Installation

Install Epilude on macOS 14 or later, sign in, and grant the Microphone and Accessibility permissions it needs to dictate into any app.

System requirements

Epilude requires macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later, running on Apple Silicon or Intel.

Local Mode requirements

Local Mode, which dictates fully on-device, needs an Apple Silicon Mac and a one-time download of EP-1. Full on-device Cleanup needs 16GB of memory or more. See Local Mode.

Download

Download the latest version of Epilude from epilude.com. The app is distributed as a .dmg disk image.

Install

  1. Open the downloaded .dmg file
  2. Drag Epilude into your Applications folder
  3. Launch Epilude from Applications or Spotlight

Sign in

On first launch, Epilude asks you to sign in. Choose Continue with Google or Continue with email; either way, sign-in finishes in your browser and returns you to the app.

Creating an account starts your free trial of Pro: 1,000 dictated words, 10 meeting notes and 5 cloud voice minutes, with no time limit and no credit card required. See Plans, trial, and billing for what each plan includes.

Permissions

After you sign in, Epilude requests the following permissions:

Microphone Access

Required for voice dictation. macOS will prompt you to allow microphone access — click Allow.

Accessibility Access

Required for inserting text into any application. Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility and enable Epilude.

Quick toggle

You can also open Accessibility settings directly from the Epilude onboarding flow.

Permissions not working?

If toggling Accessibility on doesn't take effect, try this: remove Epilude from the list (click −), quit the app completely, re-add Epilude, then relaunch. This forces macOS to re-register the permission.

Updates to Epilude itself

Epilude keeps itself current: new versions download in the background and install when you are not using your Mac. See Keeping Epilude up to date for when it restarts and how to turn that off.

After a macOS update

macOS updates can silently reset your Microphone and Accessibility permissions. If Epilude stops working after an OS update, re-grant both permissions following the steps above. See Text not inserting for detailed troubleshooting.

Verify installation

After granting permissions, test your setup:

  1. Open any text field (Notes, TextEdit, a browser, etc.)
  2. Press and hold your dictation hotkey (default: Left ⌘ + E)
  3. Speak a short sentence
  4. Release the key — your text should appear

To try meeting notes or reading aloud next, follow Quick start. Notetaker requests Screen Recording permission to capture the meeting audio your Mac plays; reading selected text with Narrator does not need microphone access.

Uninstalling

To remove Epilude:

  1. Quit the app from the menu bar icon
  2. Drag Epilude from Applications to the Trash
  3. Optionally, revoke permissions in System Settings
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