Help | Soffio

First run

Open the disk image and drag Soffio to your Applications folder. Open it from there.
Soffio downloads its speech model once (about 613 MB). Keep the app open until it finishes. After that, dictation works offline.
Grant the permissions below when Soffio asks. You can check them any time in Soffio under Settings > Permissions.
Click in any text field, press Fn, speak, and press Fn again. Press Esc instead to cancel.

Your 14-day trial starts with your first dictation.

Permissions

macOS keeps these switches in System Settings > Privacy & Security. Soffio needs the first three. The fourth is optional.

Permissions Soffio asks for
Permission	Why Soffio needs it
Microphone	To hear you while you dictate. Audio is recorded only while the pill shows. Without it, there is nothing to transcribe.
Accessibility	To see your dictation key and to paste the text into the app you are using, the same way you would press `⌘V`.
Input Monitoring	To notice the dictation key while another app is in front. Soffio looks for its own keys only and does not record or send what you type.
Automation	Optional. Only so Soffio can pause Spotify or Music while you dictate. If you decline, everything else works.

If a permission does not stick

Open the matching list in System Settings and switch Soffio off, then on again. If the entry looks stuck, select it, click the minus button, and add Soffio again with the plus button.
Quit Soffio from its menu bar icon and open it again. macOS only applies Accessibility and Input Monitoring after a restart of the app.
Still stuck? Reset the entries and grant them again. In Terminal:
```
tccutil reset All com.robertocinetto.soffio
```

The Fn (Globe) key

On most Macs the Fn key doubles as the Globe key, and macOS may use it for something else, such as the emoji picker or Apple's own dictation. If so, Soffio cannot see it. Change it once:

Open System Settings > Keyboard.
Next to Press 🌐 key to, choose Do Nothing.

Soffio also tells you when the Globe key is set to something else. If you would rather not give up the Globe key, pick another dictation shortcut in Soffio under Settings > Hotkeys.

Groq key (optional)

Groq is a cloud service that transcribes speech. Soffio works fully without it, and Groq stays off until you save a key and turn it on. With your own key, Soffio can also use Groq for transcription and for Command mode. You pay Soffio nothing extra, and Soffio adds no markup.

Get a free key

Go to console.groq.com/keys and sign in or create an account.
Choose Create API Key, give it any name, and copy the key. Groq shows it only once.
In Soffio, open Settings > Cloud & AI, paste the key, and let Soffio test it. It is saved in the macOS Keychain. Soffio then asks whether to use Groq now, and tells you that recordings will go to Groq. Say no and nothing is sent.

Groq offers a free tier with usage limits. Groq decides its limits and terms, so check them on their site.

What is sent

Nothing while Groq is off or has no key.
With cloud transcription on: each recording and your dictionary words go to Groq at api.groq.com. You can switch cloud transcription off and keep the key.
With AI formatting on: the dictated text, your dictionary words and the app's style prompt.
Command mode uses Groq once you turn Groq on, and has its own Groq switch in Settings > Commands. With Groq it sends the selected text and your spoken instruction. With Ollama on your Mac, nothing leaves it.
Your key itself goes only to Groq.

To stop using Groq, delete the key in Settings > Cloud & AI, or revoke it in the Groq console.

Command line, links and agents

Soffio includes a soffio command and an MCP server so that Claude Code, other agents and scripts can use your dictionary, snippets and stats. Both are off by default.

To install the command, choose Install Command Line Tool in the Soffio menu. It links ~/.local/bin/soffio. If your shell cannot find it, add ~/.local/bin to your PATH. Run soffio help in Terminal to see every command.
To let tools read History, switch on Settings > General > Automation > Let agents read History.
To let agents and the command line start and stop dictation, switch on Let agents and the command line control dictation in the same place. For links, switch on Let links control dictation. Both are off by default.
The command talks to the running app over a private file that only your user can open. Nothing goes over the network.

soffio:// links

Soffio answers to soffio:// links. soffio://dictate/start and soffio://dictate/stop start and stop dictation, and they work only when Let links control dictation is on. soffio://licence/YOUR-KEY opens Settings > Licence with your key filled in. It never activates by itself: you press the button.

Troubleshooting

Nothing happens when I press Fn

Check the Globe key setting.
Check Accessibility and Input Monitoring in Settings > Permissions. See if a permission does not stick.
Another app may have secure input on, for example a focused password field. Click out of it and try again.

The text was not pasted

Some fields, such as password fields, refuse pasted text. The dictation is not lost. It is in History, and Copy Last Dictation in the menu bar puts it on your clipboard.

No sound, or the wrong microphone

Choose the right input under Settings > Dictation. Soffio also offers Switch Microphone when it hears no sound. Check that Soffio is switched on under Microphone in System Settings.

A VPN gives a 403 error and Soffio falls back to local

Some VPNs and shared networks are blocked by Groq, which answers with a 403 error. Soffio then uses the local engine at once, shows a short notice, and tries Groq again after 30 seconds, then 2 minutes, then every 5 minutes. Nothing is lost and dictation keeps working. To use the cloud again, turn the VPN off or exclude api.groq.com from it. To stop the notice, set cloud transcription to Off in Settings > Cloud & AI.

The speech model will not download

Check your internet connection, and turn off any VPN, proxy or content filter for a moment.
Make sure the Mac has at least 2 GB of free space.
Quit Soffio, delete the folder ~/Library/Application Support/Soffio/Models, and open Soffio again. It starts the download from the beginning.
Still failing? Write to support and say what the notice says.

macOS says the app cannot be opened

Soffio is signed and notarized, so this should not happen. Download the disk image again from this site and compare its checksum with the one in the download section. Run shasum -a 256 and drag the file into Terminal. If it still fails, write to support.

Dictation feels slow

On your Mac, text usually lands about 125 ms after you let go (median), and 100 to 300 ms with the cloud. The first dictation after a long idle can take a little longer. Long dictations take longer too. If it is always slow, check that Cloud transcription is on only if you want it and that no VPN is slowing Groq down.

Licence

One licence is for one person on up to 3 Macs. The trial lasts 14 days from your first dictation, with no card. Your licence key comes in the email from Polar after you buy.

Enter your key

Open Settings > Licence and choose Enter Licence. You can also click the soffio://licence/… link in your purchase email, which opens the same place with the key filled in.
Paste the key and press the button to activate. Soffio needs the internet for this step. The Mac then uses one of your 3 slots.

Restore on a new Mac or after a reinstall

Install Soffio, then enter the same key again. Your History and settings come back if you kept the data folder. Lost the key? Open the email from Polar, or look in the Polar customer portal with the address you bought with, or write to support.

Deactivate a Mac

In Settings > Licence, choose Deactivate This Mac. That frees the slot so you can use the key elsewhere. Do it before you sell or wipe a Mac. Manage Macs opens the customer portal, where you can remove a Mac you can no longer reach. If all 3 slots are taken, Soffio says so.

Offline use

The trial works offline and sends nothing.
After activation, Soffio checks your licence in the background about once a week, never while you dictate.
If a check fails because you are offline, behind a VPN or the service is down, nothing changes. For 30 days nothing is shown. After that you see a quiet note to connect once, and Soffio still works.
A licence stops only when Polar clearly says it is refunded, revoked or expired, on two checks at least 7 days apart.

When the trial ends

Dictation and Command mode stop. History, Dictionary, Snippets and Settings stay open and you can export them. Nothing is deleted. Enter a licence and dictation starts again.

Updates

Soffio checks for updates on its own and asks before it installs one. You can also choose Check for Updates from the Soffio menu. Updates to version 1 are free.
The check downloads a small file and sends no personal data. You can turn it off in Settings.

Crash reports and diagnostics

Soffio never sends a crash report on its own, and has no analytics.

After a crash, Soffio may offer to send the report the next time you open it. You can read it first. Your home folder name is replaced with ~. Send by Email opens an email to support@getsoffio.app with the file attached, and you press send in your own mail app. Choose not to send and nothing leaves your Mac.
Copy Diagnostics puts a short summary on your clipboard: the Soffio and macOS versions and your Mac model. Paste it into an email to support, or anywhere you like. It holds no dictated text.
A crash report is technical. It should not hold your dictations, but read it before you send it.

Uninstall

Quit Soffio first. Then remove what you want to remove. Deleting the app alone leaves your data in place, so a later reinstall finds it again.

The app

Drag Soffio.app from Applications to the Trash.
Remove it from System Settings > General > Login Items if you had it start at login.

What Soffio keeps on your Mac

Files and settings that Soffio creates
Where	What it holds
`~/Library/Application Support/Soffio/`	Your History, dictionary, snippets and stats (`Soffio.store`), the saved recordings (`Recordings`, kept 14 days by default; change it in Settings > General), logs with timing numbers only and no dictated text (`Logs`), the speech model (`Models`, about 613 MB), a copy of your trial start, and the socket file for agents.
`~/Library/Preferences/com.robertocinetto.soffio.plist`	Your settings.
`~/Library/Caches/com.robertocinetto.soffio`	Temporary files.
Keychain, in the Keychain Access app	Your Groq key and your licence, if you entered them. Search for `com.robertocinetto.soffio`.
`~/.local/bin/soffio`	Links for the command line tool, if it was installed.
`~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/`	Crash reports that macOS wrote for Soffio (`Soffio-*.ips`), if it ever crashed. Delete them if you like.
Privacy & Security	The permission entries. To clear them: `tccutil reset All com.robertocinetto.soffio`

To remove everything in one go, copy this into Terminal after you have quit Soffio and moved the app to the Trash. This deletes your History for good, so export what you need first.

rm -rf "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Soffio" \
       "$HOME/Library/Caches/com.robertocinetto.soffio" \
       "$HOME/Library/Preferences/com.robertocinetto.soffio.plist" \
       "$HOME/.local/bin/soffio"
tccutil reset All com.robertocinetto.soffio

Before you uninstall for good, choose Deactivate This Mac in Settings > Licence so the slot is freed. Otherwise remove the Mac in the Polar customer portal, or write to support and we will free it for you. The Keychain items for your licence and Groq key are not removed by the command above: delete them in Keychain Access.

Everything you need to get going.