Epilude's dictation pill has always lived near the bottom of the screen. It tells you what the app is doing, but on a large display it also asks you to look away from your sentence every time you speak.
We wanted the feedback to live where the writing happens. Today we're shipping the caret dot, a small dictation indicator that sits below the insertion point and follows you through the document.
Speak without losing your place
Choose Caret dot under Settings → Dictation → Dictation indicator, then click into an editable field. The dot appears below the caret. Hold your dictation hotkey and it opens into a waveform. When you release the key, it becomes a spinner until the text arrives.
Say:
send the revised draft to priya by thursday
And Epilude inserts this where the caret is waiting:
Send the revised draft to Priya by Thursday.
You can hover over the idle dot for the same hotkey reminders shown in the pill. Turn off Show indicator when idle if you only want it to appear while you're dictating or waiting for the result.
When Epilude can't find the caret
The dot needs Accessibility access to locate the insertion point. Epilude checks the caret's position and whether the field is editable. It doesn't read the field's contents or copy them to your clipboard.
Some Mac apps don't expose a usable caret position. Password fields, some empty browser editors, address bars, and custom text views are common examples. In those places, Epilude uses the bottom pill during recording and processing. Errors also stay in the pill, where there is room to explain what happened.
The indicator has no effect on how dictation is processed. In Local Mode, dictation and Cleanup still run on your Mac. In Cloud mode, the caret dot shows the state of the cloud model.
Available now
The caret dot is available on every plan. The bottom pill remains the default for existing users, so you can switch when you want to try it.
Read the Dictation indicator guide for supported fields and fallback behavior, or learn more about dictation in Epilude.
