Is Grux always listening?

No. Listening is off until you turn it on, and a fresh install says OFF. You choose Always on, After "Hey Grux", or Off.

Does Grux send my voice to the cloud?

Ambient listening transcribes on your Mac with Whisper and the audio stays there. The wake word uses Apple's speech recognition, which can send short audio to Apple, and Grux says so before you enable it.

Is there a Siri alternative for Mac that runs locally?

Grux OS can run on a local model through Ollama and transcribes on device, so a spoken request can be handled without a cloud model.

Is there an open source alternative to Siri on a Mac?

Grux OS is an open source (MIT) alternative to Siri for people who want a voice agent they can read and change. It has one Listening control with three settings: Always on, After "Hey Grux", or Off. A fresh install says OFF, and Grux asks for your consent before it opens the microphone. Ambient listening transcribes on your Mac with Whisper, so the audio does not leave it. The wake word uses Apple's speech recognition, which can send short audio to Apple, and Grux tells you that before you turn it on. A command you say outright is decided on your Mac in about a millisecond, and a spoken command reaches execution in about 1.5 seconds. Unlike Siri, it can act on your mail, calendar, files and a shell it can undo, and it runs on a local model or your own key.

Grux OS 3.0.0 · last checked 2026-09-30 · generated from the shipping release

How listening works

Setting	What it does
Off	The default on a fresh install. The microphone stays closed.
After "Hey Grux"	Waits for the wake word. Uses Apple's speech recognition, which can send short audio to Apple.
Always on	Listens and transcribes on your Mac with Whisper. The audio does not leave it.

The orb, the menu bar and the HUD all show the same state word: ARMED, MUTED, SPEAKING, THINKING or OFF, and NOT HEARING when the microphone is open but sending no sound. Turning listening on asks once. Turning it off never asks.

Built not to overhear

A phrase only counts as a command when it covers at least half of what was said, so "we should mute the group chat" in conversation does not mute anything.
Background listening never takes the microphone from another app that is recording, such as a call or a screen capture.
Muted and idle, Grux uses about one percent of a CPU core.

Where Siri is the better choice

It is built into macOS, so there is nothing to install or set up.
It reaches parts of the system that a third-party app cannot.
It works the same way on your iPhone, iPad and Watch.

Where to check this

Claim	Source
A fresh install ships Listening OFF, and Grux asks consent before it opens the mic	MicConsent.swift
Ambient listening transcribes on your Mac with Whisper, audio does not leave it	MicConsent.swift
Wake word uses Apple's speech recognition, which can send short audio to Apple	MicConsent.swift
A command said outright is decided on your Mac in about a millisecond	CHANGELOG, 3.0.0 decision table
A spoken command reaches execution in about 1.5 seconds	Release notes, 3.0.0

Questions

Is Grux always listening?: No. Listening is off until you turn it on, and a fresh install says OFF. You choose Always on, After "Hey Grux", or Off.
Does Grux send my voice to the cloud?: Ambient listening transcribes on your Mac with Whisper and the audio stays there. The wake word uses Apple's speech recognition, which can send short audio to Apple, and Grux says so before you enable it.
Is there a Siri alternative for Mac that runs locally?: Grux OS can run on a local model through Ollama and transcribes on device, so a spoken request can be handled without a cloud model.

Download Grux 3.0.0 Read the source

Free, MIT licensed. macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon. 23.7 MB, signed and notarized by Apple. No account, no server, no subscription.