Get to know gotoprompter better

Your key arrives by email right after checkout. Open gotoprompter → Settings → License, paste the key and click Activate. The plan badge changes to Pro or Lifetime and the script limit disappears. Activation needs an internet connection once; afterwards the app checks the key about once a day and tolerates two weeks offline.

Each key works on three Macs at a time. On a Mac you no longer use, open Settings → License → Deactivate this Mac. If that Mac is gone, email us the email address you used at checkout and the last four characters of the key and we'll free a slot.

Install the app on the new Mac and activate with the same key. If you've hit the three-Mac limit, deactivate the old one first (Settings → License → Deactivate this Mac) or ask us to release it.

Yes. Mac: pick it in Settings → Audio (or the menu bar) and watch the level meter move. Web: choose it under Microphone Source in Settings; voice scrolling itself uses the browser's default input, so set that in your OS. Bluetooth headsets work but add latency; a wired or USB-receiver mic is better for distance.

Some capture-card and virtual-display setups treat the hidden window as not drawable. Turn off Hidden from screen sharing and recordings, move the window to that display again, and check Screen & System Audio Recording permission in System Settings → Privacy & Security. With the setting off, the script will be visible in shares and recordings — test before going live.

The web app is entirely free. The Mac app is free with up to 3 custom scripts (unlimited words and sessions) plus a demo script. Pro (yearly) and Lifetime (one-time) remove the script limit. The voice engine is the same in every tier.

It's on by default: Settings → Overlay → Hidden from screen sharing and recordings. The window stays visible to you and is excluded from capture by macOS. Do a quick test with your meeting or recording app before an important session, and turn the setting off temporarily if you're sending us a screen recording of a problem.

Copy the text and start from the clipboard (Mac) or paste it (web). The web app can also import a Google Doc directly: click Google Docs Sync, paste the link, and make sure the document is shared as "Anyone with the link — Viewer".

For a PDF, open it in Preview, select all, copy, and paste. Scanned PDFs need text recognition first.

Checkout and billing are run by our merchant of record, Dodo Payments. The receipt is emailed at purchase, and invoices (with your tax details) are available from the billing portal — request a portal link on the License & billing page.

Go to License & billing, enter the email you used at checkout and we'll resend every key on it. Also check your spam folder for the original email from Dodo Payments.

1. Make sure Voice scrolling is selected and you pressed the microphone.
2. Mac: allow Microphone and Speech Recognition in System Settings → Privacy & Security, and make sure the language's dictation model is available (System Settings → Keyboard → Dictation).
3. Web: use Chrome, Edge or Safari and allow the microphone when asked. Firefox has no speech recognition.
4. Check the recognition language matches what you're reading.
5. If you scrolled by hand, click the word you want to read from — the active word may be far from where you're looking.

Still stuck? Turn on Show recognized words (Mac) to see what the app hears, and email us a short recording.

No. Scripts and audio stay on your device; there is no account and nothing is uploaded. The Mac app contacts our server only to validate your license and check for updates, and the web app only when you import a Google Doc you chose. We can't access your Mac or your scripts, so when you email for help please include the details we ask for.

Yes — 14 days, no questions asked, for Pro and Lifetime. Email support@gotoprompter.app from the address you used at checkout. See the refund policy.

Voice scrolling can only follow words it recognises, so start with what the microphone hears: get closer, cut background noise, and use a wired or receiver-connected mic for distance. Strong accents and fast speech take the recogniser slightly longer. Lowering the Lookahead setting (web) makes it react to fewer words at a time; raising it tolerates skipped words better. The scroll-speed slider only affects Sound and Constant modes.

Mac: copy your script from anywhere (Notes, Google Docs, Word, email), click the menu-bar icon and choose Start from clipboard. The prompter opens with the script loaded and, by default, listening.

Web app: open /app/, paste into the text box and press Start Teleprompter, then tap the microphone.

Scripts are plain text. Use CAPITALS or emoji for emphasis, and put cues in square brackets — [pause], [smile] — which are shown but never read. Rich text (bold, italics, colours, mixed sizes) is not supported because it makes smooth scrolling unreliable.

Quit the app from the menu bar, then drag it from Applications to the Trash. To remove your scripts and settings too, delete ~/Library/Application Support/gotoprompter and ~/Library/Preferences/app.gotoprompter.mac.plist. Deactivate your license first if you plan to use the key elsewhere.

The app checks for updates once a day and offers to install with one click (it uses the Sparkle framework; updates are signed and verified). You can check manually from the menu bar → Check for Updates…. Pro includes updates while subscribed; Lifetime includes all updates.

iPad home-screen app: Apple blocks speech recognition inside installed web apps on iPad. Open the site in Safari instead. Firefox: it doesn't ship the Web Speech API; use Chrome, Edge or Safari, or switch to Sound or Constant scrolling.

Yes, after you've opened it once. Install it as an app (Share → Add to Home Screen on iPhone/iPad, the install icon in Chrome/Edge on desktop) and it launches without a connection. Whether speech recognition works offline depends on the browser: Safari and recent Chrome versions process speech on-device for most languages.