I'm Steve Chazin. I made Tellie, and named it for my 3 year old granddaughter Ellie who is just learning to read. I made her a promise to help her read, and I make this promise to you: nothing Tellie touches ever leaves your Mac. Here is exactly how that works.
I know the word "listens" makes some people nervous in 2026. So here is the whole, complete answer, and why none of it is an AI watching you.
Listening is per session and always your choice. Until you click, Tellie is a classic scrolling teleprompter, and it stays one forever if that is all you want.
Apple's on-device speech recognition, the same engine behind dictation, running entirely on your Mac in more than 40 languages. No audio is recorded, nothing is uploaded, and there is no account to sign into.
Word by word, forgivingly. Pause, skip ahead, circle back, or say it your own way, and Tellie keeps your place by matching what you say to what you wrote. Say anything off script and Tellie simply waits for you to come back. Optionally, if your script has Stagehand marks, the matcher compares your spoken words against the page and guides you silently to hit your marks.
There is no cloud, no server listening in, no gigabyte AI model to download. Your script and your voice never leave the room. I promise.
The receipt: the entire app is a tiny 3MB download. That number is what "no AI overhead" looks like: there is simply nothing else inside. The full privacy story →
The things no other teleprompters can do. Tellie makes sure you never miss a beat.
Mark the moments that matter and Tellie makes sure you hit every one, even when you ad-lib, so you never miss a key point. Running short? A quiet nudge points you ahead while there is still time. Your coach, keeping you on track.
See Stagehand →The moment you stop, your coach's notes: your real pace, everything you covered, and where to sharpen the next one. One key to run it again.
See what Pro unlocks →Your Keynote speaker notes, live in the notch as your slides change, automatically. The Zoom sees your slides; only you see your notes.
Explore Presenter Magic →Zoom, Teams, Meet, OBS, screen recordings: none of them can see Tellie. The room sees your face; the script is for you alone. Free for everyone, on by design.
See it hide from a call →Select text in any app, and one keystroke sends it straight to the notch. Pages, email, a browser, your AI chat: if you can select it, you can read it. Free for everyone.
How sending works →Any app, script, or AI agent can push a line to the notch with a simple URL. A CLI and MCP server included. Free for everyone, because your notch should work for you.
For developers →A silent coach, on your side and only on your Mac.
Never a recording, never a subscription, never a word off your Mac. Every download starts with all of it, free for 10 days.
Get TellieNo card, no sign-up. After 10 days it stays a free teleprompter.