Enable Voice Control without floating mic icon

TL;DR I have searched to find a way to hide the icon but still have Voice Control enabled, or at least have a way to permanently move the icon to the dock/menu bar/Launchpad but have found this discussed nowhere.

Any suggestions on how I can have Voice Control enabled and have the floating icon permanently stored somewhere out of the way?


In the past year I discovered Dictation for my MacBook Pro. With Mojave the microphone icon was to indicate that dictation was activated. The Keyboard Shortcut I used to switch this on/off was to press either command key twice.

I was new to integrating this feature in my daily MBP use when I upgraded to Catalina. The Keyboard Shortcut no longer worked (wether the Voice Control was enabled or not) which was fine because I discovered Voice Control, which I began using and really enjoy. It expands Siri to not just transcribe dictation and enables voice control in every function of my MBP.

However, the floating mic icon is always on screen. No matter where I put it it is annoyingly in the way. I have searched to find a way to hide the icon but still have Voice Control enabled, or at least have a way to permanently move the icon to the dock/menu bar/Launchpad but have found this discussed nowhere.

Any suggestions on how I can have Voice Control enabled and have the floating icon permanently stored somewhere out of the way?


Tell me if this solution works for you. Instead of moving the Icon to a different place, my solution simply toggles it on and off with a quick applescript. Credit to Jono on the Keyboard Maestro forum for solving this.

Advantages of the method: saves a ridiculous amount of ram (VC takes tons) Disadvantages: you have to toggle it on and it takes a few secs.

The following applescript, which can be triggered by an automator workflow/shortcut, will toggle voice control on and off. I use Keyboard Maestro and Alfred to trigger it myself.

tell application "System Preferences"
    reveal anchor "Dictation" of pane id "com.apple.preference.universalaccess"
    -- activate
end tell

delay 0.5
tell application "System Events"
    tell process "System Preferences"
        click checkbox "Enable Voice Control" of group 1 of window "Accessibility"
    end tell
end tell
tell application "System Preferences" to quit

Not a cure, but a visual option: I move the 'Voice Control' icon 99% off screen, you can select wherever you want to move it off screen