One hand, and Franz took dictation.

One hand, and Franz took dictation.

Two weeks ago I told you I'd be typing with one hand for a few days. The shoulder is fixed and I'm pretty much recovered. The left arm isn't there yet, so the few days turned into the whole fortnight.

I didn't want to sit it out. Support mail and customer conversations kept coming, and typing the answers with one hand sucked. So I held the dictation key in Franz instead, a lot more than before. I'd used it from time to time since August, and the hurdle was never the feature. It was talking to your computer when you're not in a call. Hold right Alt, say the reply, let go, and the words land in the mail or the chat you were in. Two weeks later it's how I write most things in Franz, and I'm quite sure that won't change once the arm is back. I still wouldn't use it at the coffee shop though.

Then I hit the edge of it. Dictation lives inside Franz, and half my day doesn't. Notion, the browser, some admin panel. Every time I left Franz I was back to one hand. The folks in my office space hear me mumble into my computer all day long now. They've stopped asking.

Two security stories from October.

Two things happened last month that had nothing to do with Franz and turned into Franz work anyway.

First, eMudhra, a company that issues the certificates your browser uses to check a website is who it says it is. Eight of its signing keys turned out to be tiny numbers, one of them was 4. Chrome, Firefox and Safari blocked them within days. Apps that carry their own browser inside, and that's a ton of desktop apps, don't get that fix on their own. Franz got it on October 24, in 6.10.2. If you use other apps built the same way, check that they've had an update since.

Then Telegram. A researcher published a one-click account takeover for Telegram Desktop: a crafted link, one unescaped character in the channel the app uses to talk to itself, and it could upload files off your disk. Fixed in 7.2.9, so update it if you haven't. Franz talks to itself in a similar way, every desktop app does, so I ran a large security review of the Franz code base against that pattern. The Telegram hole isn't in Franz. The review found a few smaller things around links and email reaching the app, and the fixes shipped with 6.10.0.

Sweeps like this have happened from time to time. From now on they run more often, and a security release goes to the front of the queue, ahead of whatever feature I'm excited about that week.

On the workbench.

The next Franz brings dictation to every app on your Mac. You switch on "Dictate in other apps" in Settings, allow Accessibility once, and hold your dictation key, right Alt unless you've recorded another one. Franz pastes your words where you were typing, in Notion, in Chrome, in Terminal if you like, and puts your clipboard back the way it was. Password fields are always skipped, and the recognition stays on your Mac, same as today's dictation. It comes with the download from meetfranz.com, the App Store version keeps dictating inside Franz only. It's running on my own machine right now, which is where the mumbling comes from. I'm not giving you a date with one arm in a sling.

Also in that release: the magic bar finds your chats by meaning. Three words that are roughly what you remember are enough, even when the exact wording is gone.

How dictation works in Franz today

Confirmed.

iMessage shipped. 6.10.0 went out the same morning as the last dispatch, and 6.10.1 added read syncing on macOS 27, so a chat you read in Franz is read on your iPhone too.

The spooky thing was Franz in a pumpkin costume on October 31, icon and loading screen. If you missed it, same time next year.

Vote by return cable.

Two weeks of mumbling made me curious.

Dictation, voice notes, any of it. One tap, and the bureau counts the votes.

The cable is always open. Reply to any dispatch, about anything, and you are writing straight to me.

– Stefan, founder of Franz