Troubleshooting

Quick answers for the most common first-run friction. If something here doesn’t cover your case, see Getting help.

Dictation records but doesn’t type anything

This is almost always a missing Accessibility grant — dictation needs it to insert recognized text into the app you’re focused in (see Desktop app: Accessibility).

Open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility.
Find OpenASR Desktop in the list and turn it on. If it isn’t listed, click + and add it from /Applications.
Switch back to OpenASR Desktop — it re-checks automatically within a couple of seconds, no restart required.

If the toggle is already on but dictation still doesn’t insert text, turn it off and back on once (macOS occasionally needs the toggle re-flipped after an app update changes its signature).

The microphone doesn’t seem to be capturing anything

Open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Microphone and confirm OpenASR Desktop is listed and enabled.
If it’s missing entirely, quit and reopen the app — the first mic-based action (dictation or live captions) re-triggers the permission request.
Check the correct input device is selected if you use an external mic — macOS’s system input device is what the app captures from.

System audio captions aren’t starting

System audio capture is a separate permission from the microphone, requested the first time you click “Start system audio captions,” and requires macOS 14.2 or later. Check System Settings > Privacy & Security for a system audio / screen-recording entry for OpenASR Desktop, and that your macOS version is new enough (About This Mac).

How big is the first model download, and how long does it take?

The default model OpenASR pulls on first use is roughly 1 GB at its recommended quantization (exact size varies slightly by model and quantization — see Models or openasr show <model> for the exact figure). On a typical broadband connection that’s a few minutes; on a slow connection it can take longer. Make sure you have a few GB of free disk space if you plan to try more than one model, since each installed pack is kept on disk until you remove it. Downloads are verified .oasr packs, never partial or unverified.

The app won’t open

OpenASR Desktop is signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple, so Gatekeeper should accept it without any extra steps for anyone who downloaded it from the official download page or the GitHub Releases page. A “can’t be opened” or “unidentified developer” prompt is rare for a notarized app; if you do see one:

Confirm the DMG came from dl.openasr.org or GitHub, not a mirror or a copy someone sent you — a re-signed or corrupted copy won’t verify.
Re-download the DMG and try again; a partial download can trip Gatekeeper.
As a last resort, right-click (or Control-click) the app in /Applications and choose Open, which prompts once for an explicit override.

If the app opens but crashes immediately, please file an issue with your macOS version and Mac chip (Apple Silicon is required today).

How do I completely uninstall OpenASR Desktop?

Quit the app.
Delete /Applications/OpenASR Desktop.app.
Optional — delete ~/.openasr/ to remove your config, installed models, and Hugging Face token as well. This is a clean-slate step, not required for a normal uninstall.
Optional — if you ever enabled “launch at login,” remove the OpenASR entry from System Settings > General > Login Items.

See the Desktop app guide for the full walkthrough.

Still stuck?

For the desktop app, file feedback on the Roadmap with what you tried, your macOS version, and Mac chip — that’s the fastest way to get help or report a bug.

If you’re hitting an issue in the CLI or open core instead (not the desktop app), open an issue on GitHub Issues.