Cue 1.0

This is the one we've been building toward. Cue 1.0 brings streaming offline models to your Mac. Fully on-device, real-time transcription that just works.

Streaming Offline Models

• Fully offline, fully streaming — transcription happens as you speak, with no cloud round-trip
• Optimized for real-time speech — low memory and fast inference
• Works without internet — airplane mode, coffee shop with bad wifi, wherever you are
• Privacy by default — your voice never leaves your machine

What this means

Previous offline models processed audio in chunks. You'd speak, wait, then see text. Streaming changes that. Words appear as fast as you can say them, even without a connection.

Optimized for Apple Silicon

Runs natively on the Neural Engine for M-series Macs. Expect:

• Near-zero latency transcription
• Minimal CPU and memory overhead
• No thermal throttling, even in long sessions

Why 1.0

We started Cue as the context layer between your brain and your computer. Streaming offline transcription was the foundation that had to be right before everything else. Notes, meetings, agents. All of that is next. But this is the base.

What's next

Notes Mode and Edit Mode are in progress. Stay tuned.

Focus sessions

Writing with your voice works best when you're in the zone. Cue 0.7 adds Focus Sessions — a dedicated mode that removes distractions and helps you stay in flow.

How it works

• Press ⌥ + F to start a focus session
• Cue enters a minimal overlay mode — just your words on screen
• Set a timer (15, 30, 60 minutes) or go open-ended
• When you're done, Cue copies everything to your clipboard or pastes it where your cursor was

Focus Sessions are perfect for drafting emails, writing documents, or brain-dumping ideas.

Dictation analytics

Curious how much time your voice saves? The new Analytics tab in Settings shows:

• Words dictated this week, month, and all-time
• Time saved — estimated based on your average typing speed vs. dictation speed
• Accuracy rate — how often Cue gets it right on the first pass
• Most active apps — where you dictate the most
• Streak tracker — consecutive days using Cue

All data stays local. Nothing is sent to our servers.

Other changes

• Added support for macOS 15.3 Sequoia features
• New onboarding flow for first-time users
• Fixed an edge case where Rewrite mode would lose formatting in rich text editors
• Improved wake-word detection reliability when using AirPods

Under the hood

Cue 0.6 is the biggest performance update since launch. We rewrote the audio pipeline and processing engine to be dramatically faster and lighter.

What changed

• CPU usage down 60% — Cue now idles at near-zero CPU. Fans stay quiet.
• Instant activation — press ⌥ + Space and Cue is listening in under 50ms
• Streaming is smoother — text appears character-by-character with no jank
• Battery impact reduced — on M-series Macs, Cue barely registers in Activity Monitor

New audio engine

We moved from a buffered processing model to a streaming architecture. Instead of waiting for chunks of audio, Cue now processes speech as it arrives — reducing latency from ~300ms to under 100ms.

Apple Silicon optimized

The offline model now uses the Neural Engine on M1+ chips for inference. This means:

• 2x faster offline transcription
• 40% less memory usage
• No thermal throttling during long sessions

Fixes

• Resolved memory leak during extended dictation sessions (2+ hours)
• Fixed text insertion delay in VS Code with many extensions
• Improved handling of Bluetooth microphone reconnections
• Cue now gracefully handles sleep/wake without losing state

Auto-formatting

Dictation shouldn't mean a wall of text. Cue 0.5 listens to how you speak and structures your text automatically.

What it detects

• Lists: Say "first... second... third..." and Cue creates a numbered list
• Paragraphs: Natural pauses longer than 2 seconds start a new paragraph
• Headings: Say "heading" or "title" followed by your text to create a heading
• Line breaks: Say "new line" for an explicit break

Smart context

Cue adapts formatting to the app you're in:

• In Notion and Google Docs, it uses native formatting (Markdown rendered)
• In Slack and Discord, it uses their markdown syntax
• In plain text editors, it keeps things clean with simple line breaks

Bug fixes

• Fixed cursor jumping in Safari text fields
• Resolved an issue with duplicate words when network latency spikes
• Improved handling of dictation in password fields (Cue now skips them)

Custom vocabulary

Every field has its own language. Cue now lets you add words, names, and phrases it should always get right.

How to use it

• Open Settings → Vocabulary
• Add words one by one, or paste a list
• Each entry can include a spoken form and a written form (e.g., "reactjs" → "ReactJS")

Where it helps

• Developer tools: framework names, CLI commands, variable naming conventions
• Medical & legal: terminology that generic models stumble on
• Names: colleagues, clients, product names — spelled exactly how you want

Custom vocabulary works in both online and offline mode.

Other improvements

• Reduced memory usage by 30% during long dictation sessions
• Fixed a bug where Cue wouldn't activate in full-screen apps on macOS Sequoia
• Improved punctuation accuracy for rapid speech
• Menu bar tooltip now shows your current language and mode

Offline mode

The most requested feature since launch. Cue 0.3 includes a local Whisper model that runs entirely on your Mac.

How it works

• Download a 150MB model once (Settings → Offline Model)
• Cue automatically switches to offline mode when there's no internet
• Or force offline mode from the menu bar for maximum privacy

Performance

On M1 and later, offline transcription runs at near-real-time speed. On Intel Macs, there's a slight delay but accuracy stays high.

What stays the same

• Same keyboard shortcut (⌥ + Space)
• Same auto-corrections
• Same app compatibility
• Audio is still never stored — online or offline

Other fixes

• Fixed rare crash when switching audio inputs mid-dictation
• Improved Slack integration — handles thread replies correctly
• Added a "What's New" badge in the menu bar for updates

What's new

Context-aware corrections

Cue now uses surrounding text to fix transcription errors smarter. If you're writing code, it won't capitalize variable names. If you're in an email, it'll add proper punctuation.

8 new languages

We've added support for:

• Spanish, French, German, Portuguese
• Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Hindi

Switch languages from the menu bar or say "switch to Spanish" mid-dictation.

Other improvements

• 50% faster cold-start time on Apple Silicon
• Fixed cursor placement bug in VS Code terminals
• Improved handling of technical jargon in coding contexts
• Menu bar icon now shows active language

What is Cue?

Cue is a macOS app that turns your voice into text — anywhere you can type. Press ⌥ + Space, start talking, and watch your words appear in real time.

Highlights

• Works in every app — Slack, Notion, VS Code, Mail, Chrome, and more.
• Real-time preview — See your words as you speak, not after.
• Powered by Deepgram — Fast, accurate transcription that handles accents and technical terms.
• Privacy first — Audio is never stored. Ever.

Getting started

1. Download Cue from cue.app.
2. Grant microphone and accessibility permissions.
3. Press ⌥ + Space and start talking.

That's it. No account required for the free tier.

What's next

We're working on offline mode, more languages, and Windows support. Stay tuned.