Does voice transcription require internet?

No. Off Grid uses whisper.cpp running entirely on-device. No audio is sent anywhere, ever.

Which Whisper model should I use?

Start with Whisper Base - it's the best balance of speed and accuracy for most uses. Whisper Tiny is faster but less accurate. Whisper Small is more accurate but slower.

What languages does Whisper support?

Whisper supports 99 languages. It detects the language automatically.

Voice Input - On-Device Speech-to-Text with Whisper

Off Grid uses whisper.cpp (via whisper.rn) to transcribe your voice directly on your device. You hold the button, speak, and your words appear as text in the chat input - ready to send or edit.

No audio is ever sent to a server. The model runs in your phone’s memory.

Setup

Whisper models are downloaded automatically on first use. You don’t need to do anything manually - tap the microphone button and Off Grid will prompt you to download a model if one isn’t installed.

You can also select your preferred Whisper model in Settings → Voice Input.

Whisper model comparison

Model	Size	Speed	Accuracy	Best for
Whisper Tiny	~75MB	Fastest	Good	Quick dictation, fast devices
Whisper Base	~145MB	Fast	Very good	Best starting point
Whisper Small	~465MB	Slower	Excellent	Accents, technical terms, multilingual

Recommended: Whisper Base for most users. It transcribes in near-real-time on any modern phone with very high accuracy.

How to use it

Open a chat in Off Grid
Tap and hold the microphone button
Speak - you’ll see the waveform
Release to transcribe

The transcription appears in the message input field. You can edit it before sending, or send immediately.

Slide to cancel - while holding, slide left to discard the recording without transcribing.

Partial transcription

Off Grid streams transcription results in real time as you speak. You’ll see words appearing as the model processes your audio - you don’t have to wait until you stop speaking.

Language support

Whisper detects your language automatically. It supports 99 languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, Hindi, and many more.

If you’re consistently speaking a language other than English and accuracy is low, try Whisper Small - it has stronger multilingual performance.

Privacy

Audio is buffered temporarily in native code and cleared immediately after transcription
No audio data is written to disk
No audio is sent to any server
The Whisper model runs locally via whisper.cpp