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FluidVoice is free and requires no account to install. You have two options: Homebrew (recommended for developers) or a direct download from FluidVoice website.

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System requirements

Before installing, confirm your Mac meets the following requirements.
If you are on an Intel Mac, FluidVoice still works — but only with Whisper models. All other speech models require Apple Silicon.

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Install FluidVoice

Choose either method below. Both install the same release.
After the Homebrew command finishes, FluidVoice appears in your Applications folder and is ready to launch. If you used the manual download, open the .dmg, drag FluidVoice to Applications, then launch it from there.
Homebrew makes future updates easy — run brew upgrade --cask fluidvoice any time to get the latest version. FluidVoice also supports in-app auto-updates for convenience.

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First launch and onboarding

When you open FluidVoice for the first time, an onboarding flow guides you through the required setup:
  1. Microphone permission — macOS will prompt you to allow microphone access. Click Allow. FluidVoice cannot capture your voice without this.
  2. Accessibility permission — FluidVoice needs accessibility access to type into other apps via the macOS Accessibility API. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility and enable FluidVoice.
  3. Language and model selection — FluidVoice recommends an optimal speech model based on your language selected. See the Speech Models overview for a full comparison.
  4. Fluid Intelligence setup (optional) — download the local Fluid-1 AI model (~3.5 GB) for on-device dictation enhancement. You can skip this and add it later in Settings, or through the FluidVoice overlay.
  5. Try dictation — the onboarding flow includes a live dictation tryout so you can confirm everything works before closing the wizard.
Both microphone access and accessibility permissions are required for core dictation functionality. If you skip the accessibility permission, FluidVoice can transcribe speech but cannot type the result into other apps.

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Disk space

You only need one voice model to get started. Apple Speech is built into macOS and requires no download at all, making it the fastest way to get up and running. But we do recommend Parakeet TDT v2 to achieve optimal accuracy. You can select this in the Voice Engine settings.

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Intel Mac support

Intel Mac support was added in FluidVoice 1.5.1. If you are on an Intel Mac, install FluidVoice and select a Whisper model during onboarding. Whisper supports up to 99 languages across five model sizes (Tiny to Large), so you have plenty of flexibility even without Apple Silicon.

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Updating FluidVoice

FluidVoice checks for updates automatically. To update manually, go to Settings → Automatic Updates and click Check for Updates. You can also check for updates by right-clicking the FluidVoice icon in the menu bar. To get early access to new features, enable Beta Releases in the Settings page.