Handy is a free, open-source desktop app that turns what you say into typed text, doing all of the work on your own computer with no internet connection needed.
In plain words
Handy turns speech into text without sending your audio to the cloud. You press a keyboard shortcut and talk, either holding the key or tapping it to start and stop. Handy strips out silent stretches, then passes your speech to a model you pick: OpenAI's Whisper, which can use a graphics chip (GPU), or Parakeet V3, which is tuned for the main processor (CPU) and detects the language itself. The text lands in whichever text box you were using. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux under the MIT licence.
A quick example
Imagine writing a long email by talking. You hold the shortcut, say what you want, let go, and the words show up in the email you were writing, while the recording never leaves your laptop.
Where you'll meet it
- Dictating emails, notes and messages into any app on a desktop computer.
- Typing by voice as a free accessibility tool.
Related
Sources
- Docscjpais/Handy, GitHub · read 1 Nov 2026
- DocsHandy, Handy · read 1 Nov 2026
Checked by WhatIsAI against the sources above · 1 Nov 2026. Spotted an error? Report it.