Transcription is the step that turns recorded speech into text. Ghosty Notes does it on your Mac by default. Your audio does not leave the device unless you deliberately choose a cloud provider.
The two models you can pick
Settings, AI, Transcription. There are two, both from the Parakeet family.
| Model | Size | Live? |
|---|---|---|
| Soniqo Parakeet Batch | about 600 MB | No. Runs after you stop. |
| Soniqo Parakeet Streaming | about 120 MB | Yes. Text appears while you talk. |
Batch is the default and it is what downloads during setup. It reads the whole recording at once, which is why it is the more accurate of the two.
Streaming is the only model that can transcribe live. Pick it when you want to watch words appear during the meeting. It is smaller and faster, and a little less accurate.
Both need Apple Silicon. See install.
Languages
Both models cover the same 25 European languages:
Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Ukrainian.
If your meetings are in a language that is not on that list, on-device transcription will not serve you well. A cloud provider with your own key is the honest answer, and it means accepting that your audio is sent to that provider.
Switching model
Settings, AI, Transcription, and choose the other one. It downloads the first time you select it. Existing transcripts are not redone.
Cloud transcription
The same screen also lets you point transcription at an outside service, using your own API key. Deepgram, AssemblyAI, OpenAI, ElevenLabs, Gladia, Soniox and others are listed, plus a Custom option for any service with a compatible API.
Be clear about what this means: choosing a cloud provider sends your meeting audio to that company. That is your call to make, and there are good reasons to make it, such as a language the local models do not cover. It is simply no longer local, and no longer covered by the promise on the rest of this site.
Nothing is sent anywhere while you are on a local model, which is the default.
See privacy in detail.
A note on Whisper
Whisper is the model many other tools use, and you may be looking for it here. Ghosty Notes does not offer it for on-device transcription. The two Parakeet models above are the only local choices in the picker.
If a download will not finish
See model download stuck.