A voice keyboard that runs entirely on your iPhone.
No internet. No subscription.
Transcription runs on your iPhone, using OpenAI's open Whisper model or Apple's built-in speech recognition. Your voice never leaves the device, because there is no server for it to go to. No accounts, no analytics.
Switch apps to check something mid-dictation and the mic stays on. Audio from other apps doesn't stop it. With AirPods in, Sparkle uses the iPhone's own mic, so your noise cancellation stays on and nothing hisses.
Long dictations are transcribed in chunks and saved to disk as you speak. A phone call, Siri, or iOS killing the app costs you seconds, not the recording: it's waiting in History. And if a recording can't be read at all, Sparkle keeps the audio so you can play it back and retry.
Tap to record, tap to stop. Swipe left to delete words, swipe right for Enter. The sparkles dance to your voice level, so you always know it's listening.
Dictate with your screen reader on. Audio coming out of your speaker gets filtered out of the recording: only your words get written. Tested end to end with the screen curtain on.
On iOS 26 there's Instant, built on the speech recognition that ships with your iPhone: nothing big to download, it just starts. Or go Global with Whisper: 99 languages, one 632 MB download, then it works offline for good.
Sometimes you just need to type a word or two. A simple letters keyboard for app names and search terms, English only for now, and it doesn't autocorrect.
| Others | Sparkle | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $100+/year subscription | Free for early adopters |
| Privacy | Cloud processing | 100% on-device |
| Internet | Required | Works offline |
| Complexity | Crowded toolbars | One big button |
| Interruptions | Recording lost | Auto-recovered |