Open Sublayer and click Start Subtitles. Grant microphone and speech recognition permissions when prompted. The floating overlay appears on screen and transcribes whatever your selected input device hears.
Support
Sublayer Support
Help, troubleshooting, and contact information for Sublayer.
Sublayer requests microphone access for live captioning and speech recognition access for on-device transcription. Both are required for the app to work. Neither permission sends data off your Mac.
Email the App Store product page with your Mac model, macOS version, and a short description of what happened.
Common Questions
Where are my saved sessions?
Sessions are stored locally on your Mac in the app's UserDefaults container. They appear in the History panel inside the app. Nothing is uploaded anywhere.
How do I move the overlay?
Drag it anywhere on screen — Sublayer saves the position automatically. You can also choose Top, Center, or Bottom from the Position picker in the control panel, or use the Transcription menu.
How do I change the overlay text color?
Use the Text Color picker in the control panel, or open Settings (Cmd+,) and pick a color there. The change applies immediately to the live overlay.
How do I export a transcript?
Click Export in the control panel for the current live transcript. For saved sessions, open History, select a session, and use Save captions for TXT, SRT, WebVTT, or Markdown. The detail panel also includes Insights and Brief report export menus.
How do I create a Session Brief?
Open History, select a saved session, and turn on Brief. Sublayer shows key takeaways, likely action items, decisions, questions, dates, topics, and watchword hits. Use the Brief menu to copy or save the report as Markdown.
Can Sublayer transcribe system audio or other apps?
Sublayer transcribes your chosen microphone input. To capture audio from another app (like a video call), route it through a loopback device such as BlackHole and select that device as your input in macOS Sound settings.
Does the app require an account?
No. Sublayer is designed for local Mac use with no account or sign-in.
Where is my data stored?
App data — sessions, dictionary entries, and settings — is stored locally on your Mac unless you export it yourself.
How do I remove the app?
Quit the app, delete it from Applications. To also remove saved sessions and settings, open Terminal and run: defaults delete com.realbobcorbin.Sublayer