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Troubleshooting
Quick fixes for the issues people hit most. Still stuck after these? Tell us what happened and we’ll help.
Double-tap starts, shows “Listening,” then closes without typing anything
The HUD pops for a moment and disappears, and nothing is inserted.
- 1
Adjust the double-tap speed (most common fix)
Open Blurt ▸ Preferences ▸ Activation ▸ Timing and widen the two sliders, see “Tuning the double-tap speed” below for what each one does. If your taps are a little slow, or you press each one a beat too long, Blurt reads them as separate presses and the HUD flashes on and off without typing. Raising the dials makes it match your natural rhythm.
- 2
Set the globe / Fn key to “Do Nothing”
Open System Settings ▸ Keyboard and set “Press 🌐 key to” → Do Nothing. Tell-tale sign: pressing the globe key pops up the emoji picker. When macOS owns the globe key it swallows the press, so Blurt never sees a clean double-tap.
- 3
Switch your trigger key to Right Command
Open Blurt ▸ Preferences ▸ Activation and choose Right Command (or Right Option). The Fn key can be unreliable for double-taps on some Macs; a modifier key is rock-solid and sidesteps the globe key entirely.
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If it says “Weekly limit reached” (Free plan)
That popup auto-closes after a few seconds and is not a bug: you’ve used your free weekly words. Upgrade to Premium for unlimited dictation, or wait for the weekly reset.
- 5
Quit & reopen Blurt
macOS occasionally pauses the key listener. Quitting and reopening Blurt re-arms it.
Nothing happens when I press the trigger key
- 1
Blurt needs both Accessibility and Input Monitoring permission. In System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security, make sure Blurt.app is listed and enabled under each. After granting, click “Re-check permissions”in the menu (or quit & reopen Blurt).
It records but nothing gets pasted
- 1
Put your cursor in a text field before you dictate. Inserting text requires Accessibility permission; if it’s missing, Blurt can hear you but can’t type. Re-check it in System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security ▸ Accessibility.
The text comes out raw: filler words, no punctuation cleanup
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AI cleanup is off by default. Turn it on in Preferences ▸ AI Cleanup and pick a mode (Email, Notes, Code, Raw). Cleanup strips filler, fixes capitalization, and adds punctuation.
Tuning the double-tap speed
Everyone taps at a slightly different rhythm. If the double-tap toggle isn’t catching, open Blurt ▸ Preferences ▸ Activation ▸ Timing and adjust these two dials until it matches yours.
Double-tap window
150–600 ms · default 300
How much time you have between the first and second tap. If your double-tap doesn’t register, increase this (try 450–500 ms) so slower taps still count. Lower it if accidental double-taps fire when you didn’t mean them.
Minimum hold to talk
80–500 ms · default 200
How long a press has to be held before Blurt treats it as push-to-talk instead of a tap. If each of your taps lingers and the HUD blinks on and off, increase this so your taps stay short enough to count as taps.
Quick rule of thumb
“Comes on and goes off” on a double-tap usually means your taps are a bit long or a bit slow for the defaults. Nudge both dials up a notch, test, and repeat. Prefer not to fiddle? Switch your trigger to Right Command in the same panel; a modifier key is more forgiving than Fn.
Still stuck?
Reinstalling the latest version fixes most oddities, and it takes about a minute.
Free plan available · Always the latest version