Dictation is not typing anything
In almost every case Walkie heard you correctly and had nowhere to put the text. On macOS the cause is the Accessibility permission: open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility and switch Walkie on. Check the Transcribe section first — if your words are listed there, transcription worked and only the typing step failed, which narrows the problem to permissions or cursor focus.
First: find out which half is broken
Open the Transcribe section in Walkie and look at the most recent entry.
| What you see | What it means | Go to |
|---|---|---|
| Your words are listed correctly | Transcription worked. Only the typing step failed. | Step 1 and 2 below |
| The entry is empty or missing | Walkie did not hear you, or transcription failed. | Step 3 and 4 below |
1. Grant Accessibility permission (macOS)
This is the cause the overwhelming majority of the time. Walkie types into other apps by sending keystrokes, and macOS will not allow that without the Accessibility permission — but it fails silently rather than showing an error.
- Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility.
- Find Walkie in the list and switch it on.If Walkie is not in the list at all, click +, and add it from your Applications folder.
- If it was already on, switch it off and on again.An app update can leave a stale permission entry that looks correct but no longer applies. Toggling it re-registers the app.
- Quit Walkie completely and reopen it.
2. Check where your cursor is
Walkie types at the cursor. If nothing has focus, or focus is on a read-only element, the text has nowhere to go.
- Click directly into the text field before you start dictating
- Make sure the target app is the frontmost window
- Some apps refuse synthesised keystrokes in password fields by design
3. Check the microphone
- Hold the dictation shortcut and watch the overlay.A live waveform means Walkie is hearing you. A flat line means it is not.
- If flat, confirm microphone permission is granted to Walkie in your system settings.
- Check the input device in Settings → Transcription.Walkie may be listening to a disconnected headset rather than your built-in microphone.
4. Check the transcription mode
If the waveform moves but no text is produced, the failure is in transcription itself.
| Mode | Check |
|---|---|
| Cloud Mode | Are you online? Have you used your 2,000 free words this week? Walkie should fall back to on-device, but only if a model is downloaded. |
| On-Device Mode | Has a speech model finished downloading? Open Settings → Transcription and confirm one is installed and selected. |
5. Restart, then reinstall
If everything above checks out, quit Walkie fully — from the tray or menu bar, not just closing the window — and reopen it. If that does not help, reinstall over the top of the existing install. Your settings, dictionary, and history are kept.
Still stuck
Turn on debug mode and send the log with your report — it makes the difference between a guess and a diagnosis.
Then use Support inside the app, or the support form on the site. Reports go to the person who wrote the code.
Frequently asked questions about dictation is not typing anything
It worked yesterday and stopped after an update. Why?
Almost always a stale Accessibility permission on macOS. The entry survives the update but stops being honoured. Toggle Walkie off and on in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility.
Text appears in some apps but not others.
Some applications reject synthesised keystrokes, particularly in password fields and certain security-hardened apps. Dictate into a normal field and copy from there.
My transcription is empty but the waveform moved.
The audio was captured but transcription produced nothing. In On-Device Mode, confirm a model has finished downloading. In Cloud Mode, check your connection and your weekly word allowance.
Dictation is slow to start.
The first dictation after a break is the slowest, because the connection has to be established. Later ones are faster. If every dictation is slow, try On-Device Mode to rule out the network.