Local-first macOS 26+

v2s: Live bilingual subtitles, private by design.

v2s turns microphone or app audio into a clean two-line subtitle bar for meetings, calls, streams, and videos. Hear the original language, read the translation, and stay on the window you already use.

Download for macOS Quick start View source

Private by design

No account, analytics, or v2s cloud backend. Translation is on-device; speech stays local whenever the selected language supports it.

Menu bar first

Always one click away. Start, stop, and tune languages without leaving your meeting or player fullscreen.

Pick your audio

Capture your microphone or audio from a specific running app — not the whole system mix.

Features

Built for real-time conversations, not post-production.

Everything you need to follow live speech in another language, without juggling browser tabs or heavyweight caption apps.

Live overlay

Translated line on top, original speech below — both visible so you can switch context instantly.

Per-app capture

Route Zoom, Teams, browsers, or players as the input source while the rest of your desktop stays quiet.

Apple SpeechAnalyzer

On-device transcription tuned for the languages Apple supports on your Mac.

Apple Translation

On-device translation with language packs managed through System Settings when needed.

AI summaries

Apple Intelligence can summarize your transcript when you need a quick recap after a long call.

Readable styling

Adjust overlay appearance so subtitles stay legible on top of slides, code, or dark video.

How it works

Three steps from download to subtitles.

  1. Install
  2. Configure Choose mic or app audio, set input and subtitle languages, grant permissions once.
  3. Start Click Start in the menu bar — subtitles appear at the top of your screen in real time.
v2s settings and menu bar interface
Menu bar controls and language settings

Input and subtitle languages

Language choices matched to your Mac.

v2s asks Apple's Speech and Translation frameworks what your current Mac supports. Available choices vary by macOS version, hardware, and installed or downloadable Apple language models.

Common speech-input examples:

  • Cantonese
  • Chinese (Simplified)
  • Chinese (Traditional)
  • English
  • French
  • German
  • Italian
  • Japanese
  • Korean
  • Portuguese
  • Spanish

Additional subtitle-output examples:

  • Arabic
  • Dutch
  • Hindi
  • Indonesian
  • Russian
  • Thai
  • Turkish
  • Ukrainian
  • Vietnamese

The app shows the exact choices available on your Mac and validates each translation pair before starting. Read the full README →

Privacy

Local-first, with transparent fallbacks.

  • No account, cloud backend, analytics, or telemetry
  • v2s never sends audio or subtitle text to its own servers
  • Translation is on-device; speech uses Apple's service only for languages with no local model
  • Permissions requested only for speech, mic, or app audio capture

Quick start

From download to first subtitle in minutes.

1

Download

open https://github.com/franklioxygen/v2s/releases/latest
2

Install

3

Build from source

Requires Xcode and macOS 26+ for speech and translation APIs.

git clone https://github.com/franklioxygen/v2s.git
cd v2s
open v2s.xcodeproj

Ready to follow every word?

Free, open source, and built for macOS. Download v2s and keep your conversations accessible.

Download latest Star on GitHub