Jeronimo Help

Jeronimo is a dictation app for the Mac. Press and hold a key, say something, and your words appear where your cursor is. Everything happens on your Mac.

Getting started

Download Jeronimo from jeronimo.app/download, open the disk image, and drag Jeronimo to Applications. Open it from Applications. Jeronimo lives in the menu bar, at the top right of your screen, and has no Dock icon.

The first time it opens, a setup window walks you through the permissions it needs, one screen at a time. Each screen says what will happen when you click Continue. You can run setup again at any time from Settings, General, Show Setup Again.

Your first dictation

Place your cursor where you want text, in any app. Press and hold the Fn key, say something, and release. Your words appear where your cursor is. A small pill near the bottom of the screen shows that Jeronimo is listening, and a sound marks the start and the end. You can choose a different key in Settings, Hotkey.

The three permissions

Jeronimo asks your Mac for three permissions. macOS names two of them in ways that can mislead, so here is what each one is for.

Microphone

Jeronimo needs to hear you. It listens only while you press and hold the dictation key, and your voice is turned into text on this Mac. When setup asks, your Mac shows “Jeronimo would like to access the microphone.” Click OK.

Noticing the Fn key

Your Mac calls this permission Input Monitoring. It lets Jeronimo notice when you press and release the dictation key, even while you are working in another app. It does not see or record what you type. When setup asks, a System Settings window opens with a list of apps. Find Jeronimo in the list and turn its switch on. macOS applies this permission only to a freshly opened Jeronimo, so setup then offers Quit and Reopen. Click it, and setup continues where it left off.

Placing your words

Your Mac calls this permission Accessibility. It is not only for people who use assistive features; any app that types on your behalf needs it. It lets Jeronimo put your words where your cursor is. When setup asks, a System Settings window opens with a list of apps. Find Jeronimo and turn its switch on.

If Jeronimo is missing from a list

Open System Settings, Privacy & Security, and the list in question. If Jeronimo is not there, go back to Jeronimo’s Settings, Advanced, click Reset Permissions, then run setup again from Settings, General. If a permission is missing when Jeronimo opens, a Permissions window appears with a Grant button for each one.

Choosing a speech recognizer

In Settings, Speech, you choose what turns your voice into text. Parakeet is included with Jeronimo and never uses the network. It is built for English and other European languages, and Jeronimo has been tested in English. Apple Speech is the recognizer built into macOS, in US English. To use it, click Set Up Apple Speech, and macOS may contact Apple to check or download its recognizer. macOS does this, not Jeronimo, and nothing of yours is sent. Parakeet is the default and the right choice for most people.

Personal Dictionary

When Jeronimo keeps getting a name or a word wrong, add it in Settings, Speech. Click + under the Personal Dictionary table. Heard as is what Jeronimo hears instead; Write as is how the word should appear. Whenever a Heard as phrase is recognized, the Write as text appears. A phrase of two or more words is safer than a single ordinary word, which would be replaced every time you say it. Double-click an entry to change it.

Snippets

A snippet is a short phrase you say that makes saved text appear, such as your mailing address or a link you send often. Click + under the Snippets table in Settings, Speech. The cue is what you say; the text is what appears, with as many lines as you like. Turn on Only when spoken by itself for a cue that could come up in an ordinary sentence; it then expands only when it is everything you said.

History

Every dictation is saved on this Mac and shown in the Jeronimo window, where you can search it and copy it again. Nothing is saved when macOS reports a password field. History is kept for 30 days unless you choose otherwise in Settings, History, where Clear History removes it all. Dictation audio is never saved.

Meetings

Jeronimo can record a call and write a transcript of it, on your Mac, with no bot joining the call.

Nothing is recorded unless you start it, or you chose Always Record for that app. You start a recording by choosing Record Meeting from Jeronimo’s menu, with the shortcut you set in Settings, Hotkey, or from the notification Jeronimo can show when another app has been using your microphone for three seconds, which offers Record, Always Record, and Not Now. That notification is on by default; the switch is Offer to record when a call starts, in Settings, Meetings. An app you answered Always Record is recorded from then on without asking, and you can change that in Settings, Meetings.

The first time you record, Jeronimo asks “Record this meeting?” and explains what it records: what your Mac plays and what your microphone hears, as two separate streams. Getting consent from the people on the call and following the recording laws where you are is your responsibility, as you acknowledged in setup. Your Mac then asks once whether Jeronimo may record its audio.

While a recording runs, the pill shows a red indicator and a timer, and a click on it stops the recording. Copy Notice beside it puts a one-line notice on your clipboard for you to paste into the call’s chat; nothing is copied or sent unless you click.

After you stop, Jeronimo writes the transcript on this Mac, and a summary if Summarize meetings is on in Settings, Meetings. Both appear under Meetings in the Jeronimo window. Mark a meeting Don’t share there to keep it from any app you connect. The meeting’s audio stays on the Mac that recorded it, never syncs, and is deleted two hours after the transcript and summary are complete; if that work never finishes, it is deleted 24 hours after the meeting ended.

iCloud sync

Off until you turn it on, in Settings, iCloud. Dictionary and Settings syncs your dictionary, your snippets, and the settings that describe you between your Macs. History and Meetings syncs your saved dictations and your meetings, their transcripts and summaries. Everything goes to your own iCloud account, in its private database that only your devices can read. Audio never syncs.

Connecting Claude

Jeronimo can let Claude read your transcripts, on this Mac, so you can ask about a meeting or find something you dictated. In Settings, Privacy, turn on Let connected apps read your transcripts through Jeronimo, choose under Share whether Claude may read meetings, dictations, or both, then click Add to Claude. Claude asks before adding Jeronimo. Claude can read only while Jeronimo is running; with Jeronimo closed, every request is answered with one sentence asking you to open it. Anything you mark Don’t share in the Jeronimo window is never handed out. What Claude reads becomes part of your conversation with Claude, so connect it only where you are comfortable with that.

Updating

Jeronimo checks jeronimo.app every few hours for a newer version, if you allowed it in setup or in Settings, Updates. The request carries Jeronimo’s version number and nothing else. When a new version is found, Update Available appears in Jeronimo’s menu; click it to install. You can check at any time with Check for Updates in the menu, or download the newest version from jeronimo.app/download.

After updating Jeronimo, quit and reopen the apps you connected it to, such as Claude: a connected app keeps the helper it started until it is restarted. From 0.15.1 on, the old helper notices the update and answers every request by saying so. If a chat does not get Jeronimo’s tools back after you reopen the app, start a new chat.

Jeronimo is a beta. Each build stops dictating 30 days after it was made. From seven days before, a notice in Settings, General and in the menu says “This beta expires in so many days. Update to keep dictating.” After the date, dictation is off, and a window explains it with a Check for Updates button. Nothing is deleted: your dictionary, snippets, history, and settings are all still there, and updating turns dictation back on.

Uninstalling

In Settings, Advanced, click Uninstall Jeronimo. A sheet lists what will go: your saved dictations, meetings and their audio, dictionary, snippets, and Activity on this Mac; Jeronimo’s settings, the prepared speech recognizer, downloaded updates, and its other caches and crash reports; its permissions and Open at Login; and Jeronimo itself, moved to the Trash. Open the list of folders and files to see every path. Choose whether to remove synced data from this Mac only or from this Mac and iCloud; the iCloud choice asks once more, because it also empties your other Macs. Nothing happens until you click Uninstall, and it cannot be undone. The steps by hand are at jeronimo.app/uninstall.

Reporting a problem

Choose Report a Problem from the Help menu or from the menu bar icon. Jeronimo writes a report for you to read first, with no dictated text and no audio in it, and opens it as an email in your mail app. Nothing is sent until you send it.

Ask us

Write to help@jeronimo.app.