Launch HN: Aqua Voice (YC W24) – Voice-driven text editor

Hacker News Discussion ↗

Overall reaction

  • Many commenters found the demo “wow”-level impressive and immediately useful, especially compared to past dictation tools.
  • Several subscribed on the spot or said they’d “happily pay” if it integrated better with their workflows.
  • Others were excited but bounced due to latency, clunkiness, or missing features, canceling quickly.

Use cases and target users

  • Strong interest from:
    • People with RSI, neuropathy, disabilities, and dyslexia who rely on or prefer voice.
    • Students and knowledge workers for papers, email, and note‑taking.
    • Healthcare (doctors, dentists, radiologists) where dictation is already ubiquitous.
    • Developers and power users wanting IDE/editor integration (VS Code, JetBrains, Obsidian, Joplin, Notion, Raycast).
  • Aspirational use cases: background “day-long” note-taking, walking/cycling monologues, meeting/whiteboard transcription, interview review, recipes, speeches, screenplays.

Interaction model: natural language vs commands

  • Product leans toward “command-less” intent understanding from speech alone.
  • Some users see this as the right long‑term direction; others argue natural language alone will never be as efficient as explicit commands.
  • Repeated requests for:
    • A hybrid model: natural language + user‑defined commands/macros/aliases.
    • Better support for structured formats (tables, screenplay, code) and domain vocabularies (acronyms, custom dictionaries).

Technical / product details

  • Uses a custom “fusion” model for intent and fine‑tuned GPT‑4 for rewriting/transformations.
  • Browser app today; Mac app in flux; strong demand for:
    • Native desktop and mobile apps.
    • System-level “keyboard” style integration across all text fields.
    • API access so others can build plugins and native wrappers.
  • Issues reported: Firefox audio errors, Edge problems, mic selection friction, accent errors (e.g., Scottish), AirPods quality, and sometimes over‑conservative editing.

Pricing, tokens, and business model

  • Confusion and dislike of “tokens” as a user-facing unit; suggestions to use words, minutes, or time‑based trials instead.
  • Some want pay‑as‑you‑go/credits instead of subscriptions.
  • Concern that the free allocation feels too small to meaningfully evaluate daily use.

Privacy, data, and platform concerns

  • Multiple users ask what audio/text is sent to the cloud, how long it’s retained, and whether it’s used for training.
  • Some would pay extra for strict deletion/no‑training modes.
  • Strong pushback on Google OAuth‑only signup; requests for email-based accounts and non‑Google options.
  • Desire for local/offline models for privacy, cost, and reliability; some suggest “personal use local, business use paid cloud.”