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Enable the Fn key
Hold Fn to talk. Double-tap to keep listening with your hands free, then tap once to finish. Short pulses that only wrap volume, brightness, or media keys are ignored, so those keys do not start a listen.
A USB button mapped to F13 works the same way: hold it to talk, tap it once to type Return at the current caret, or double-tap it to keep listening. The raw F13 event is consumed, so Mail, Notes, and other foreground apps receive only the intentional Return action, not the unsupported function key that can play an error sound.
The same Fn interaction also runs Orb Commands. Select editable text, hold Fn, and begin with “Orb”—for example, “Orb, make this more professional” or “Orb, turn this into bullet points.” There is no second shortcut. Ordinary speech remains ordinary dictation, even when text is selected.
Orb Commands are on by default and can be disabled under Settings → Orb Commands. See the complete Orb Commands guide for examples, privacy details, limits, Undo, and troubleshooting.
macOS will not give Listen Orb that tap until Input Monitoring is on for the app you actually launched. Accessibility is requested at the same time. Dragging the glowing orb only moves it. If Fn stays silent, use Listen in the menu bar extra — that path does not need the keyboard tap.
The short version
Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Input Monitoring, enable Listen Orb (or Terminal, if you started it from there), then quit and reopen that app.
Step by step
Open Input Monitoring
In the Listen Orb menu bar extra, choose Enable Fn hotkey…. That jumps to the Input Monitoring pane. If it does not, open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Input Monitoring yourself.
Enable the app you launched
Turn on the row for Listen Orb when you opened the installed app. If you started it from Terminal or iTerm, enable that Terminal app instead — macOS grants the tap to the parent process, not to a Python script inside it.
Turn on Accessibility too
In the same Privacy & Security list, enable that same app under Accessibility. The keyboard tap and the cursor insert both need it. How to enable Accessibility.
Quit and reopen
Permission changes apply to the next launch. Quit Listen Orb from the menu bar, open it again, then hold Fn. Coming back to the app also retries the tap.
On a Globe-key keyboard, check Keyboard settings
Recent Macs and Magic Keyboards label that corner key Globe. Open System Settings → Keyboard and look at Press Globe key to. Listen Orb still listens for the physical key; it does not steal Apple’s emoji or dictation panel. If Globe is set to change the input source, a tap may switch layouts as well as start a listen — that is the system, not a second Listen Orb action.
If Fn still does nothing
- Use Listen in the menu bar. That starts and finishes the same lock. The first-run alert says this on purpose.
- A leftover privacy row is on, but it is the wrong binary. Replacing an unsigned or ad-hoc signed build leaves a stale Listen Orb row that looks enabled. Remove every Listen Orb row under Input Monitoring and Accessibility, then add
/Applications/Listen Orb.appagain. - You launched from Cursor or another IDE terminal. Enable Input Monitoring for that host app, or start Listen Orb from Terminal.app / iTerm, or use the installed app in Applications.
- You are tapping another function key, not Fn. F13 is reserved for external push-to-talk buttons. Other function keys, volume, brightness, and media keys are ignored so they keep doing their job.
The microphone is a separate permission. How to enable the microphone.