Monitor your speech pace in real-time
A macOS menu bar app that helps you maintain the perfect speaking pace for presentations and demos
Speaking too fast is a common problem in presentations, sales demos, and meetings. When you speak too quickly:
- Your audience struggles to follow along
- Complex ideas don't sink in
- You appear nervous or rushed
- Important points get lost
Slowdown helps you maintain an optimal speaking pace (120-160 words per minute) with real-time feedback that's visible but not distracting.
- See your words-per-minute calculated live as you speak
- Color-coded feedback: green (good), yellow (borderline), red (too fast)
- Toggle between numeric display and graph visualization
- Monitor your microphone directly
- Capture system audio from any meeting app (Zoom, Teams, Meet, etc.)
- Switch between multiple microphone devices
- Track all your speaking sessions automatically
- View detailed WPM charts for each session
- Filter by audio source (microphone or system audio)
- Analyze patterns and improve over time
- Floating window stays visible during presentations
- Compact, non-intrusive design
- Doesn't steal focus from your current app
- Drag to reposition anywhere on screen
- All speech recognition happens on-device
- No audio ever leaves your Mac
- No internet connection required
- Session data stored locally
- Set your own WPM threshold
- Adjust averaging window
- Customize threshold alerts
- Choose display preferences
- Download the latest Slowdown.dmg
- Open the DMG file
- Drag Slowdown to the Applications folder
- Important: Right-click (or Control-click) on Slowdown and select "Open"
- This is required on first launch because the app is not signed with an Apple Developer certificate
- You only need to do this once
- Grant microphone and speech recognition permissions when prompted
- macOS 13 (Ventura) or later
- Apple Silicon or Intel Mac
- Launch Slowdown - The app appears in your menu bar with a waveform icon
- Select Audio Source - Choose between microphone or system audio from the overlay
- Start Monitoring - Click the play button in the overlay
- Start Speaking - Watch your WPM update in real-time
- View History - Access Session History (⌘H) to review past sessions
- Under 120 WPM: Too slow, may lose audience attention
- 120-160 WPM: Optimal pace for presentations (target this!)
- 160-180 WPM: Slightly fast, audience may struggle
- Over 180 WPM: Too fast, slow down!
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/gomleksiz/slowdown.git
cd slowdown
# Build the app
./build.sh
# Create DMG (optional)
./create-dmg.sh# Build with Swift Package Manager
swift build
# Run (limited permissions without code signing)
swift run SlowdownFor more details, see CONTRIBUTING.md
- CONTRIBUTING.md - Guide for contributors
- CLAUDE.md - Architecture and technical documentation
Session History showing detailed WPM charts and statistics
Future features we're considering:
- Export session data to CSV
- More detailed analytics and trends
- Custom alert sounds
- Multiple language support
- iOS/iPadOS companion app
Have an idea? Open an issue!
Contributions are welcome! Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines on:
- Setting up your development environment
- Coding standards
- Submitting pull requests
- Release process
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.
- Built with Swift and SwiftUI
- Uses Apple's Speech framework for on-device recognition
- Icon designed with privacy and clarity in mind
- Issues: GitHub Issues
- Website: gomleksiz.github.io/slowdown
Made with ❤️ for better communication