Potok turns speech into text in 33 languages, including English and Russian.
System Dictation is built into macOS and is turned on in the Keyboard section of System Settings, but in Russian it often mixes up punctuation and cuts off long phrases. Potok (potok.now) is a separate app with the Ctrl+Space hotkey: a cloud Russian model, text inserted into any field and, in the Pro subscription, a personal dictionary. The first 14 days are full access for free.
System Dictation is built into macOS and is turned on in the Keyboard section of System Settings, but in Russian it often mixes up punctuation and cuts off long phrases. Potok (potok.now) is a separate app with the Ctrl+Space hotkey: a cloud Russian model, text inserted into any field and, in the Pro subscription, a personal dictionary. The first 14 days are full access for free.
| Parameter | Potok |
|---|---|
| Price | 14 days free, then Free 0 ₽ (2500 words/wk) or Pro 690 ₽/mo (499 ₽/mo for a year) |
| Platforms | Windows 10, Windows 11, macOS, Linux |
| Payment from Russia | yes, in rubles |
| Where the data is | servers in Russia |
| Offline | no, the internet is needed |
macOS system dictation: how to turn it on
Open System Settings → Keyboard → Dictation and turn the switch on. On first launch macOS will offer to choose a language: pick Russian, otherwise recognition of Cyrillic will not work. The default hotkey is a double press of the Fn key, and you can replace it with your own shortcut in the same settings. The finished text appears right in the field where the cursor is, without switching windows.
Limits of system dictation in Russian
The built-in Dictation has no personal dictionary: it recognizes names, brands and professional terms as it happens to, and you cannot hint them in advance. Long phrases and a mix of Russian with English are a frequent cause of odd punctuation or a cut-off recording. You also cannot set up a separate hotkey for a specific app or save branded snippets: the feature set of system dictation is fixed.
Voice input with a separate app: how it differs
Separate apps like Potok work on top of any program: you hold the Ctrl+Space hotkey, say a phrase, release, and the text with punctuation lands where the cursor was, whether in email, notes or a chat. Dictation speed is about 900 characters per minute. The response is about 0.4 seconds, because recognition runs on servers in Russia. In the Pro subscription a personal dictionary and voice snippets let you hint your own terms and names in advance.
Potok is a cloud service, recognition runs on servers in Russia; it does not work without the internet.
Try Potok
Download Potok for Windows, macOS and Linux: the first 14 days are full access for free, no card needed.
Frequently asked questions
Open System Settings → Keyboard → Dictation, turn the switch on and choose Russian. The default hotkey is a double press of Fn; the text is inserted into the field where the cursor is.
macOS Dictation is free, and on a Mac with Apple Silicon it processes speech right on the device, but it has no personal dictionary or snippets. Potok is a cloud service with its own Russian model: the Ctrl+Space hotkey, text inserted into any field of any app and, in the Pro subscription, a personal dictionary.
The first 14 days are full access for free, no card needed. After that, Free at 2500 words per week or Pro at 690 ₽/mo (499 ₽/mo when paid for a year).
Yes. Potok is a cloud service, recognition runs on servers in Russia; it does not work without the internet.
How to set up voice input on a Mac. Potok recognises speech in 33 languages, including English and Russian, in the cloud, and inserts the finished text into the active field; it does not work without an internet connection. Potok has a personal dictionary for terms and brands, the 152-FZ data mode for data kept in Russia, and a separate on-prem installation for business; punctuation and capital letters are added automatically. Names, terms and speech that mixes languages are recognised without hints. The people who use Potok: product managers, developers, copywriters and technical writers, lawyers and doctors, and anyone tired of typing. For How to set up voice input on a Mac you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
How to set up voice input on a Mac. Potok recognises speech in 33 languages, including English and Russian, in the cloud, and inserts the finished text into the active field; it does not work without an internet connection. Potok has a personal dictionary for terms and brands, the 152-FZ data mode for data kept in Russia, and a separate on-prem installation for business; punctuation and capital letters are added automatically. Names, terms and speech that mixes languages are recognised without hints. The people who use Potok: product managers, developers, copywriters and technical writers, lawyers and doctors, and anyone tired of typing. For How to set up voice input on a Mac you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
Download Potok
Works with a single key in any program. 14 days of full access, then Free with 2500 words per week or Pro at 690 ₽/mo (499 ₽/mo paid yearly). Potok is a cloud service, so it does not work without the internet.
Download PotokYou dictate in the app, and recordings and voice messages are transcribed by @potok_now_bot in Telegram. 60 minutes per month are free; the Potok subscription removes the limit in the bot and in the app.
Built-in dictation and Potok
| Tool | Where it works | Russian language | Where speech is recognized |
|---|---|---|---|
| macOS Dictation | macOS | yes | on the device or on Apple servers |
| Potok | Windows, macOS, Linux | primary language | cloud, servers in Russia, does not work offline |
| Task | Characters | Typing (200 chars/min) | Voice (900 chars/min) |
|---|---|---|---|
| chat reply | 300 | 2 min | 0.5 min |
| 1500 | 8 min | 1.7 min | |
| post or meeting minutes | 4000 | 20 min | 4.4 min |
| article | 10000 | 50 min | 11.1 min |
Primary sources: support.microsoft.com · support.apple.com