: 'Feeling good about the week ahead. The anxiety from yesterday's meeting is mostly gone. Need to remember that the worst-case scenarios I imagine rarely happen. Today I want to focus on the proposal and actually take a lunch break.' Three minutes of talking captures what fifteen minutes of typing would.

Meeting notes that capture everything

You're on a Zoom call with your team. Important updates are flying. Hold hotkey during a pause and speak quietly: 'Sarah confirmed the deadline is flexible. Budget approved for contractor. Next milestone is the prototype by February 10th.' Five seconds of quiet dictation. You caught it all without missing the next topic.

Quick thoughts captured instantly

You remember you need to call the dentist. That's it. Just one quick thought. Quick Note, hold hotkey, 'Call dentist to reschedule Thursday appointment', release. Done in three seconds. The thought that would have evaporated is now synced to every device you own.

Building checklists by speaking

You're packing for a trip. Instead of typing each item, hold hotkey and speak: 'Passport. Chargers for phone and laptop. Toiletry bag. Three shirts, two pants, underwear for four days. Running shoes. Work notebook and pen. Snacks for the plane.' Eight items in one breath. Now you can actually pack instead of type.

Research notes while reading

You're reading an article and have an insight about how it connects to your project. Without switching apps or breaking focus, hold hotkey: 'The framing in this article about habit formation applies to our user onboarding. If we can make the first three days feel rewarding, retention follows. Look into gamification literature.' Context captured while it's still connected to what you're reading.

Brainstorming without filtering

You need ideas for a project and want to capture everything, even the bad ones. Hold hotkey and let it flow: 'What if we made the signup flow just one screen? Or social login only? Or let people use the product for a week before asking for an account? Or make the free tier more generous?' Four ideas in ten seconds. Sort the good from bad later. Right now, capture everything.

Apple Notes has built-in dictation. Here's why Notes users choose Blurt instead.

	Blurt	macOS Dictation
Activation	Single customizable hotkey, instant start	Double-tap Fn or find dictation icon
Control	Hold to record, release to stop — precise boundaries	Tap to start, tap to stop — easy to forget to end
Speed	Text appears in under 500ms after release	Noticeable processing delay
Reliability	Works consistently every time	Sometimes fails to activate or stops unexpectedly

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Blurt work with Quick Notes?

Yes. Quick Notes are just Apple Notes with faster access. Blurt works anywhere you can type on your Mac, including Quick Notes from the corner of your screen or Lock Screen. Swipe, hold hotkey, speak, done.

Can I use Blurt to create checklists in Apple Notes?

Absolutely. Speak your list items naturally, then select the text and format as a checklist using Notes' built-in formatting. Or create the checklist first, then speak items one at a time. Blurt handles the text; you control the formatting.

Does Blurt work on iPhone or iPad?

Blurt is macOS only. It works with Apple Notes on your Mac, and those notes sync to your iPhone and iPad through iCloud automatically. But you cannot use Blurt directly on iOS or iPadOS devices.

Will my spoken notes sync across all my Apple devices?

Yes. Blurt inserts text into Apple Notes exactly like typing would. Your notes sync via iCloud just like they always have. Speak a note on your Mac, read it on your iPhone five seconds later.

How much does Blurt cost?

Blurt offers a free tier with first 1,000 words free. For unlimited transcription, you can subscribe at $10 per month or $99 per year.

Can I use Blurt in specific Notes folders?

Yes. Blurt works wherever your cursor is in Apple Notes. Navigate to any folder, any note, any position in your organization structure, and speak. Your folder and note organization stays exactly as you set it up.

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