Neuron Flame began as a fork of VoiceInk and has diverged substantially: a full design-system rebuild, the Liquid-Glass Dynamic-Island recorder, an extended migration chain so existing VoiceInk users keep their data, and a long list of UI polish, accessibility, and performance changes. Same GPL-3 licence, same open spirit.
Free · Open source · GPL-3.0 · 100% on-device by default
| Neuron Flame | Alternative | |
|---|---|---|
| Recorder UI | Dynamic-Island top-of-screen pill with breathing halo | Bottom-of-screen mini pill |
| Liquid Glass (macOS 26) | Yes — across dashboard, recorder, sidebar | No |
| Default model | Parakeet V2 (English, fastest on ANE) | Whisper variants |
| Sidebar layout | Status pills + utility actions inline | Standard list |
| Theme | Stitch-inspired light + dark, custom palette | Default |
| Migration from VoiceInk | Auto-migrates ~/Library/Application Support data | N/A (you'd be moving to it) |
| Dashboard | Speed-of-thought thesis cards, personal records | Standard metrics |
VoiceInk is a great open-source project and we've tried to be respectful with the fork — the original GPL-3 copyright is preserved in LICENSE. The reasons for forking come down to design direction:
Neuron Flame includes a migration chain that detects an existing VoiceInk install (or any of the intermediate folder names from this app's history) and brings your transcriptions, custom dictionary, and prompts forward to the new location. Install Neuron Flame, run it once — your data is there.
If you'd rather keep VoiceInk, no harm done. Both apps can coexist on the same Mac (just keep one as your hotkey-bound default).
Open source, GPL-3, free. The fork is on GitHub if you want to inspect every change.
Download Neuron FlameYes. Neuron Flame's migration chain detects the legacy folder at ~/Library/Application Support/com.prakashjoshipax.VoiceInk/ and forward-migrates the SwiftData store + custom dictionary + prompts to the new com.neuronflame.app/ location.
Forks on GitHub get a different name partly because we want to own the design direction without claiming to be the original. Neuron Flame is named after the developer's daughter (her Sanskrit name, स्वर — svara — means 'tone' or 'note').
PRs welcome on the fork (github.com/barney-cmyk/svara). For substantial features, please open an issue first to align on direction. Contributions to the upstream VoiceInk project are also welcome there.