Voice Assistant for PC and Mac That Does the Work

Talking to a computer used to mean learning its commands. Here is what Windows and Mac offer for voice today, and what it is like when you can just say what you want.

There are good reasons to want to use a computer by voice. Your hands are busy. You are across the room. You are tired of three menus for one setting. Or typing is simply slower for you than talking.

Windows and Mac both have voice tools built in. They are worth knowing, and they are built for a different job than most people expect.

Voice tools that come with Windows

Voice access (Windows 11)

Voice access lets you control the PC with spoken commands: open an app, click a button by its name, scroll, dictate text. Turn it on in Settings › Accessibility › Speech. It works by naming what is on the screen, so you say the steps one at a time, much as you would click them.

Windows 10

On Windows 10, dictation is under Win + H, which types what you say into the box you are in. It is handy for writing, not for doing jobs.

Voice tools that come with a Mac

Voice Control

Voice Control lets you work the Mac by voice: open apps, click items by their names or numbers, dictate and edit text. Turn it on in System Settings › Accessibility › Voice Control (on older versions, System Preferences › Accessibility). Like Voice access, you say the steps.

Siri

Siri handles quick requests and questions: open an app, set a timer, add a reminder. It is quick for one thing at a time.

Saying the steps versus saying the result

The built-in tools are made so that anyone can operate the computer without a mouse or keyboard, which they do well. But you still have to know the steps. To make the text bigger you say "open Settings", then "click Display", then "click Scale", and so on.

Most of the time you would rather say the result: "make the text bigger". That is what Key does. You say what you want, in your own words, and it works out the steps and does them in the real apps.

KeyVoice

Turn the brightness down and switch to dark mode

opened Settingsset brightness to 40%turned on dark mode

Done. Brightness is at 40% and dark mode is on.

Checked: read both settings back

Key answers out loud too, in a normal sentence, and gets on with the job while you carry on. It reads the result back before it reports it, and if it could not check, it tells you.

Things people say to it

"Find my March bill."
"Put this photo on the Desktop."
"Empty my Downloads into folders."
"Mute everything."
"What's eating my battery?"
"Join my 4 o'clock meeting."

Half a sentence is enough. If two things match what you said, it asks which one you meant instead of guessing.

Tips for talking to your computer

Check the microphone first. On Windows, open Settings › System › Sound and speak: the input bar should move. On a Mac, the same bar is in System Settings › Sound › Input. A headset or a laptop's own microphone at arm's length both work well.
Say the result, not the clicks. "Make the text bigger" works better than a list of steps, because the steps are different on every version of Windows and macOS.
Name the thing you mean. "The March bill" or "the photo from yesterday" is easier to find than "that file".
One job at a time to start with. Once you have seen how it reports back, longer requests are easy to trust.
Watch the panel the first few times. It shows each step as it happens, so you learn quickly what it can do.

When talking is not the easy way

Somewhere quiet, or with a long request, typing is easier. The microphone and the chat box in Key are the same assistant and give the same result, so you can switch whenever you like.

The four rules on every job

It never deletes for good. What it removes goes to the Recycle Bin or the Trash.
It stops before paying. It fills a checkout in and waits for your yes.
It never types a password. A login screen is yours.
It never says done blindly. A failure comes back as a failure.

While it works it shows a small panel at the top of the screen, so you can see what it is doing and stop it at any point.

What it runs on

Windows 10 and 11, and any Mac with macOS 11 Big Sur or newer, Intel or Apple Silicon. Key is free to download, with no card and no trial. To get going, download it below, sign in when it asks, and say something small, like "turn the brightness down". There is also a guide to changing settings by voice, with the menu paths if you want to do it by hand.

A voice assistant for your PC: say what you want, and it gets done