> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.augmental.tech/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Why Vox

Vox is a wearable microphone with configurable buttons. You wear it like a necklace,
under your shirt, and it stays there all day. Press a button, talk, and the words end
up somewhere useful: typed into whatever app you are in, or saved as a note for later.

## A microphone that is instantly available

Vox sits against your skin, so it hears you from a few inches away instead of a few
feet. It picks up quiet speech that a laptop mic would miss, and the noise around you
is much further away than your voice is, so it stays in the background.

In practice this means you can speak at a volume that people nearby will not really
catch.

You do still match the room a little, the way you would with anyone standing next to
you: a bit more voice in a loud cafe than in a quiet office. That part is automatic.
Most people are just surprised by how little Vox needs. See
[Getting the best accuracy](/using-vox/speaking-and-whispering).

## On Mac: dictation and shortcuts everywhere

On a Mac, Vox does what tools like Wispr Flow and Superwhisper do, out of the box. Put
your cursor in any text field, press a button or a keyboard shortcut, talk, and the text
appears where you were typing. Slack, email, a code comment, a form, anything.

You can also map each button to the shortcuts you use most, and fire them with a press.
There are voice commands too: hold a button and say "switch app" or "undo", and Vox
runs it rather than typing it out.

Vox can also present itself as a microphone to other apps, so if you already have a
dictation tool you like, it can record from Vox instead.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Map your buttons" icon="circle-dot" href="/using-vox/button-shortcuts">
    Assign a press or double press on the white, red, and grey buttons.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Use Vox with other apps" icon="waveform" href="/other-apps/virtual-mic">
    Select Vox as the input device anywhere on your Mac.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## On iPhone: capture without pulling your phone out

On iOS the value is different. The biggest one is notes: press a button and talk, and
the thought is saved, with your phone still in your pocket. You can dump an idea,
leave yourself a reminder, or think out loud about a problem while you are walking.

iOS also does dictation into any text field, through a Shortcut you trigger with the
Action Button. It works, with a couple of caveats worth knowing about up front. See
[Vox on Mac vs iPhone](/getting-started/macos-vs-ios).

## What a day looks like

You put Vox on in the morning and forget it is there.

On the commute you start brainstorming the presentation you have to give, out loud, but
without bothering anyone around you. A random thought about something unrelated
shows up, so you capture that too. You get to the office, sit down, and the notes are
already waiting for you. The rest of the day you dictate into Slack and email without
touching the keyboard for the long messages.

Ideas tend to arrive when you are walking, cooking, or between two meetings. By the
time you are back at a keyboard, most of them are gone.

## Where it fits well

* **Shared offices and open plan.** You can dictate without narrating your work to everyone around you.
* **Long messages and emails.** Talking is faster than typing, and Vox cleans the text up.
* **Moving around.** Notes work with your hands full and your phone away.
* **Anything repetitive on a Mac.** Shortcuts on a button you are already wearing.

## Where it fits less well

* **When someone is talking directly to you.** Vox does not yet distinguish your voice from a close-by speaker, so pause.
* **Whispering in noisy places.** It does work, but only somewhere quiet.

## Next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Set up on Mac" icon="laptop" href="/getting-started/setup-mac">
    The whole first-run setup, in about five minutes.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Set up on iPhone" icon="mobile" href="/getting-started/setup-iphone">
    Including the Shortcut that makes dictation work.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>
