I compose dozens of emails every day, and after years of typing the same phrases repeatedly, I’ve wished for something smarter than autocorrect. Traditional AI writing tools want to replace my words entirely, which never felt right. When I discovered Cotypist, I found something different: an app that predicts what I’m about to type while keeping my voice intact.
Cotypist sits in your menu bar and provides inline word suggestions as you type, similar to how Gmail’s Smart Compose works, except it functions across your entire Mac. The predictions appear seamlessly without pulling you out of your flow. You accept suggestions word-by-word using a keyboard shortcut, or ignore them and keep typing naturally.
What makes Cotypist stand out is its approach to AI assistance. Rather than generating paragraphs or rewriting your content, it learns your typing patterns and suggests the next word you’re likely to use. This maintains your unique writing style and voice while reducing the number of keystrokes needed. The developer claims up to 50% fewer keystrokes for regular users, which translates to genuine time savings when you’re writing all day.
The app works across most Mac applications, including email clients, messaging apps, browsers, and document editors. I’ve been using it on my Mac Mini M4 for email composition and customer support responses, and the suggestions adapt quickly to my phrasing patterns. The predictions feel natural rather than intrusive, probably because the AI processing happens entirely on-device.
Privacy is central to Cotypist’s design. All computation occurs locally using your Mac’s hardware, meaning your writing never leaves your machine. No data gets uploaded to external servers, which is crucial when handling sensitive business communications or personal correspondence. This local processing approach also makes the app remarkably fast, with near-instantaneous completions on Apple Silicon Macs.
The system requirements reflect this performance focus. Cotypist requires an Apple Silicon Mac (M1 Pro, M2, or higher recommended) with at least 16GB of RAM. Intel Macs are not supported. The app runs on macOS 14 Sonoma or later and uses approximately 1-2GB of memory when active. On my M4 Mac Mini, response times are essentially instant.
Multi-language support is solid, with the app functioning best in English but supporting other languages as well. The adaptive learning system adjusts suggestions in real-time based on which words you accept or reject, gradually becoming more aligned with your specific writing patterns.
There are some limitations worth noting. The app doesn’t work in certain environments, including most IDEs, Terminal, and Google Docs comments. These are technical restrictions related to how those applications handle text input rather than shortcomings of Cotypist itself.
The app is currently free during its pre-release phase. Final pricing hasn’t been announced, though the developer states a commitment to keeping it affordable for individual users. You can request early access through their website, with download links delivered via email after signup.
Cotypist represents a more subtle approach to AI writing assistance. Instead of replacing your words or generating content from prompts, it quietly predicts and suggests, letting you maintain control while reducing repetitive typing. For anyone who writes extensively on their Mac, particularly emails, support responses, or documentation, this approach to AI-powered typing feels considerably more natural than traditional writing assistants.
