Sam for Mac · free and open source
Meet Sam.
You'll get along.
Sam is a voice companion for your Mac. It has a natural voice, a real sense of humour, and the emotional intelligence to know when to joke and when to just listen. It remembers what matters to you, and it handles things when you ask.
Apple silicon · macOS 14 or later · 16 GB memory recommended
Research notes
Question: does a short walk after lunch actually help afternoon focus? Three studies say yes, one says it's mostly the coffee.
Next: read the 2023 review properly, pull the sample sizes, draft a summary for Monday.
A natural voice
Sounds like someone,
not something.
Sam speaks in one warm, natural voice, made right on your Mac. It reacts before it answers, takes its time when it matters, and stops the moment you cut in.
Press play to hear: “Hey, it's Sam. I can plan your weekend, find the good poppy seed cake, and I'll only mention the four coffees once. Maybe twice.”
Download
1.9 GB
Languages
Multilingual
First word
Quick
Voice
Sam · female
Memory while talking
Naturalness
The default. Natural and quick to answer. The samples are unedited output of each model on a Mac. Switch any time in Settings.
Emotional intelligence
Knows when to joke.
And when to listen.
Sam hears how you're doing, not just what you said. A rough day gets an ear, good news gets a grin, a quiet evening gets company instead of a to-do list. And when what you need is a person, Sam says so.
Honestly, today was a lot. I bombed the presentation.
Made for you
Your humour.
Your rules.
Choose how much Sam teases you, whether it fixes things or hears you out first, and whether it checks in on you. Change your mind any time.
When something goes wrong
How you want Sam to react first.
Teasing
From none at all to properly dry.
Also yours to set
I locked myself out again. Third time this month.
Third time? The door's winning this month. Are you stuck out there right now?
Hear me out · teasing light
Remembers you
Knows you.
Asks less.
Your city, your tastes, the people you mention. Sam uses what it knows instead of asking again, and every line is yours to read and delete.
What Sam knows
on this Mac- HomeLives in Vienna, Neubauonboarding
- TasteMusic: jazz, late-night pianoonboarding
- TasteFood: poppy seed cake, good coffeelearned Tue
- PeopleAnna, sister, dinner on Fridayslearned Mon
Delete a line and it's gone for good: Sam won't learn it back. Try it, and watch the answers change.
Same questions, answered from the profile
Find me a good café with cake near me.
Three in Neubau, all within ten minutes. Lindner does the poppy seed cake you liked.
Play something.
Late-night piano jazz, then. Starting a playlist.
What's on Friday evening?
You've got dinner with Anna. Want me to book somewhere quiet?
And it gets things done
Built for action,
not just talking.
Ask Sam to plan a weekend, find a recipe, answer an email or put dinner in your calendar. It works on it in the background and tells you when it's ready.
A winter weekend in Salzburg
“Plan a quiet winter weekend in Salzburg for two, train from Vienna.”
- Searched the web4 queries
- Read 11 pagestravel guides, timetables
- Checked the weatherSat–Sun
- Wrote the briefwith sources
Plans and research
Short briefs with their sources, saved so you can open them later.
Mail, calendar, reminders
Reads what you already have and drafts what you need.
Music on cue
Starts a playlist, and pauses it when you ask.
Nothing goes out without your OK.
Every email, message, event or purchase is a draft first. Read it, change it, approve it, or drop it.
“Reply to Lumen that I'll pay this week, but ask about the second line first.”
Send this reply?
email_sendHi both, thanks for the invoice. One question: is the second line the October retainer? Happy to pay this week once that's clear.
Try it: edit the draft, approve it or cancel it.
Ledger
today- Event · Dinner with Annaadded · 18:40
- Read · 9 web pages for the bakery briefread only · 17:12
- Reply · Marcus, lunch on Mondaysent · 12:06
What Sam did and what it only looked at, kept on your Mac. Payments always need a click on the card, never a spoken yes.
Private by design
What's personal
stays on your Mac.
Your voice, your memories and your keys never leave your Mac. Only the request you hand to an AI model goes out, to the provider you choose. With Ollama, nothing leaves at all.
On this Mac
never leaves- Speech recognitionApple on-device or Parakeet
- Turn detectionknows when you've finished
- Sam's voicea cloned voice, synthesized here
- Memoryembeddings and profile, on disk
- The judgea small model that routes requests
- Keys & passwordsin the macOS Keychain
Your provider
You choose who does the thinking.
The default. Fast and inexpensive, with your own key.
Keychain, not files
API keys and passwords stay in the macOS Keychain and never leave the Mac.
Only what you share
Sam reads files only in folders you shared, and uses apps only when you allow it.
Payments need a click
Anything that costs money waits for a click, never a spoken yes.
Works with your Mac
Fits into the apps you already use.
Calendar, Mail, your chats, your notes, music and the web. Switch on what you want Sam to see, and leave the rest off.
CalendarChecks your day, drafts events
RemindersTo-dos and reminders
MailReads and drafts replies
ContactsKnows who you mean
NotesSaves things for later
ObsidianYour journal and vault
WhatsAppReads chats, drafts replies
TelegramReads chats, drafts replies
SlackCatches you up, drafts replies
WeatherNo account needed
FinderOnly folders you share
The webResearch in Sam's own browser10 of 15 on. Each one is a switch, and off means off.
App names and icons belong to their owners and show compatibility only.
Questions
Good to know.
Is Sam free?
Yes. Sam is free and open source. The AI that does the thinking is your choice: a provider with your own key, which charges per use, or a local model through Ollama, which costs nothing.
Which Macs does Sam run on?
Macs with Apple silicon and macOS 14 or later. 16 GB of memory is recommended. Sam's voice and memory models download once during setup, about 3 GB.
Does my voice leave my Mac?
No. Speech recognition, Sam's voice, its memory and the small model that routes your requests all run on your Mac. Only the text of a request goes to the AI provider you picked, and with Ollama nothing leaves at all.
Can Sam send emails or messages on its own?
No. Every email, message, calendar event or purchase is drafted on a card first. Nothing goes out until you approve it, and payments always need a click.
Can I change Sam's personality?
Yes. You choose how much Sam teases you, how it reacts when something goes wrong, whether it checks in, and whether it has a female or male voice. You can change all of it any time.
What does Sam remember, and can I delete it?
What you tell it during setup and what it learns in conversation: your city, your tastes, the people you mention. Every line is visible, and a line you delete is gone for good.
Which languages does Sam speak?
Sam's Light and Steady voices are multilingual. The Tiny voice, made for Macs with less memory, speaks English.
Say hi to Sam.
Pick a voice, tell it a little about yourself, and start talking. It's free, it runs on your Mac, and every line of it is open source.
# or build it yourself
git clone https://github.com/elijahross/TTS
cd TTS && ./app/package.sh