Offline Speech to Text on iPhone with MurMur Fast Modes

Want to dictate where there is no connection? MurMur's Fast modes recognize speech on the phone. The whole app is not offline, though, so this guide separates what works offline from what does not.

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Which part works offline

Fast Chinese and Fast English recognize on the device. On the free plan, local recognition on iPhone shares the weekly character allowance with cloud dictation; the exact amount is whatever the app shows. Pro has no dictation character limit. Each recognizes one language: Fast Chinese for a Chinese sentence, Fast English for an English one. Once the local model is ready, the recognition step does not need a network.

What to prepare before going offline

The local model must be ready before offline use. Preparing it requires internet access, so do it on a stable connection and follow the app's prompts.

  1. Finish keyboard installation and permissions, covered in the iPhone setup guide.
  2. In MurMur's dictation settings, choose Fast Chinese or Fast English.
  3. Follow the prompt to prepare the local model and wait until the app shows it as ready.
  4. To check it yourself, turn on airplane mode and dictate one sentence in a Fast mode in your own note.

What still needs internet access

Smart mode's cloud recognition, smart cleanup and voice translation need internet access and send the audio or text required for the request. Signing in, checking your allowance and purchasing a subscription also need a connection. So it would be wrong to say MurMur never uploads anything. The accurate statement is that Fast-mode recognition happens on the device, while the other cloud features upload what they need.

Full Access does not mean offline

The keyboard's Full Access permission and microphone permission do not mean every mode is processed on the device. See the permissions page for what each is used for and the privacy policy for what cloud processing covers.

Limits when offline

Fast modes are not meant for a sentence that includes the other language. Mixing needs smart mode, which needs internet access. Password fields and some restricted fields do not allow third-party keyboards. Still check names, numbers and dates in the result.

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