Dictate in any app · Notes
Bear is fast to open, which makes it a capture app, and capture is what dictation is for. Hold a key and talk: Typally transcribes and types it into Bear without you touching the keyboard.
This is a vendor guide from the makers of Typally. Anything we say about Bear is worth verifying — third-party features change without notice.None of its own. macOS dictation reaches the editor.
Bear's appeal is that a note takes no ceremony — no folder, no title, just start. Typing is the last remaining friction between having a thought and having it written down.
In practice people use it for: Quick notes, tagged collections, drafts, meeting scraps, and the note that grows into an article.
Nothing changes inside Bear itself. Typally sits in the tray and types into the focused window:
Windows or macOS build, signed in once.
The cursor position is the whole instruction — Bear routes the keystrokes from there.
Say the whole thought, then let go. No time limit.
Bear treats hash symbols as tags, so a dictated hash creates a tag rather than a heading.
Bear opens fast and Typally fills it fast, which together remove almost all the distance between having a thought and having it written down. Because it types into the focused window, the note can be captured before you decide what it is about — tagging is a keystroke afterwards, and the thought is already safe.
Someone in the habit of thinking out loud keeps Bear on a hotkey. Ideas that used to evaporate between the kitchen and the desk get captured in full sentences, and about one in ten becomes something worth writing properly.
Dictate first and tag afterwards. Bear's tagging is fast enough that organising can wait until the thought is safely captured.
Bear treats hash symbols as tags, so a dictated hash creates a tag rather than a heading.
No app-specific feature. System dictation and system-level tools both work.
You can, but a spoken hash becomes a tag immediately. Adding tags by hand afterwards is more reliable.
Yes, the text is ordinary note content.
There is a permanent free tier of 100 minutes a month. Pro costs $7.99/month and raises the limit.
Also dictate in: Apple Notes · Obsidian · Ulysses · Readwise · Capacities · see all apps