Tota is a Mac dictation app that transcribes meeting debriefs, proposals and client updates on the Mac itself, so work covered by an NDA never passes through a dictation vendor's servers, and a per-client glossary keeps codenames and acronyms spelled correctly.
You are in a taxi between a client site and the airport with forty minutes of meeting in your head and a debrief to write before it fades. The client's NDA says their information goes to no third party. A cloud dictation app is a third party. Tota transcribes on your Mac, types the debrief into Notion, Word or Slack, and spells the client's codename and internal acronyms the way they do.
Why NDA work should not go through a dictation vendor
Consulting runs on confidentiality agreements. The client's strategy, numbers, personnel and problems are disclosed to you under terms that usually forbid onward disclosure without consent. A cloud dictation app sends your audio about all of it to a vendor's servers, often on to a third-party AI provider, and retains it under terms the client never agreed to.
Firms handle this with approved-tool lists and vendor reviews, which is why the dictation app you actually like is often not on the list. On-device dictation sidesteps the review: there is no third party, so there is no onward disclosure. The audio and text never leave the laptop.
Tota transcribes with OpenAI's Whisper model running locally, formats with a local language model, and never uploads. It also solves the other consulting problem, which is that every client has its own vocabulary. A glossary per client, switched automatically by app or by hand, keeps the codenames and acronyms right.
What consultants actually dictate
- Meeting debriefs. The notes you write in the car, the lounge or the hotel, while the detail is still fresh.
- Proposals and statements of work. Long first drafts, spoken into Word or Google Docs and edited on screen.
- Status updates and emails. The daily client communication, dictated into Outlook, Gmail or Slack.
- Speaker notes and slide text. Dictated into the notes pane of Keynote or PowerPoint.
- Interview and workshop transcripts. Where you have consent to record, Audio Drop transcribes the file on-device with speaker labels.
What leaves your Mac, and what doesn't
This is the whole list. Every row is checkable from the app's own behaviour, and the security page explains how to watch its network activity yourself.
| Data | Leaves your Mac? | What actually happens |
|---|---|---|
| Your voice while dictating client work | No | Recorded to a temporary file, transcribed on your Mac by Whisper via WhisperKit, then deleted. |
| The transcript | No | Typed into the app you are using. Kept in a local history for three days, then archived as Markdown in a folder you choose. Entries can be deleted. |
| Text on your screen | No | With “Spell what’s on your screen” on, the visible text of the window you are dictating into is read once, to bias spelling. Never stored or sent. Can be turned off. |
| Glossary terms and learned corrections | No | Stored as JSON files in Tota’s folder in Application Support. |
| Smart Formatting | No | Runs a local Qwen 3 language model via MLX. Off by default. |
| Audio files dropped in for transcription | No | Transcribed and speaker-labelled on your Mac. |
| Licence key and a machine identifier | Yes | Sent to api.lemonsqueezy.com at activation and validation. Never any content. |
| Update check | Yes | A download request to github.com at launch. Can be disabled in Settings. |
| Model downloads | Yes, one-way | Speech, formatting and speaker-ID model files from huggingface.co, once, on first use. |
| Usage analytics or crash reports | Never | There is no analytics or crash-reporting SDK in the app. |
How Tota works for consultants
Install the app, grant it microphone and accessibility access, and press Cmd+Shift+R wherever your cursor is. Tota records until you press it again, transcribes the audio on your Mac with OpenAI's Whisper model running through WhisperKit, and types the result into the field. There is also a hold-to-talk key for short entries and a “Hey Tota” wake word for hands-free use. It behaves like a keyboard, so it works in browser-based systems, Word, email, Notes and anything else with a text field, with no integration to request from IT. After the one-time model download it needs no internet at all.
Three optional layers sit on top. Smart Formatting runs a small local language model that fixes punctuation, turns “new paragraph” and “new list” into structure, and corrects stutters without rewriting what you meant. The auto-learning dictionary remembers the corrections you make. And Audio Drop transcribes audio files you already have, with automatic speaker labels, also on-device.
Workflows for a consulting engagement
- The debrief. Cursor in the engagement notes, shortcut, talk for five minutes. 'New paragraph' and 'new list' structure the note when Smart Formatting is on. Works offline on the plane.
- A glossary per client. Create one glossary per engagement with the client's codename, acronyms, product names and people. Switch it when you switch clients, or let Tota pick by app.
- Stakeholder interviews. Record with consent, drop the file on Audio Drop, rename the speakers, export Markdown into your synthesis document. Nothing uploaded.
- The proposal draft. Dictate section by section. The dictionary learns the names you correct, and filler words are removed automatically.
A glossary for consultants
Every engagement arrives with its own vocabulary. A Tota glossary is a short list of terms the speech model is nudged towards while it transcribes, with sound-alike matching afterwards for anything it still mishears. A glossary for one client might hold:
- the engagement codename
- client product and brand names
- the client's internal acronyms
- stakeholder names
- framework and methodology terms
- competitor names
- your firm's own internal terms
The live hint has room for roughly 70 to 90 words, so one glossary per client works better than one master list. When the engagement ends, delete the glossary and the dictionary entries, and the vocabulary goes with it.
Tota ships with a built-in Names starter glossary you can edit, and the glossaries guide covers set-up, the hint budget and per-app switching.
What Tota does not do
- It is not a knowledge-management system. Tota types where the cursor is. Where the notes live, who can see them and how long they are kept stays with your firm's tools and policy.
- It does not record meetings or calls. Tota transcribes dictation, or audio files you already have. Recording a client meeting needs consent and a separate recorder.
- It has no compliance certification. There is no Tota server that handles client content, so there is nothing to audit under SOC 2 or ISO 27001. The firm's device policy governs the transcripts on the laptop.
- Transcripts are files on your Mac. Nothing is synced or backed up by Tota. FileVault, your backup tool and your device policy are what protect them.
Pricing for a consulting practice
Tota is a one-time purchase of £19.99, with two seats per licence, after a 14-day free trial of every feature. There is no subscription, no per-minute transcription fee and no word limit, because local processing costs us nothing per word. Larger teams buy additional licences. Pricing is the same worldwide; see the pricing section for what the licence includes.
Frequently asked questions
Does client information leave my Mac when I dictate?
No. Audio is transcribed on your Mac by OpenAI's Whisper via WhisperKit, deleted once transcribed, and the text is typed into the app you are using. The only network calls are a licence check, an update check and one-time model downloads, none carrying content.
Will it pass my firm's approved-tools review?
That is your firm's call, but Tota makes it easy to assess: no account, no cloud processing, no telemetry, and a security page listing every network call. You can verify with a firewall tool such as Little Snitch.
Does it work in Notion, Slack, PowerPoint and Google Docs?
Yes. Tota is system-wide dictation and types into any text field, including browser-based apps. No integration is needed.
Can I keep client vocabularies separate?
Yes. Create a glossary per client and switch between them, or turn on auto-pick by app. Glossaries can be deleted when an engagement ends.
Does it work offline?
Yes. After the one-time model download, Tota needs no connection. It works the same on planes, in client offices with no guest Wi-Fi and in hotels you would rather not trust.
What does it cost?
£19.99 once, after a 14-day free trial, with two seats per licence. No subscription and no word limit.
Write the debrief before the plane boards
Download Tota, set up a glossary for your current client, and dictate the next debrief offline. Two seats, £19.99 once.
14-day free trial · macOS 14 or later · No account needed
