Permissions

Murmur requests four system permissions. Two are required for core functionality; two are optional and can be skipped or revoked at any time.

Microphone — required

Why Murmur needs it: To capture your voice for transcription. Nothing works without microphone access.

macOS shows a standard permission dialog the first time Murmur tries to record. Click Allow. If you accidentally denied it:

1. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Microphone.
2. Find Murmur in the list and toggle it on.

Input Monitoring — required for global hotkeys

Why Murmur needs it: To detect your dictation hotkey while any other app is in focus. Without Input Monitoring, the hotkey only works when the Murmur window is frontmost, which defeats the purpose of system-wide dictation.

Unlike Microphone, this permission cannot be granted via a dialog. You must enable it manually:

1. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Input Monitoring.
2. Click the + button if Murmur is not already in the list, then browse to Applications and select Murmur.
3. Toggle Murmur on.
4. Murmur may need to restart for the change to take effect.

Accessibility — optional, enables auto-paste

Why Murmur needs it: To automatically insert transcribed text at your cursor position. This is the most convenient way to use Murmur — you speak, and the text appears exactly where your cursor is, without you doing anything else.

Without this permission: Murmur copies the transcription to your clipboard instead. You then paste it manually with Cmd + V. Everything still works; it just requires one extra step.

To grant Accessibility access:

1. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility.
2. Click + if Murmur is not in the list, then browse to Applications and select Murmur.
3. Toggle Murmur on.

Screen Recording — optional, enables context-aware AI

Why Murmur needs it: To read your active window title. This is used exclusively by the AI refinement feature to understand what you are working on — for example, distinguishing a code editor from an email client — so the AI can apply appropriate corrections and formatting.

Murmur does not capture screenshots or record your screen. It reads only the window title text.

Without this permission: AI refinement works in a generic mode without app-specific context. All other Murmur features are completely unaffected.

To grant Screen Recording access:

1. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Screen Recording.
2. Click + if Murmur is not in the list, then browse to Applications and select Murmur.
3. Toggle Murmur on.

If Murmur does not appear in a permissions list

Sometimes an app does not appear in the System Settings list until it has tried to use that permission at least once. If you do not see Murmur:

1. Click the + button at the bottom of the list.
2. In the file browser that appears, navigate to your Applications folder.
3. Select Murmur.app and click Open.

Murmur will now appear in the list and you can toggle it on.

Privacy

Murmur processes audio entirely on your device. None of the permissions described above result in data being sent to any server, unless you have explicitly configured a cloud-based transcription engine (OpenAI API) or AI refinement provider. For full details, see the Murmur Privacy Policy.