Hansel support
Free dictation on your Mac. Apple Silicon · macOS 15 or later.
Free at launch
Hansel is published by OddBold LLC, trading as Odd Community. All local Hansel features are free without an account or membership, including dictation, encrypted history, Your Words and voice shortcuts. There are no membership quantity limits on custom words or shortcuts. Valid shortcut-trigger rules still apply. Optional device sync, cloud storage backup and premium AI models are planned future services and are not available yet. Checkout is not available.
Current release
Download Hansel 1.0.37 for Apple Silicon Macs from the official download. Intel Macs, Windows, Linux, iPhone and iPad are not supported by this release.
Install and set up
Open the downloaded DMG and drag Hansel to Applications. Open Hansel from Applications. Microphone access enables dictation; accessibility access enables global shortcuts and text insertion. Manage permissions in System Settings → Privacy & Security.
The first speech model download needs an internet connection. Once the model is downloaded, speech recognition runs on your Mac.
Coming from an earlier Hansel build?
The signing team has changed. Builds signed by the previous team, including 1.0.31, need a one-time reinstall. Stop any recording or transcription, then try quitting Hansel normally. The old 1.0.31 build can close its windows while its process remains running; if Hansel is still running, use Activity Monitor to quit the remaining Hansel process before replacing the app. Download the new DMG and replace Hansel in Applications. Keep your Hansel application data and Keychain keys.
If Finder reports that items were skipped while replacing Hansel, quit Hansel, move only Hansel.app from Applications to the Trash and approve the Mac administrator prompt. Then copy Hansel.app from the downloaded disk image into Applications and reopen it. Keep Hansel’s Application Support data and Keychain keys; do not empty the Trash as part of this recovery.
After this signing-team replacement, macOS may ask the new Hansel app to access an existing Hansel Keychain key. If you denied that request and local history is unavailable, quit and reopen Hansel, then allow access to the existing Hansel key when macOS asks. Do not delete your profile, reset your keys or remove saved data. If access still fails, contact support.
Future releases signed by the new team use Check for Updates in the Hansel menu. Finish recording and transcription before restarting for an update.
Export or remove local history
Open Settings → Export History to save readable JSON with transcripts, recording metadata, corrections and vocabulary. Audio and account records are not included. Keep that export private.
Settings → Delete History… asks for confirmation and removes local history, custom vocabulary, app-owned audio and internal recovery backups. Finish recording and transcription first. This does not cancel billing, delete your account or remove your exports and operating-system backups.
Existing membership and billing help
The Existing billing control in your signed-in profile menu requests your account’s billing portal. If you have no billing account, it does not open, or you need help with a cancellation or refund request, email support. Refer to your checkout confirmation and Stripe receipt for your plan. Do not send card details or account tokens.
Signing out, removing Hansel.app or deleting local history does not cancel a subscription. Account deletion is a separate request and may affect other apps sharing your Odd account.
Get help
Include your Hansel version, macOS version, Mac chip and the step that failed. Avoid sending private recordings or transcripts, passwords, login links, tokens or encryption keys.
Replacing Hansel.app does not delete its local data. Signing out does not delete your account.