Private voice typing on Windows
Windows has voice typing built in. Press Win+H and it listens. Microsoft says it "uses online speech recognition, which is powered by Azure Speech services" (Microsoft Support), so your voice is processed in Microsoft's cloud. Many third-party dictation apps also transcribe on their own servers.
If what you dictate is private, like client work, health notes, or messages you would not forward, that is a real cost. Impulse removes it by doing the speech recognition on your own computer.
How it stays private
- The model runs locally. Impulse uses NVIDIA's Parakeet speech model by default and OpenAI's Whisper as a backup. Both run on your CPU or GPU. Whisper here is the open model running on your machine, not OpenAI's paid service.
- No account. There is no login and no profile on anyone's server.
- No audio leaves the PC. The only recording is a temporary file on your own disk, and the next recording overwrites it.
Check it, don't trust it
Two easy ways to check:
- Turn off Wi-Fi and dictate. It still works.
- Run any firewall or network monitor while you talk. Your audio and text never go out.
The app does go online for a licence check about once a day, for anonymous usage counts only if you opt in, and for optional extras like contact import only when you turn them on. The privacy policy lists every connection it makes, and none of them include audio or text.
Whisper dictation on Windows, without the setup
Running Whisper yourself means Python, model downloads, GPU drivers, and a script that types for you. Impulse packages that into a normal Windows installer. It picks a model that suits your hardware, adds punctuation, strips filler words, and types into whatever app you are in.
Other on-device options
Windows 11 also has Voice access, which recognizes speech on the device and works offline. Offline dictation for Windows compares it with Windows voice typing and Impulse. If you are coming from a cloud app, see Impulse as a Wispr Flow alternative.
Price
$29 once, every update included, with a full refund if it does not run on your machine.