Does Mac have predictive text like iPhone? Yes — here's how to turn it on (and go further)

You've grown used to your iPhone finishing your words, and your Mac feels oddly silent by comparison. Short answer: yes, macOS has the same inline predictive text since Sonoma — it's just easy to miss. Here's how to enable it, what it won't do, and how to upgrade to whole sentences.

How to enable predictive text on macOS (Sonoma and later)

Apple brought the iPhone-style grey word suggestions to the Mac with macOS Sonoma (14). To make sure it's on:

1. Open System Settings from the Apple menu.
2. Go to Keyboard, then next to Input Sources click Edit…
3. Select your language in the sidebar and enable "Show inline predictive text".

From then on, as you type in supported apps (Notes, Mail, Messages, TextEdit…), the predicted next word or two appears in grey after your cursor. Press the space bar to accept it, or just keep typing to ignore it. Exactly the iPhone behaviour, on a bigger keyboard.

The honest limits of the built-in prediction

If you stop here, you already have your answer. But three limits show up fast in daily use:

• One or two words at a time. The system predicts the next word, occasionally two — never the rest of your sentence. It saves keystrokes on "the", "tomorrow", "thanks", not on whole thoughts.
• Not in every app. It only works in apps built on Apple's standard text system. Many Electron apps (Slack among them, depending on the field), plenty of web text areas and third-party editors simply never show the grey word.
• English bias. The predictions are noticeably stronger in English than in other languages.

The upgrade: full-sentence ghost text, everywhere

To go from "next word" to "rest of the sentence", you need a small language model watching your text — and to get it in every app, that model has to work through the macOS Accessibility API rather than through Apple's text system. That's what Souffleuse does: a menu-bar app whose model runs entirely on your Apple Silicon chip, drawing the continuation of your phrase in grey under your caret, in nearly every Mac app — Mail, Notes, Messages, Slack, your browser, Pages, Obsidian…

1. Download Souffleuse (requires a Studio license, ~7.5 MB, notarized by Apple) and drag it into Applications.
2. Grant the Accessibility permission when asked. The app downloads its model once — its only network connection, ever. After that it works offline.
3. Type anywhere. When it has a good guess, the rest of your sentence appears in grey.
4. Tab accepts (word by word or in chunks), Esc dismisses, and typing on simply makes it fade.

One thing to know: Souffleuse is French-made and its interface is in French, but the suggestions follow whatever language you type — English included.

Built-in prediction vs. Souffleuse, side by side

• Length: macOS suggests 1–2 words · Souffleuse suggests the rest of the phrase.
• Coverage: macOS works in Apple-text-system apps only · Souffleuse works in almost every app via Accessibility.
• Languages: macOS leans English · Souffleuse follows the language you're typing.
• Accept key: space bar · Tab (word by word or in chunks), Esc to clear.
• Privacy: both run on-device. Souffleuse adds: no account, no telemetry, encrypted local history it uses to learn your style.
• Extras: none · translation while typing, tone rewriting with //, typo fixes in passing.
• Price: macOS: included · Souffleuse Studio: one-time purchase from €29, no daily limit, never a subscription.

The two aren't enemies, by the way — you can keep the built-in word prediction on and let Souffleuse handle the sentences.

Frequently asked questions

How do I turn on predictive text on my Mac?

On macOS Sonoma or later, open System Settings, go to Keyboard, click Edit next to Input Sources, select your language and enable Show inline predictive text. Grey word suggestions then appear as you type in supported apps; press the space bar to accept them.

Why doesn't predictive text appear in some Mac apps?

Apple's inline predictive text only works in apps that use the standard macOS text system. Many Electron apps and web text areas don't, so no suggestion appears there. Tools built on the Accessibility API, like Souffleuse, work across almost all apps instead.

Can my Mac suggest whole sentences instead of one word?

Not natively — macOS predicts one or two words at a time. For full-sentence ghost text you need a third-party tool with a local language model, such as Souffleuse, which suggests the rest of your phrase in grey and lets you accept it with Tab.