HomelingGuide
Talk to Homeling with ⌃⌥Space
Press a shortcut in any app, say what you need, and stop talking. No typing.
How to talk to Homeling
- Press ⌃⌥Space (Control, Option and Space) in any app. Homeling comes forward and starts listening.
- Say what you need, like “Find a night next week for dinner with Priya and Alex and text them the options” or “Catch me up on email.”
- Stop talking. After a short pause, Homeling sends it and gets to work. You can also press ⌃⌥Space again, or hold the keys while you talk and let go when you're done.
- Changed your mind? Press Esc or click Discard, and nothing is sent.
You can also click the microphone in the message box, or press ⇧⌘M. That way your words wait in the box, so you can fix them before you send. Homeling's menu bar icon has Talk to Homeling too.
The first time
Homeling explains what it needs before macOS asks for the microphone, and it only listens while the microphone is on. The first time you use a language, your Mac downloads Apple's speech files for it once.
Your words are turned into text on your Mac, with Apple's speech recognition. The recording isn't saved or sent anywhere.
Make it yours
- A different shortcut: in Settings → Voice, click Change… and press the keys you want. Include a key like ⌃ or ⌥ so ordinary typing doesn't set it off. If you switch between keyboard languages, macOS may already use ⌃⌥Space for that, so pick another.
- Another language: choose it under Listening.
- Hear the answer: turn on “Read replies aloud”, and Homeling reads its replies in your Mac's own voices. It stops as soon as you talk or press Esc.
- Quiet, please: turn off the sounds Homeling plays when it starts and stops listening and when a reply is ready.
The shortcut works whenever Homeling is running.