Download
Menu

Product

Live TranslationTranslated captions for meetings, videos, and calls. FeaturesCaptions, translation, meetings, notes, sharing, and accessibility tools. PricingFree, Pro, Team Packs, and education pricing. TeamsTeam Packs for global calls and shared activations.

Use Cases

Use CasesCaptions, translation, and private transcripts for real work. Zoom Captions on MacCaption Zoom without host settings or meeting bots. Hearing AccessibilityPrivate captions for Mac audio, calls, and lectures. Legal TranscriptionLocal-first captions and transcripts for legal work. Research InterviewsFollow interviews and keep local transcripts.

Resources

GuideSet up captions, translation, audio modes, and exports. BlogGuides for live captions, translation, and private transcription. Best Live Caption AppsCompare private and cloud caption tools. Release NotesSee what changed recently. AboutLearn who makes NotchLive and why it exists.

Kōkako

Our first purpose-built voice engine, designed to make microphone captions, translations, Voice Notes and Meeting Intelligence clearer and more responsive.

Download NotchLive

NotchLive grew. We built the engine it deserved.

Thousands of people now use NotchLive to follow conversations, understand other languages and remember what matters. They deserve a voice engine built for the product they rely on.

A clearer path from speech to text.

Kōkako prepares microphone audio before WhisperKit turns it into words. Each part of the system has one clear job.

Kōkako supports macOS 14 and later. Live translation requires macOS 15 or later. Meeting Intelligence requires macOS 26 with Apple Intelligence enabled on an eligible Mac. Translation and Meeting Intelligence are separate from Kōkako.

A controlled baseline against Legacy.

Under identical speaker-playback conditions, Kōkako stopped competing audio before it created sustained WhisperKit work, while Legacy continued recognition. The lower CPU and memory figures below show work avoided in this scenario.

Built for the way you actually use your Mac.

From quiet calls and playing audio to switching headphones mid-meeting, Kōkako keeps NotchLive responsive through everyday use.

Your voice stays on your Mac.

Kōkako and WhisperKit run on your Mac. NotchLive never includes microphone audio, captions, transcripts, translations, notes or meeting content in diagnostics. Optional anonymous diagnostics only tell us whether setup and the microphone engine are working, and you can turn them off under Settings, then General.

Questions about the Kōkako voice engine.

What is the Kōkako voice engine?

Kōkako is the microphone engine behind NotchLive. It cleans up microphone audio, catches softer speech, keeps playback out of your captions and recovers when devices change before WhisperKit turns speech into text on your Mac.

Does Kōkako replace Whisper?

No. Kōkako prepares and segments microphone speech. WhisperKit still performs on-device speech recognition and turns that speech into captions.

Does Kōkako work with AirPods and external microphones?

Yes. Kōkako works with AirPods, wired and USB microphones, and your Mac’s built-in mic. Switching devices can take a moment while macOS reconnects the audio.

Can I switch back to the Legacy microphone engine?

Yes. Legacy remains under Settings, then Audio. During active microphone captions, use Stop to Change; selecting the other engine restarts captions automatically. If Kōkako cannot start, NotchLive can also retry with Legacy for that session without changing your saved preference.

Which macOS versions support Kōkako?

Kōkako supports macOS 14 and later. Live translation requires macOS 15 or later. Meeting Intelligence requires macOS 26 and Apple Intelligence on an eligible Mac.

What do the sensitivity settings change?

Quiet Speech listens for softer speech and admits more room sound. Balanced is the default. Noisy Room requires a stronger voice signal. Sensitivity changes live-caption speech detection, not the audio samples sent to WhisperKit, and does not affect Voice Notes.

Does Kōkako send my voice to the cloud?

No. Kōkako processing and WhisperKit recognition run on your Mac. NotchLive does not send microphone audio or caption content to a cloud transcription service.