Setup takes under 2 minutes

Let's get you set up.

Five quick steps and you'll be dictating text anywhere on your Mac.

1
DOWNLOAD & INSTALL

Download the app and drag to Applications

Download Vibe Voice from your order page:

Download from My Orders

Log in with the email you purchased with. Look for the VibeVoice-1.1.1.dmg file under your order.

  1. 1 Open the downloaded .dmg file
  2. 2 Drag Vibe Voice into your Applications folder
  3. 3 If replacing an older version, click "Replace" when prompted
  4. 4 Close the DMG window — you're done with it
2
FIRST LAUNCH

Open Vibe Voice for the first time

  1. 1 Open Vibe Voice from Applications, or use Spotlight: ⌘ Space and type "Vibe Voice"
  2. 2 You'll see a small icon appear in your menu bar (top-right of your screen)
macOS blocking the app?

Right-click the app → click "Open" → click "Open" again in the dialog. This only happens once.

3
GRANT PERMISSIONS

Allow Microphone and Accessibility access

Vibe Voice needs two permissions to work properly:

Microphone

Click "Allow" when prompted. Without this, Vibe Voice can't hear you.

Accessibility

This one requires a manual toggle:

  1. 1. Open System Settings
  2. 2. Go to Privacy & Security → Accessibility
  3. 3. Find Vibe Voice and toggle it ON

Without this, the keyboard shortcut won't work.

You may need to restart Vibe Voice after granting permissions for them to take effect.

4
ACTIVATE LICENSE

Enter your license key

Where's my license key?

Check your email for a message from LemonSqueezy (the payment provider). Your license key is right at the top of the email, under "License key". It's a long code that looks like: XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX

Can't find it? Check your spam folder. The email comes from LemonSqueezy, not Vibe Voice. Still stuck? Email zach@zach-lloyd.com and I'll resend it.

  1. 1 Click the Vibe Voice icon in your menu bar (top-right of your screen)
  2. 2 Go to Settings (gear icon) → License tab
  3. 3 Copy the license key from your email and paste it into the License Key field
  4. 4 Click Activate — you should see a green "Active" badge
5
START DICTATING

You're ready to go!

Press ⌘ Shift V to start recording
Speak naturally — no need to slow down or over-enunciate
Press ⌘ Shift V again to stop recording
Your text is automatically copied to your clipboard. Paste with ⌘ V anywhere.

Troubleshooting

Quick fixes for common issues.

🔊 Only getting "You" as output?

This usually means your Mac is using the wrong microphone input.

  1. 1. Open System Settings → Sound → Input
  2. 2. Make sure the correct microphone is selected
  3. 3. If your MacBook lid is closed, you need an external microphone — the built-in mic is disabled when the lid is shut
⌨️ Hotkey not working?

The global hotkey requires Accessibility permission to work. The fastest fix is a clean reset:

  1. 1. Quit Vibe Voice first — click the menu bar icon → Quit Vibe Voice. Permissions won't update while it's running.
    Right-click Vibe Voice in the menu bar and choose Quit
  2. 2. Open System Settings (fastest: ⌘ Space, type "privacy", hit Enter)
    Spotlight search with the word privacy typed in
  3. 3. Go to Privacy & Security → Accessibility
    Privacy and Security settings pane with Accessibility row
  4. 4. Find Vibe Voice in the list, click it so it's highlighted, then click the [ — ] minus button at the bottom to remove it.
    Accessibility list showing VibeVoice with its toggle
    VibeVoice selected with the minus button highlighted at the bottom
  5. 5. Go back, then open Microphone and do the same thing (toggle off, or hit the minus button to remove Vibe Voice).
    Microphone section of Privacy and Security settings
    VibeVoice microphone toggle switched off
  6. 6. Re-launch Vibe Voice. macOS will prompt fresh for both permissions — click Allow / Open System Settings when asked.
Vibe Voice must live in /Applications

If the app is in Downloads or Desktop, macOS permissions get unreliable. Drag Vibe Voice into your Applications folder, then run the reset above.

Still nothing? Restart your Mac — macOS keeps a permissions database that occasionally gets stuck, and a reboot clears it. Also check that no other app (Raycast, Alfred, clipboard managers) has hijacked ⌘ Shift V.

🛟 Need more help?

Email zach@zach-lloyd.com with your debug info and I'll get back to you quickly.

How to get your debug info:

Click Vibe Voice menu bar icon → Settings → About → Copy Debug Info