Yap for RSI and carpal tunnel
When typing hurts, say it instead.
Emails, messages, documents and prompts: Yap types what you say into the app you are in, with punctuation, on your Mac, Windows PC or phone. A couple of key presses for a whole paragraph, and your voice stays on your device.
Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android. $6.90 USD a month or $69 USD a year. 3 days free with a free account, no card, then a 10-day trial with a card.
Fewer keystrokes
A thousand words, without typing them.
At the rates measured in a phone study, a thousand words take about 6.5 minutes to say and about 19 minutes to type. Dictation removes those keystrokes instead of moving them to another device. We found no controlled trial of dictation for RSI, so treat it as one way to rest your hands, next to the care your doctor recommends; the NHS says to see a GP if symptoms get worse or do not go away.
After carpal tunnel surgery, Kaiser Permanente advises avoiding repeated hand movements such as typing for up to two weeks. Dictation keeps email and work moving in that time. More in our guide to dictation for RSI and carpal tunnel.
Hold to talk, or lock it on.
Hold Fn on a Mac or Ctrl + Win on Windows for a sentence, or press Space while holding to talk hands-free for up to 5 minutes.
Pair it with voice control.
Yap types; it does not click. For the mouse, Voice Control on a Mac shows a numbered grid you click by number, and Voice Access on Windows does the same, both free.
Private.
Speech is recognized on your device and never uploaded. Read our privacy policy.
Look after your voice too
Spread the work out.
- Your voice tires as well. A study of voice quality after dictation found signs of early voice fatigue; rest your voice when it is hoarse or tired, and mix speaking with some typing.
- Take short breaks often. The UK Health and Safety Executive suggests 5 to 10 minutes every hour rather than one long break.
- Writing code? Yap types prompts into Claude Code, Cursor and your terminal; see private voice coding.
Questions.
- Can dictation help with RSI or carpal tunnel?
- It takes keystrokes off your hands: speaking a thousand words takes minutes where typing them takes much longer. We found no controlled trial of dictation in people with RSI or carpal tunnel syndrome, so use it alongside medical care and breaks, not as a treatment.
- Do I have to hold a key the whole time?
- No. Hold Fn on a Mac or Ctrl + Win on Windows for a short message, or press Space while holding to keep recording hands-free, then finish with one tap: a whole paragraph takes a couple of key presses.
- Can Yap control the mouse or edit by voice?
- No. Yap turns speech into text. For clicking and scrolling by voice, use Voice Control on a Mac or Voice Access on Windows 11, both built in and free, alongside it.
- Can I use it after carpal tunnel surgery?
- Yes. It needs no hand movement beyond a couple of key presses, which helps in the weeks when your surgeon asks you to avoid typing. Follow your surgeon's instructions on what your hand may do.
- Does it work offline and keep my words private?
- Yes. Speech is recognized on your own computer or phone, so the audio is never uploaded, and after the one-time model download it works without internet for up to 24 hours between access checks.
Want to try without installing anything? Free online dictation runs in your browser.
From the library
Speech to Text for Accessibility, RSI and Disabilities
Dictation moves writing from the hands to the voice, so it can take most keyboard work off people with RSI, carpal tunnel syndrome, arthritis or a motor disability, and it lets people with dyslexia, dysgraphia or ADHD write at the speed they think. It is a tool rather than a treatment: it works best alongside medical care and good ergonomics, with the accommodations the law provides at school and work, and with recognition that handles the way you actually speak.