Help Center

Download the DMG from talkischeap.app/download, double-click it, and drag the TalkIsCheap icon to Applications. Then open the app from Applications — it'll live in your menu bar (look for the 🎙️ icon at the top-right).

That's Gatekeeper being cautious. Right-click TalkIsCheap in Applications and choose Open, then confirm. You only need to do this once. All our releases are signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple.

Two permissions:

• Microphone — to record your voice
• Accessibility— to paste transcribed text into whatever app you're in

Nothing else. TalkIsCheap does not read your clipboard, track keystrokes, or access files.

Lifetime ($19 once) — you provide your own API keys (Groq, Anthropic, Brave). Unlimited use, 1 device, yours forever.

Pro Monthly/Annual ($9.99/mo or $79/yr) — we provide API keys. Zero setup. 5000 transcriptions + 500 searches + 100 file transcriptions per month. Up to 3 devices.

After purchase, you'll receive an email with your license key (format: TIC-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX). Open TalkIsCheap → Settings → License tab → paste the key → click Activate.

Yes. On the old Mac, go to Settings → License → Deactivate this Mac. Then paste the same key on the new Mac.

In the app: Settings → License → Manage Subscription — opens the Stripe portal where you can cancel, switch plan, or update payment. Your access remains active until the end of the current billing period.

Yes — 30 days money-back guarantee. See our refund policy for details.

Hold your hotkey (default: Control), speak, release. TalkIsCheap transcribes and pastes the polished text where your cursor is.

Yes — press and hold hotkey + Shift. Start recording continues until you press the hotkey again.

Double-tap your hotkey, then speak your question. TalkIsCheap uses Brave Search + Claude to answer.

Yes — Settings → Modes. Built-in modes include Clean, Professional, Casual, and more. You can also create custom scenarios (e.g., "LinkedIn post", "code comment").

Usually it's a permission issue. Check Settings → System → Accessibility. If it shows ❌, click Grant. You may need to restart TalkIsCheap after granting.

Check Settings → General → Microphone and select your input device. Also verify macOS System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone has TalkIsCheap enabled.

Try these:

• Set the correct language in Settings → General → Language
• Move closer to your mic (30 cm is ideal)
• Reduce background noise
• Add frequently-used jargon/names to Settings → Dictionary

TalkIsCheap pastes into whichever app was focused when you started dictating. So: click where you want the text, then press & hold the hotkey.

Wait until next billing period, or upgrade to Annual / Lifetime. You can also switch to Bring-Your-Own-Keys or Offline Mode anytime from the paywall.

No. Audio is streamed through our proxy to Groq (for transcription), never written to disk. Transcribed text is processed by Anthropic, then immediately discarded. We log only usage counts — never content.

Yes — choose Offline Mode during onboarding (or later in Settings). Requires installing mlx-whisper + Ollama. 100% local, zero network traffic after setup.

Only your license metadata (email, hardware ID, usage counts) is in our database (Neon Postgres). Payment data is with Stripe (Ireland). Full details in our privacy policy.