Support

Homelab Dictate, the iPhone app and keyboard.

Homelab Dictate turns your voice into text in any app. It sends the audio to a speech-to-text server that you run, and types the text at your cursor.

  • Updated: .
  • Covers version 1.0 of the iPhone app and its keyboard.
  • Free
  • No account
Email support Read the privacy policy

Start here

The app needs the address of a speech server and an access token for it. If you don't have one yet, tap Try the demo to see how dictation works with sample sentences. If the steps below don't get you going, email tanner@meshvault.ai.

Getting started

  1. Open the app. To look around first, tap Try the demo. The demo needs no server, no microphone and no network.

  2. Under Your server, enter the server address, for example https://stt.example.com:8798, and your access token. An address typed without a scheme is read as HTTPS.

  3. The app tests the server before it saves anything. It asks the server for /health, then sends a quarter second of silence to /dictate with your token. If either step fails, the app tells you why and saves nothing.

  4. Tap Start session. While the session is ready, tap the mic button under Dictate here, speak, and tap again. The text appears in the box.

The keyboard

  1. Open Settings, General, Keyboard, Keyboards.

  2. Tap Add New Keyboard and pick Homelab Dictate.

  3. Tap Homelab Dictate and turn on Allow Full Access. Full Access lets the keyboard and the app pass text to each other on this iPhone. The keyboard never sends anything over the network.

  4. In any app, hold the globe key and pick Homelab Dictate. Tap the mic, speak, and tap again.

The first tap opens the app to start the microphone. Swipe back with the arrow at the top left. Later taps work in place while the session is ready. You choose how long it stays ready under Keep session ready: 1, 5, 15, 30 or 60 minutes. End session turns the microphone off at once.

Your server

The app doesn't include a server, and we don't host one for you. You need a speech-to-text server that you run or that someone you trust runs for you. The app works with any server that answers these two requests:

  • GET /health. Returns any success response. No token is sent.
  • POST /dictate. The body is the raw recording (16 kHz mono WAV), sent with Authorization: Bearer and your token. The server answers with the transcript as plain text. It should answer 401 or 403 when the token is wrong.

iOS only allows plain http:// addresses on your local network. Anywhere else, use an https:// address with a valid certificate. If the server is on a private network, your iPhone has to be able to reach it, for example over a VPN.

Problems

  • "The server didn't accept your token." Check the token, then tap Change server or token. The person who runs the server can issue a new one.
  • "Can't reach that address." Check that the server is running and that your iPhone is on the right network or VPN. Test connection runs the same check again.
  • "iOS blocks plain http to that address." Use an https:// address.
  • Local network. If iOS asked for local network access and you said no, turn it on in Settings, Privacy & Security, Local Network.
  • The keyboard asks for Full Access. Follow step 3 under The keyboard.
  • "No speech was heard." Speak closer to the microphone and try again.

Contact

Email us with your iOS version, the app version and what you see on screen. We reply by email.

Email us

tanner@meshvault.ai, thefiredev-cloud, Orange County, California

See the Homelab Dictate privacy policy