Fact · Dictation in your apps
By default, a browser may choose whether speech recognition runs on the device or on a remote service, because processLocally is false unless a page sets it to true.
Checked against its source on October 17, 2026
In the source's own words
“If set to false (the default), the user agent can choose whether to do the processing locally or remotely.”
SpeechRecognition: processLocally property, MDN Web Docs (Mozilla), 2026, Value section.
Open the original- What it measures
- MDN describes the processLocally property of the SpeechRecognition interface. A website sets it to true to require on-device recognition.
- What it does not show
- The default leaves the choice to the browser, so a user cannot tell from the page which path was taken.