Pillo

Changelog

What's new in Pillo.

v1.4.6
June 9, 2026

Teach Pillo the names it can't be expected to know — and a much smaller download.

Added

  • Vocabulary — teach Pillo your names. Just type the word Pillo should get right (a name, place, dish, brand, or bit of jargon) plus an optional "sounds like" hint, and Pillo recognises it in your dictation even when it's heard a little differently. Works across all of Pillo's languages, fully on-device.
  • Names already on your screen get fixed automatically. Pillo reads the names visible in the app you're dictating into — the person you're emailing, the project, the people in a chat — and corrects them in your transcript on the spot. It stays cautious (only close matches, never overrides ordinary words), so it helps without getting in the way.

Changed

  • One simple Vocabulary list. The old separate "My Dictionary" and "Learned from Apps" correction lists are merged into a single Vocabulary list — your existing entries carry over automatically, nothing to redo. Suggestions add a name to your Vocabulary in one tap.
  • Smaller download — about 40% smaller (~22.6 MB → ~13.2 MB). Pillo now ships as an Apple-Silicon-only build (it already required an M-series Mac), with no change in functionality. The on-device speech and AI models download separately on first use, as before.
v1.4.5
June 7, 2026

A fast-follow fix so AI output stays in the language you dictate.

Fixed

  • AI styles no longer translate everything to English. The lighter model introduced in 1.4.4 had a strong English bias and was rewriting German (and other non-English) dictation into English. Pillo now pins the output language — and reinforces it in that language — on every rewrite, so German stays German, French stays French, and so on.
  • The Language setting is back (Settings → General). Auto-Detect matches whatever you dictate; pick a specific language to force the AI's output into it. Your speech is always transcribed automatically regardless — this only controls the language the AI writes its result in.

Changed

  • Pill style shortcuts are renumbered ⌘1–⌘9, starting with ⌘1 = None, so they flow with the number row left-to-right. ⌘0 now passes through to the app you're dictating into.
v1.4.4
June 4, 2026

A lighter, faster on-device model and a rebuilt AI Styles experience.

Highlights

  • Lighter, faster AI model — the on-device rewriting model is now about half the size (~2.3 GB instead of ~4.5 GB), so it uses less RAM, keeps your Mac cooler, and responds faster on short dictations. The first AI style you use after updating triggers a one-time replacement that reclaims ~2.2 GB of disk.
  • Reworked AI Styles — built-in and custom styles now live in one unified, drag-to-reorder list. Hide and re-add built-ins, give each style its own SF Symbol icon and color, and write custom prompts up to 2000 characters (was 400). All five built-in styles were rewritten for cleaner, more reliable results.
  • Hold ⌘ to switch styles mid-recording — press ⌘1–⌘9 to change the active style on the fly, or ⌘0 for none.

Improvements

  • The recording pill is 22% narrower, and its menu button hints when to hold ⌘.
  • Learning now focuses on names and unfamiliar words (people, places, brands, jargon) instead of risky everyday-word edits — fully on-device.

Removed

  • Selection-to-Reformat — Pillo is now voice-dictation only; the double-tap hotkey always starts a recording.
  • Settings → Personal Info and the Language picker — your name is handled automatically and each dictation's language is detected automatically.

Fixed

  • German umlauts no longer turn into mojibake when pasting AI-styled email into Messages, Notes, and some browsers.
  • Onboarding buttons are now clickable across their whole shape, not just the icon or label.
v1.4.1
May 20, 2026

Fixed

  • iPhone via Continuity Camera mic works again after the v1.4 update — an over-broad guard was incorrectly skipping the iPhone wake on the double-tap path. Other mics were unaffected.
v1.4.0
May 19, 2026

A trust-first learning system and the iPhone as a first-class microphone.

Highlights

  • Learning system rebuilt around trust — no correction is applied unless you accept it. Observed edits go into a candidate store, and a new Pending Suggestions inbox surfaces ready candidates to Add, skip, or never show again.
  • iPhone is now a first-class microphone via Continuity Camera — in clamshell mode with no other mic, Pillo automatically uses your nearby iPhone, with a clear “Connecting to iPhone…” pill state.
  • Edit past transcripts directly in the History view; edits feed the learning system under the same trust-first rules.
  • New dedicated Learning tab — Pending Suggestions, My Dictionary, Learned from Apps, and Stats.

Changed

  • Minimum macOS lowered from Tahoe 26 to Sequoia 15.
  • Phonetic correction re-enabled, now scoped to English transcripts only.

Fixed

  • Check for Updates now works on the first click.
  • Recording-pill placement persists across recordings, restarts, and display changes.
  • Filler-word removal no longer mangles grammatical uses of “like” and “you know”.
  • The Screen Recording permission prompt no longer fires in a loop.
  • The double-tap hotkey is reliable with iPhone (wireless) and Bluetooth cold-start.
v1.3.2
April 27, 2026

Improvements

  • New “Report a Bug” button in the main window — opens your mail client pre-filled with a diagnostic block and recent log tail, so you just describe what happened and send.
  • Tighter pill spacing when an AI Style is active, with smooth width animations across states.

Fixed

  • Intent correction no longer fires when the AI Style is “None”, which previously mangled text with no cleanup pass afterward.