Snaply - Free and Private AI app for your Mac
Hey r/macapps!
After 7 months of work, 900+ downloads, and thousands of messages from early users, (some of which are member of this community), I am finally launching Snaply on this subreddit.
I am Giacomo, the developer behind Snaply. With this post, I hope to give you a good idea of what the app can do for you and perhaps spark your interest in trying it out.
The core idea of the app is:
A completely free and private AI app, that helps you take full advantage of your Macbook M chip.
The app has 3 main features:
Writing assistant: You select any text on your Mac, a small window appears, and you transform the selected text in one click. (It works across all apps)
Writing assistant polishing an email
My main use case for the writing assistant is polishing emails and messages.
Other users utilize it for translations, prompt refinement and much more.
Since you can create your own custom modes and shortcuts, the only limits to this feature is your own imagination.
Meeting notes: You start a meeting recording, the app takes care of the rest.
The app will transcribe your meeting, generate a summary with action items and you'll be able to chat with the meeting notes.
You can choose from various meeting notes templates, or create your own, to customize the AI-generated summary to suit your needs.
You can chat with the meeting transcript to extract specific information and work on follow up tasks such as generating tickets or drafting follow up emails directly in the app.
AI Dictation: You know how it works ;) Press a shortcut to start a dictation, press it again for the transcription to appear. It works on all apps across your Macbook.
IMO, what's cool in Snaply implementations is that:
- It uses Parakeet models optimized of ANE (Apple Neural Engine) making transcription incredibly fast and with little to no impact on battery.
- We also apply text post-processing, including formatting dates, temperatures, and numbers, without using LLMs for performance reasons.
- It automatically formats emails (using a tiny SLM that runs only when an email text is detects).
It support all common needs like, auto-pausing background music, custom dictionary words and text snippets, and it supports 26 languages (English + all major European languages)
Following the guidelines I am adding a PCP section:
The problem:
When I began working on Snaply, the AI dictation apps that were available had these problems:
- Dictations apps had a free tiers, but they gated their best models behind a paid subscription.
- Some of the apps also force you to share your dictations with them.
- Furthermore, many of the existing tools felt overly complex. They were aimed at a highly technical audience with granular settings, knobs, and customization options, whereas what I wanted was a simple and intuitive app for the everyday consumer..
On top of the AI dictation apps limitations, I also wanted a faster way to polish my emails and messages. My usual workflow was to write a message, copy it into ChatGPT, ask it to improve it, and then paste it back into Gmail. With Snaply, I can now do everything in place, it's much faster, and it's private.
The Comparison:
Since Snaply bundles three applications into one, and there are numerous alternatives. I will focus on a subset of them and highlight where Snaply excels.
WisprFlow/AquaVoice/Super Whisper: Snaply is free and private. It does not access your audios or transcriptions.
VoiceInk: Snaply is free, and in my opinion, it feels a bit more user friendly. Plus, of course, it also includes meeting notes and a writing assistant.
Spokenly: Snaply is completely free and requires no subscription. If you are searching for a dictation app and do not require the writing assistant or meeting notes feature, Spokenly could be a good alternative. In terms of UI/UX, Spokenly appears to target a "geeky" or professional user base rather than a general consumer audience.
Granola: Snaply is free and keeps your meetings private. With Snaply, you get unlimited meeting history and no account is required to use the app. Additionally, you also receive AI dictation and a writing assistant.
The Pricing:
Snaply is completely free for individuals (also for work usage). All features are available without usage restrictions.
In case you’re wondering how a free app can remain sustainable, Snaply also offers a paid tier designed for organizations.
This premium plan includes services such as a dedicated customer support manager, Single Sign-On integration, centralized admin dashboards, and the ability to connect Snaply to self-hosted AI models. However, in terms of core features, it provides the same access as the free version.
In conclusion:
If you made it until the end, and you interested in checking out the app, you can download at: https://snaply.ai/
It is free and no account is needed.
Transparency disclaimer:
I am Giacomo Venier, an Italian software engineer based in Switzerland.
The app is notarized by Apple through a paid Apple Developer Account.
Linkedin: https://x.com/giacomovenier
GitHub: https://github.com/VenierGiacomo
X: https://www.linkedin.com/in/giacomovenier/