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Listen Orb is a local Mac app. Hold Fn, speak, release. The cleaned sentence lands at the cursor. If Fn is blocked, use Listen in the menu bar extra. Dragging the glowing orb only moves it.
The usual snags are Gatekeeper on first open, a Polar license after the trial, your own OpenAI key, and three macOS permissions. The menu bar Help item opens these pages.
Get started
Install the Mac app
Open the disk image, right-click → Open the first time, then start the trial or paste a Polar key.
Buy and paste a license
Polar emails a Listen Orb key. That payment is the Mac app. It is not OpenAI credit.
Create an OpenAI API key
Turn on API billing, create a secret key, and paste it into the first-run window.
Mac permissions
Enable the Fn key
Input Monitoring lets Fn start a listen. Globe-key Macs and leftover privacy rows are the usual snags.
Enable the microphone
Grant Microphone to the app you launched. The mic opens only while you talk.
Enable Accessibility
Accessibility inserts the sentence at the cursor. Stale rows after a replace look enabled but do nothing.
Still stuck? Write hello@listenorb.com. See privacy for what audio and nearby text do.