Voicy Review 2026: Features, Pricing, Privacy and Who It's For

Voicy is a speech-to-text app that types what you say into any app on Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android, with a Chrome extension for the browser. It's made by a small company founded in London in 2024, and in October 2026 it added an offline mode to its desktop apps.

This Voicy review covers what the app does, what it costs, what its privacy policy says, and who it suits. One important caveat: LumeVoice, which publishes this blog, makes a competing dictation app, and we haven't used Voicy ourselves. So this isn't a hands-on test. It's a careful read of Voicy's website, privacy and security policies, help center, changelog and app store listings as of October 20, 2026, with sources linked so you can check each point.

(Searching for "Voicy app" can also turn up Voicy, a Japanese audio platform at voicy.jp. It's unrelated; this review is about the dictation app at usevoicy.com.)

Voicy at a glance#

As of October 2026.

What is the Voicy app?#

Voicy started as a personal project. Its founder, Kourosh Ghaffari, says he built it because his father typed every email with one finger and didn't trust the dictation tools he'd tried (About Voicy). It began as a Chrome extension, then came to Windows and Mac, according to its changelog, and later to Linux, iPhone and Android. The company describes itself as small, independent and bootstrapped, with no outside investment.

That origin still shapes who Voicy is for. In a Starter Story interview published in October 2026, Kourosh said Voicy primarily serves older people and people with disabilities. You can see it in the product: a shortcut you tap rather than hold (which can even be a mouse button), a disability discount that asks for no proof, and an About page promising that a person, not an AI, reads every support email. Voicy also says it has more than 10,000 users.

How Voicy works on each device#

Mac, Windows and Linux. You click into any text field, tap your recording shortcut, speak, and tap it again; Voicy then types the text where your cursor is. Esc cancels a recording, and there's a shortcut to paste your last transcript again. You can assign a mouse side button or a scroll-wheel click as the shortcut (recording shortcut). The Mac app supports macOS 13 or later on Apple silicon and Intel (Voicy for Mac); Windows 10 and 11 are supported; and on Linux there are .deb, .rpm and AppImage packages, with a setup step for pasting on Wayland (install guide).

iPhone. Voicy is a keyboard: you add the Voicy keyboard and dictate wherever you type. The App Store listing, "Voicy: Speech to Text Keyboard", requires iOS 17.6 or later (App Store).

Android. Voicy shows a floating microphone. You tap a text field, tap the microphone and speak, and Voicy inserts the text using Android's Accessibility Service. Its Google Play listing says it uses that access only to detect text fields and paste your dictation, not to read passwords or change settings (Google Play).

Browser. The Chrome extension adds dictation to text fields on websites, and Voicy says it also works in Edge, Brave, Opera, Arc and Vivaldi (Chrome extension). On Chromebooks, Voicy's own guide points to its Android app on models that support Google Play.

Features worth knowing#

Voicy's help center was updated for version 3.0 in October 2026, and it describes a fuller feature set than the home page suggests:

• Formatting. Voicy adds punctuation as you speak. On desktop, paragraphs and bullet lists are on by default, and you can also say punctuation commands such as "new line" (automatic formatting).
• Filler words. Removing "um" and "uh" is a separate setting, off by default on a new install (filler words). The help center doesn't describe applying spoken self-corrections.
• Context-aware formatting. Voicy reads the app and window title so it can format an email differently from a chat message. It's on by default, and Voicy says that information isn't kept or used to train AI.
• Dictionary and voice shortcuts. Add names and specialist terms (the dictionary holds 600 characters), and save phrases that expand into longer text, such as your email address (dictionary).
• Rewrite Mode. Highlight text, tap a second shortcut and say how to change it: shorter, more polite, or translated. You can save up to nine instructions you use often (Rewrite Mode, saved commands).
• Custom Modes. Write your own AI instructions for new dictations, such as turning your words into a friendly email, and make one the default (Custom Modes).
• Languages. More than 50 online, detected automatically, with quick switching between up to three languages while you record.
• File transcription. On paid plans, Voicy transcribes audio and video files of up to 60 minutes, such as MP3, WAV, M4A, MP4, MOV and WebM. Finished transcripts are cleared from the app after three days, so download the ones you need (transcribe a file).
• The rest. Local dictation history, export and import of your settings between computers, and stats on time saved.

The changelog shows steady releases: file transcription arrived in May 2026, a bigger dictionary and a new Rewrite Mode window in August, settings import and export in September, and offline mode with redesigned voice shortcuts in version 3.0 on October 12.

Offline mode#

Offline mode is Voicy's biggest recent addition, and a real differentiator among cross-platform dictation apps. With it switched on, the speech model runs on your computer and normal dictation audio stays on your device (offline dictation).

What to know before relying on it:

• Desktop only. It works in the Mac, Windows and Linux apps. On a Mac, it needs macOS 15 or later. The iPhone and Android apps and the Chrome extension don't have it.
• Download first. You download the speech model once while connected; the model card shows its size.
• 25 languages, detected automatically, against 50-plus online.
• AI features still need internet. Rewrite Mode and Custom Modes need a connection, so they're not available while you're offline.
• Voicy asks before going online. File transcription and retrying an old recording are online actions, and Voicy asks before sending their audio when offline mode is on (offline mode guide).

Is Voicy safe? What its privacy policy says#

We can't audit any company's systems, so the fair answer is to report what Voicy's published policies commit to. Here's the summary, from its privacy policy, security policy and privacy guide:

• How online dictation works. Your audio is recorded on your device, sent over an encrypted connection (the security policy specifies TLS 1.3) to Voicy's servers and passed to Groq, which runs the open-source Whisper speech model. The text comes back to the app.
• What's kept. Voicy says it doesn't store recordings or transcripts, and that it has turned on Groq's zero data retention setting. The same promise covers file transcription, Rewrite Mode, Custom Modes and context-aware formatting.
• Training. Voicy says it doesn't use your recordings to train AI models.
• Where. The privacy policy says recordings go to servers in the EU and the US, with US users on US servers. The security policy, last updated in July 2025, describes US-based hosting.
• Analytics. Voicy keeps anonymized usage data, such as button clicks and errors, which it says never includes recordings or transcript words. The security policy names Mixpanel and says you can switch it off.
• On your computer. History is stored locally and cleared after three days, with audio kept for up to the ten newest entries. You can turn history off or delete entries.
• Problem reports. If you choose to send one, it includes your description, diagnostics, the selected transcript and, unless you untick it, the audio. Voicy keeps reports for 30 days.
• Who you're dealing with. The security policy says Voicy is based in London and Dubai, and that its registered company in the UAE is Pishi LLC FZ. The App Store lists Kourosh Ghaffari as the seller.

Two limits are worth stating plainly. Voicy's site doesn't list security certifications such as SOC 2, and it doesn't claim HIPAA compliance, so if you work with regulated data, ask Voicy directly or keep that work in offline mode. And to be sure you're getting the real app, download it only from usevoicy.com, the App Store or Google Play.

A practical checklist if you use it:

1. Use offline mode on desktop for anything you'd rather not send to the cloud.
2. Switch off analytics if you prefer.
3. Untick the audio attachment when you send a problem report.
4. Turn off history if you don't want local copies of your dictation.
5. Remember that Rewrite Mode and Custom Modes send text to the cloud even when dictation itself is offline.

Voicy pricing in brief#

Voicy has no free plan, but its free trial gives you 30 minutes of recording time with no card. After that, as of October 2026:

• Pro: $8.49 a month, or $82 a year (about $6.83 a month)
• Lifetime: $260 once on the website; the US App Store lists a $219.99 Lifetime in-app purchase
• Team: $6.79 per user per month, minimum three users, with priority support
• Discounts: 20% off for students and for people with disabilities, no proof needed
• Refunds: a full refund if you cancel a subscription within 7 days of purchase

For the 3-year math and a comparison with other dictation apps, see our Voicy pricing guide.

Is Voicy good? What users say#

We can't measure Voicy's accuracy, and Voicy's own "over 99%" figure is a vendor claim we can't check. The public reviews are a better signal, but there aren't many of them:

• Google Play: 4.4 stars from 13 reviews and more than 1,000 downloads, last updated September 6, 2026. The visible reviews praise its accuracy and multilingual dictation, and two mention fast, helpful replies from the developer. One reviewer says it notices when they stumble and leaves the mistake out; another switched from a more expensive app and calls it great value.
• US App Store: 5.0 from a single rating. That reviewer had used Voicy on desktop for a long time and liked how it handles long dictations, but wished it didn't need "turning on" the app first.

Fourteen public reviews is a small sample, so treat them as a sign of a happy core of users rather than proof of quality. The best test is still the free trial on your own writing.

Pros and cons#

Pros

• Covers more platforms than most dictation apps: Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, Android and Chrome
• Offline mode on desktop, in 25 languages
• Low list prices, a low-cost team plan and a one-time Lifetime option
• 20% discounts for students and people with disabilities, with no proof required
• Rewrite Mode and Custom Modes for editing by voice and custom formatting
• Tap-to-talk shortcut that can be a mouse button
• Clear written commitments: no stored recordings, no training on your data

Cons

• No free plan, just a 30-minute trial
• Filler-word removal is off by default, and self-corrections aren't documented
• 50-plus languages online and 25 offline, fewer than some rivals list
• A small dictionary (600 characters)
• Offline mode needs macOS 15 on a Mac, and isn't available on phones or in the extension
• No published security certifications
• Fine print to read: the pricing page lists unlimited personal devices, but the policy reserves the right to close accounts used on more than two devices

Who Voicy is for, and who should skip it#

Voicy is a good fit if you:

• work on Linux or mostly in the browser
• need to dictate without an internet connection on desktop
• are setting up dictation for an older relative or for someone who finds typing hard, and want simple tap-to-talk with a no-proof discount
• are equipping a small team on a budget
• want to edit text by voice with Rewrite Mode

Skip it if you:

• want a free plan to keep rather than a short trial
• need a vendor with security certifications for work
• dictate in a language beyond its 50-plus
• want self-corrections and filler words cleaned up without changing settings
• need offline dictation on your phone

Alternatives to consider#

• LumeVoice: our app. Cloud dictation for Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android that removes filler words, applies self-corrections and supports 100 languages, with 50% off for students and 50% off for accessibility. It has no offline mode, Linux app or extension. See LumeVoice vs Voicy.
• Superwhisper: local models for offline dictation, strongest on Apple silicon Macs.
• Wispr Flow: a free plan with 2,000 words a week on desktop.
• Talon: full hands-free control of your computer, free to download.
• Apple Dictation and Windows voice typing: free and built in.

The full comparison, with prices, is in our Voicy alternatives guide. If you're choosing for an older parent, our guide to dictation for seniors may help too.

Verdict#

On paper, Voicy is one of the most complete cross-platform dictation apps you can buy. It covers six platforms, its list prices are low, its privacy commitments are clear, and its new offline mode makes it one of the few cross-platform apps that can keep dictation audio on your computer. Its weak spots are the lack of a free plan, cleanup that you partly have to switch on, and fewer languages than some rivals.

What we can't tell you is how accurate it will be for your voice; nobody can without testing. Use the 30-minute trial on a few days of real writing, and if you need Linux, the extension or offline dictation, it's an easy app to shortlist.

Further Reading#

• LumeVoice vs Voicy
• Voicy pricing 2026: plans, discounts and 3-year cost
• Best Voicy alternatives in 2026
• Voice dictation for legal and medical work: what to check
• Best Superwhisper alternatives for Mac