[Update] Silkwave Voice: No-subscription Mac transcription & AI meeting notes app. Now with Audio Import and free AI Chat powered by Apple Intelligence’s ChatGPT extension. macOS 26+ only.
Hey everyone! 👋 I’ve released a couple of new features since my last post here and I wanted to provide an update on what was added. AI Chat with transcripts (Apple Intelligence & ChatGPT): You can now chat with your recordings. Ask questions, extract action items, or draft follow-up emails. The AI integration leverages the Apple Shortcuts app and the UseModel action programmatically. Users just need to install a dedicated shortcut that comes with the app and enable the Apple Intelligence & ChatGPT extension. I polished this setup flow so it shouldn't take more than 30 seconds. To my knowledge, this is the only Mac app offering free ChatGPT chat directly inside the app. Import Audio Files: Bring your own audio (MP3, M4A, AAC, WAV, AIFF, AIF, CAF, FLAC) and transcribe it in seconds. Great for older lectures or meetings recorded on your phone. Export Individual Recordings: Each recording can now be exported. The exported .zip includes the original audio file, the full transcript, and the AI summary (if generated). Links App Store Website The Problem Most meeting transcription tools require cloud uploads, monthly subscriptions, meeting bots, or third-party models. macOS 26 provides on-device speech recognition, system audio capture, AI chat, and AI summarization through Apple Intelligence. Silkwave Voice brings all of that together into one app: record, import, transcribe, chat, and summarize. No cloud, no subscription, no accounts, and no third-party models to download. Comparison Krisp is the only meeting assistant tool I've personally used, so that's what I can compare against. Feature Silkwave Voice Krisp Transcription On-device (Apple models) Cloud upload Audio capture Built-in (mic + system audio) Requires virtual microphone AI summaries Free (Apple Intelligence’s ChatGPT extension) Paid plan Data storage Local on your Mac Their servers Account required No Yes Pricing $24.99 one-time Starting from $16/month or $96/year Noise cancellation No Yes Accent conversion No Yes Mobile app No Yes AI Chat Yes (NEW). Free (Apple Intelligence’s ChatGPT extension) Yes Audio Import Yes (NEW) Yes Export recording Yes (NEW) Yes (Seems to be transcripts only) Pricing 7-day free trial $24.99 one-time (the base price is set for the United States, Apple may adjust it for other countries) Next Feature Speaker diarization/recognition 🎁 Giveaway & Promo! [UPDATE: GIVEAWAY CLOSED!] Thank you to everyone who participated and shared your use cases! The random draw is complete and promo codes have been sent to your DMs. Congratulations to our 15 winners: u/GroggInTheCosmos, u/tech5c, u/Flat-Pomelo-4724, u/sleepyHype, u/mrterrycarson, u/ReedWithDoubleE, u/s_u_r_a_j, u/1Wrongdoer, u/New_Growth6042, u/outinmekikleskousi, u/mlaaks, u/ryanmm, u/Equal_Tiger_513, u/UnhappyGoose, and u/darknternal. If you didn't win a code this time, I'd still love for you to test out the app. There is a 7-day free trial available on the App Store! Thank you all again! Update: The 5 instant codes for the first commenters have been claimed! I still have 15 free promo codes to give away! Just leave a comment below, and I will DM the winners randomly within the next 48 hours. (I'd also love to hear what your specific use case for the app would be! Are you planning to use it for lectures, meetings, voice memos? Let me know!)
Collected discussion
Can I get a code? Would love to try it. I spent most of my day in meeting for about 3hrs so this would be a great help.
Well, I decided to allocate 5 extra promo codes for the first 5 commenters. You are the #1 commenter. Please check your DM. Thank you. The other 15 I will choose randomly.
Sounds amazing! Would love to get a code and try it. Thank you!
Well, I decided to allocate 5 extra promo codes for the first 5 commenters. You are the #2 commenter. Please check your DM. Thank you. The other 15 I will choose randomly.
I’m a content creator in Korea, working on YouTube and other platforms. I hold meetings frequently, and while I’m currently using a different app, I’d like to give Silkwave Voice a try.
Well, I decided to allocate 5 extra promo codes for the first 5 commenters. You are the #3 commenter. Please check your DM. Thank you. The other 15 I will choose randomly.
Here is another comment! Hopefully made it!
Yeap, #4. Please check your DM.
This looks very promising and would love to try! The local transcription and AI summaries are the things that I truly look for. I am fairly curious though and forgive me for such a basic question, it mentions Apple Intelligence & ChatGPT, what happens if we move to MacOS 27? I heard that its Apple Intelligence is evolving?
Tbh, that is a very thoughtful question. I am not sure I have a thorough answer for it yet because I still need to install macOS 27(beta) and test its new capabilities with my app. One thing I know for sure is that Apple opened APIs for Apple Intelligence's 'Private Cloud Compute'. This means I (and other developers) should be able to integrate it directly into the app without needing the Apple Shortcuts workaround. But I still need to experiment with it to see how it works in practice! I haven't heard anything about them opening an API for the ChatGPT extension, though. So, for ChatGPT specifically, I will likely still need to rely on the Shortcuts integration for now.
Looks promising, keen to try it if you can share a code. Your app comes across as an all in one solution. Interested to know if you plan to incorporate local model loading besides Apple Intelligence and ChatGPT. How are you running the extension? Is it like Apple’s invocation or is it a direct login/API call, or a sideload of the app? Best of luck with the app! Looking forward to see it grow
Thanks for the kind words! To answer your questions: Local Models: Right now, I'm focusing strictly on Apple Intelligence and the ChatGPT extension because the summary and reasoning quality of frontier models is currently much higher than local LLMs. How the integration works: It's not a direct API call (which would require API keys). It actually runs through the native macOS Shortcuts app! The app comes with a dedicated Apple Shortcut. Users just click 'Install Shortcut' in my app's settings. Once installed, Silkwave Voice programmatically sends the transcript text to that Shortcut, the Shortcut invokes Apple Intelligence's ChatGPT extension, and then it passes the AI response directly back to my app's UI. Also, you and all commenters are officially entered into the random draw for the remaining 15 promo codes! I'll be DMing the winners in about 48 hours. Good luck! 🤞
Sounds interesting - did you have to make any updates for Golden Gate?
Not yet, but that is on my radar.
Hey would love to be given a code and i feel this would be so helpful also with my ADHD!, Hope i win 🏆 😄 Goodluck yall peace and love ❤️
Well, I really hope it helps with your ADHD. I decided to give you a promo code right now without the lottery. Please check your DM. Thank you.
Looks cool, I still haven’t found a transcription app that I really like, hoping this might be the one!
Thank you. I hope Silkwave Voice is exactly what you're looking for! Let me know your thoughts if you get a chance to try it out. You are officially in the random lottery for the promo codes.
This sounds interessting! I will give it a try:)
Thank you! Just a heads-up: since I published this post, I've added a new feature. You can now import and transcribe video files (.mov, .mp4, .m4v) too. Hope you find it useful!
Looks good, but I’d like to know how it compares with and improves upon the many other apps in this space.
Looks nice - the AI integration makes sense rather than just being an AI add-on for the sake of fashion. Will give it a try. Good luck with it!
Looks great, I’d love to test it out for work. Edit: Lectures and Note-taking alongside Blogging and event planning. I’m adjusting my current workflows.
Would appreciate a code, too!
I like that the data stays local. looks dope!