Troubleshooting

Solutions for common problems.

Microphone Not Detected / No Audio

Symptoms: AsPeach shows a dead mic warning, or the waveform doesn't move during recording.

Check permissions:
- macOS: Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone. Make sure AsPeach is listed and toggled ON.
- Windows: Go to Settings → Privacy → Microphone. Make sure AsPeach has access.
Select the correct mic: Open AsPeach Settings and check the Microphone dropdown. Make sure the right device is selected. Try switching to a different mic.
Test your mic: Click the Test Mic button in Settings. Speak or clap. If the waveform doesn't react, the issue is with the mic itself or the system permissions.
External mic? Make sure it's plugged in before you launch AsPeach. If you plugged it in after, restart AsPeach.
Restart AsPeach after granting any permissions.

Symptoms: AsPeach transcribes successfully (you see the text), but nothing appears in your target app.

macOS — Check Accessibility permission: Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility. Make sure AsPeach is listed and toggled ON.
- If AsPeach was recently updated, you may need to remove it from the list and re-add it. Click the minus (−) button to remove, then click plus (+) to add it again.
Windows — Clipboard access: AsPeach uses the clipboard to paste text. Make sure no other app is blocking clipboard access.
Some apps don't support auto-paste: Certain apps with special text fields (some web-based editors, protected banking sites, etc.) block external input. In those cases:
- Turn Auto-Paste OFF in Settings.
- Use the Preview Panel — AsPeach shows you the text, and you copy/paste manually with Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V (or ⌘C / ⌘V).
Is your cursor in a text field? Make sure you clicked inside an editable text area before recording. AsPeach pastes text wherever your cursor is — if the cursor isn't in a text field, nothing visible will happen.

Symptoms: Words are wrong, sentences don't make sense, names are mangled.

Use a larger Whisper model. This is the #1 fix. Go to Settings and switch from Base to Medium or Large-v3. Bigger models are significantly more accurate, especially with accented speech, technical terms, or noisy environments.
Check your microphone quality. Use the Test Mic button. If the waveform barely moves, your mic volume is too low. If it's spiking to the edges, you're too loud (audio clipping).
Reduce background noise. Close windows, turn off fans, move away from noise sources. A headset or lapel mic gives much better results than a laptop's built-in mic.
Speak clearly at a normal pace. Don't rush, don't mumble.
Add dictionary entries for words Whisper consistently gets wrong. See Dictionary & Snippets.
Set your language explicitly. If auto-detect is struggling (especially with less common languages), turn off Auto-Detect Language in Settings and set your primary language manually.

Symptoms: Computer gets slow during transcription, fans spin up, transcription takes a long time.

Use a smaller Whisper model. Medium and Large models use significantly more CPU. Try Small or Base for faster processing.
Intel Mac users: The Large model can be extremely slow on Intel Macs. Stick with Small or Medium.
Close other CPU-intensive apps during transcription — video editing, games, other AI tools.
Slow AI transforms? If transforms (formal, summarize, etc.) are slow, check your LLM model. A smaller Ollama model (like llama3.2 3B) is faster than a larger one (like llama3.1 8B). Or switch to a cloud provider (OpenAI/Anthropic) for faster processing at the cost of privacy.

Symptoms: Pressing the shortcut does nothing. AsPeach doesn't start recording.

Check for conflicts. Another app may have claimed the same shortcut. Try setting a different shortcut in AsPeach Settings.
macOS — Check Accessibility permission. The global shortcut requires Accessibility access. Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility and make sure AsPeach is enabled.
Restart AsPeach. Sometimes the shortcut registration needs a fresh start.
Re-record the shortcut. Go to Settings → Keyboard Shortcut → click Record Shortcut and press your desired key combination again.

Symptoms: You say "make it formal" or "peach summarize" but nothing happens — the raw text is pasted without transformation.

Is an LLM set up? Transforms require an AI model. Go to Settings and check the LLM section. Make sure a provider is selected and the status dot is green.
Is Ollama running? If using Ollama, make sure the Ollama app is running (look for the llama icon in your menu bar or system tray). If it's not running, transforms have no AI to talk to.
Check the status indicator. A green dot = connected. Red dot = not connected. If red:
- Ollama: Start the Ollama app. Make sure you've downloaded a model (ollama pull llama3.2).
- OpenAI/Anthropic: Verify your API key is correct and has credits/quota.
Is Command Mode enabled? Make sure Command Mode is toggled ON in Settings → General if you want to use peach prefix commands.

Symptoms: A notification says you've reached your transcription limit.

You're on the free tier and have used all your daily transcriptions (25 per day or 500 words per 5-hour rolling window). You have two options:

Wait — The notification shows a countdown for when the limit resets.
Upgrade to Pro — Get unlimited transcriptions. Click the upgrade link in the notification or go to the pricing page.

macOS "damaged and can't be opened" error: Open Terminal (Applications → Utilities → Terminal) and type:
xattr -cr /Applications/AsPeach.app
Press Enter. Then try opening AsPeach again.
Try reinstalling: Delete AsPeach from Applications, download the latest version from our website, and install again.
Check system requirements: Make sure you're running macOS 12+ or Windows 10+ (64-bit). See Installation & Setup.
Check for updates: You may be running an outdated version with a known bug. Download the latest from our website.

Symptoms: AsPeach says an update is available but it doesn't install, or "Check for Updates" finds nothing when you know there's a new version.

Manual download: Go to our website and download the latest version directly.
Install over existing: Install the new version in the same location. Your settings, dictionary, snippets, and history are preserved — they're stored separately from the app.

Email: support@aspeach.com
In-App Feedback: Open the Feedback tab inside AsPeach. You can report bugs or request features directly. Your device info is automatically included to help us diagnose issues faster.
Website: aspeach.com