For work
Commercial license
Personal, student, and evaluation use is free under GPLv3. A named license is $60 per Mac per year, five Macs minimum. Email the organization and Mac count. A key goes out the same day.
Price
Apple Speech is the default for one speaker. Either way downloads Whisper Small once if the room talks both languages of the pair.
- Named license — $60 / Mac / year. Five Macs minimum. Air-gapped key. Licensed to the organization.
- Written SLA — +$90 / Mac / year. Security reply in 7 days, plus a weekday window if Listen breaks.
- MDM / Jamf pkg — $1,500 once. App, key, seat list, and caption policy. IT signs the pkg.
What you are buying
GPLv3 still lets a firm run the free zip. A commercial license is the paper IT can file: a named organization, an offline activation key, and a person who answers when something breaks.
- A named organization license and an air-gapped activation key.
- The same security mailbox, with an optional written SLA.
- A Licensed to {org} line in the app so procurement can see the Mac is covered.
What IT usually asks
- How does this monetize? Named license $60 per Mac per year, five Macs minimum. Written SLA +$90 per Mac per year. MDM pkg $1,500 once. Transcripts, voiceprints, and training data are not part of the sale.
- Does voice leave this Mac? No, by default. Speech and translation run on the device. Voice stays on the Mac unless someone turns on a cloud speech model. Theater doesn’t send anything home. No account, no telemetry.
- Who fixes a break? Security reports get a reply within 7 days. A paid license can add a written SLA.
How a key works
- Personal and evaluation: the GPLv3 zip. Theater Listen stays unlocked.
- Work: a named organization license if IT or legal need a vendor, a signed license on the Mac, or an SLA.
- Activation is an offline signed key. It doesn’t call home.
Paste the key in the app → Settings → General. Listen does not lock. The key only replaces the work notice with Licensed to your organization.
Install
macOS 15 or later. Theater streaming needs Apple Silicon. The zip is notarized.
Homebrew
brew tap chrisswimlee/connectingcaptions
brew trust chrisswimlee/connectingcaptions
brew install --cask connectingcaptions
Buy a license
Email suyoung.lee99@gmail.com with the organization and how many Macs. Use these prices. A key goes out the same day. Custom overlay, glossary, or fleet work is Engage, not this license.