Desktop

The Sonera desktop app runs on Windows and provides free local transcription via Whisper AI.

Requirements

  • Windows 10 or later (64-bit)
  • 4 GB RAM minimum, 8 GB recommended
  • Microphone (built-in or external)
  • GPU with CUDA support (optional — improves transcription speed)

Keyboard Shortcuts

All hotkeys are configurable in Settings → Controls.

  • Dictation hotkey — Start / stop recording (default: F9)
  • AI edit hotkey — AI-edit selected text (default: F10)

Whisper Models

The desktop app ships with the Whisper base model by default. You can switch to larger models in Settings → Transcription:

  • tiny — Fastest, lowest accuracy
  • base — Good balance (default)
  • small — Better accuracy, slower
  • medium — High accuracy, requires more RAM

System Tray

Sonera runs in the system tray. Right-click the tray icon to access settings, view history, or quit the app. The icon color changes based on status.

Custom Vocabulary

Add technical terms, names, or abbreviations in Settings → Vocabulary. Sonera will prioritize these when transcribing, improving accuracy for domain-specific language.

AI Editing (Cloud)

Select text and press your AI edit hotkey, then speak your editing instruction (e.g., "make it formal", "translate to English"). You can also create fully custom prompt profiles for complete control over how the AI processes your text.