System requirements
Confidant runs entirely on your computer — there's no cloud component to lean on, so the hardware needs to be capable of running the AI models locally. Here's what you need.
Minimum
- macOS 12 (Monterey) or newer, on Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3, M4) or recent Intel
- Windows 10/11, 64-bit
- 16 GB of RAM — non-negotiable
- ~15 GB of free disk space for the app, transcription engine (Whisper), and AI model
- A microphone (built-in laptop mic works for testing; an external mic is much better for real sessions)
Why 16 GB of RAM?
The AI model that writes your notes is a large language model running on your CPU/GPU, and it needs to fit in memory at the same time as your operating system and the rest of your apps. We tested every smaller configuration we could find, and on 8 GB machines the model either refuses to load or produces clinically dangerous notes (missed safety statements, hallucinated medications, garbled assessments).
We won't ship a worse note for the sake of supporting cheaper hardware. If you have an 8 GB machine, please don't try to use Confidant for clinical work.
Recommended
- 24 GB of RAM or more — the Pro-tier note model uses ~6 GB during generation; more headroom means faster notes and less impact on your other apps
- Apple Silicon (M2 or newer) — significantly faster transcription than Intel Macs, especially for long sessions
- Wired microphone or headset — clean audio dramatically improves transcription accuracy
What about iPhone, iPad, or Android?
Mobile versions are on the roadmap but not shipping yet. The underlying constraint is the same as the desktop version — running a high-quality language model locally takes a lot of memory, which is harder to come by on phones. We'll release mobile when we can ship a clinical experience that doesn't compromise on note quality.