Guide
Push-to-talk with the Fn key
In Talki's direct edition the Fn key, also called Globe, starts recording the moment you press it. Tap to keep recording, or hold to talk and release to finish.
How Fn works in Talki
- Press Fn: recording starts immediately, on key down.
- Hold for at least 350 milliseconds, then release: the recording finishes and Talki transcribes it.
- Tap and release within 350 milliseconds: recording keeps going hands-free. Tap again to finish.
If you press Fn together with another key, for example Fn and an arrow key, Talki cancels only that new gesture and sends nothing for transcription.
⌘ ⇧ Space and the floating control work in both editions and do the same job.
Allow the permissions
- Open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Input Monitoring and switch Talki on. This lets Talki see the Fn key.
- Open Privacy & Security > Accessibility and switch Talki on if you want text pasted into the app you were using. Without it, Talki copies the text and you paste it yourself.
- Allow Microphone access when macOS asks the first time you record.
Stop macOS from using Fn
macOS can assign its own action to Fn, such as showing emoji or starting Apple Dictation. Open System Settings > Keyboard and set Press 🌐 key to to Do Nothing. Talki then gets every Fn press.
What Talki does with the text
When you finish, Talki saves the recording, transcribes it, copies the text and tries to paste it into the same field you started from. If you switched fields, the field is secure, or the app does not accept the paste, the text stays on the clipboard. Talki never presses Return, so nothing is sent without you.
The App Store edition
Apple's sandbox does not allow an App Store app to watch the Fn key or type into other apps. The App Store edition of Talki uses ⌘ ⇧ Space and the floating control, and copies the text for you to paste. See the edition differences.