Preferences

Freeway offers a variety of settings to customize your voice-to-text experience. Access preferences from the menu bar icon → Preferences, or use the keyboard shortcut.

Shortcut

Configure the hotkey that activates Freeway.

Toggle Freeway for Recording

The default hotkey is Right Option ⌥.

You can change this to any key combination you prefer:

Single modifier keys (Option, Command, Control, Shift)
Key combinations (e.g., ⌘ + Shift + A)
Fn key
Caps Lock

To change the hotkey:

Click on the hotkey field
Press your desired key combination
The new hotkey is saved automatically

Recording

Control how Freeway handles the recording and transcription process.

Start Transcribing After Silence

When enabled, transcription begins automatically after Freeway detects a period of silence. This is useful for hands-free operation.

Toggle: Enable/disable automatic start
Silence duration: 0.3s to 2.5s (adjust how long to wait after silence before starting)

Stop After Silence

When enabled, recording stops automatically when you stop speaking. No need to press the hotkey again.

Toggle: Enable/disable automatic stop
Silence duration: 0.3s to 2.5s (adjust how long to wait after silence before stopping)

Output

Control how Freeway handles the transcribed text.

Auto-paste Text

When enabled, Freeway automatically pastes the transcribed text into the active app where your cursor is positioned.

Enabled (default): Text is pasted automatically after transcription
Disabled: Text is only copied to clipboard; you paste manually with ⌘V

Restore Clipboard After Recording Stops

When enabled, Freeway restores your previous clipboard contents after pasting the transcription. This means your clipboard won’t be “polluted” with transcribed text.

Use case: You have a URL copied to your clipboard. You dictate a message and Freeway pastes it. Your clipboard still has the URL ready to paste elsewhere.

Feedback

Customize the audio feedback during recording.

Play Sound Effects

When enabled, Freeway plays audio cues when recording starts and stops.

Recording start: A subtle sound indicates Freeway is listening
Recording stop: A confirmation sound when transcription is complete

App Data Location

Choose where Freeway stores its data.

What’s Stored There?

Freeway stores the following in your app data folder:

Plugins — Your installed plugins and their settings
Pipelines — Your configured shell pipelines
Replacements — Your custom text replacement rules
History — Recording history and temporary files

Default Location

~/Library/Application Support/Freeway

Changing the Location

Click Change to select a different folder. This is useful if you want to:

Sync across devices: Store in Dropbox, iCloud Drive, or Google Drive to share plugins and settings between Macs
Keep data separate: Store on an external drive or different partition
Backup easily: Store in a location that’s already part of your backup routine

After changing the location, Freeway will use the new folder for all data. Existing data is not automatically moved — you’ll need to copy it manually if needed.

Quick Access

Click Open Folder to quickly access your Freeway data in Finder.

Use Invite Code

Redeem an invite code shared by a friend.

If someone shared an invite code with you, you can redeem it here. Click Use Invite Code, enter the code, and enjoy the benefits!

Reset Settings

Start fresh with default settings.

Click Reset Settings to restore all preferences to their default values.

Bonus: The Onboarding Experience

After resetting and restarting Freeway, you’ll see the beautiful onboarding wizard again — like meeting an old friend for the first time!

It’s a great way to rediscover features you might have forgotten about.