Without the ums
Um, we should go.
I think so, uh.
Orbal takes out the um, uh, erm and hmm. It leaves “like” and “you know” alone, because sometimes you mean them.
Correct yourself out loud
Meet at three, no, four and bring the slides.
Ship it on Friday. Actually, Monday.
Say “no”, “sorry”, “I mean”, “actually”, “wait” or “scratch that”, and Orbal keeps the number, day or name you meant. It never adds words of its own.
Your names and terms
I asked cloud code Claude Code
to fix the build
Add a name to your Dictionary once. Orbal works out how the Mac mishears it and spells it your way from then on. Everyday words stay as you said them.
For makers
Connect your agents
~/Documents/Orbal/2026-10-02_094112.orbalorbal session ~/Documents/Orbal/2026-10-02_094112.orbal2 marks, 9.6s, Safari, Dim Greyannotations/a01.pnga01, 1.4 to 4.2sOrganic cotton at 240 gsm, garment dyed in small runs.Shop nowannotations/a02.pnga02, 5.1 to 8.0sHeavy cotton teesin every shade of greyOrganic cotton at 240 gsm, garment dyed in small runs.
app/page.tsx+1 −1app/globals.css+3 −2Heavy cotton tees
in every shade of greyEvery shade of grey
Organic cotton at 240 gsm, garment dyed in small runs.
Shop nowMake this the primary button.And cut this down to Every shade of grey.
Circle what’s wrong and say what you want. If there’s no text box to paste into, the orb offers your agents. Pick one, and it gets what you said with a picture of each mark.
Claude Code, Codex and Cursor all work. To connect one, paste a single line from Orbal into it.
Models
Built in
On your Mac
Apple’s speech model turns what you say into text on your Mac, and Orbal cleans it up there too. It keeps a screen capture only when you draw, and only of the window you drew on.
Optional
orb-1-mini
Our own model, small enough to run on your Mac. It shortens what you said into the message you would have typed, and works offline.
On request
In the cloud
A larger model shortens your words even better. The words of each capture go to our server and Cerebras, never your audio or stills, and neither keeps them.
Version 0.17 beta, macOS 26 or later
Free during the beta.
“When I review our desktop app, I just talk and circle what’s wrong, and Claude Code turns it into GitHub tickets. It has saved me a lot of time screenshotting. I’ve already sent Orbal to our user acceptance testing team.”
How is it different from the Mac’s own dictation?
You can draw while you talk. Each mark keeps a picture of the window with what you said, for you or for a coding agent. Orbal also takes out the ums and, in English, the words you take back.
Which key?
Fn, unless you pick ⌥, ⌘ or a shortcut of your own in Settings. Press it once to start talking and again to stop, or click the orb. To draw, hold ⌃ and drag while you talk.
Where do the words go?
Wherever your cursor is, in any app that pastes with ⌘V. Orbal puts your clipboard back afterwards and skips password fields. If there’s no text field, the bar by the orb lets you save, copy, send to an agent or discard.
Which agents?
Coding agents that run on your Mac, like Claude Code, Codex and Cursor. Paste a line from Orbal into one to connect it. It then reads your words and pictures in its own session.
Does it rewrite what I say?
No. It takes out the ums and the words you take back, and spells your Dictionary words your way. Everything else stays word for word.
Is there AI in it?
Only Apple’s speech model, which runs on your Mac. The cleanup is a set of plain rules we wrote ourselves.
Which languages?
Any language Apple’s speech recognition supports on macOS 26, one at a time. Orbal starts in your Mac’s language. Taking out the ums and the words you take back works in English only for now.
What permissions does it need?
The microphone, to hear you. Accessibility, for the key and the paste. Screen Recording, for the pictures of what you mark. Orbal only takes a picture when you draw.
Does anything leave my Mac?
Everything you record stays on your Mac. The daily update check sends the build number, your macOS version and a rough count of your recordings. You can turn that off in Settings › General › Share usage. If your Documents folder syncs to iCloud, your recordings sync with it. A connected agent can also read your recordings folder, like any other folder on your Mac.