User Guide · 2026.08

Mellow User Guide

This guide covers iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Start with the quick setup, then use the table of contents whenever you need a specific workflow.

The principle: you explicitly choose Rewrite, Quick Note, or Arrange; you start every recording; and Mellow asks before copying, saving, or writing to a system destination.

1. Quick start

1

Choose a mode

Pick Rewrite, Quick Note, or Arrange at the top of Home, or swipe across the content area.

2

Speak or type

Hold the microphone and speak, or tap Text to use the keyboard.

3

Review and use

Check the result and original, then copy, save to a document, or add it to a system app.

Mellow never switches between the three modes automatically. Changing modes ends the current input and starts a fresh task, so content does not leak across contexts.

2. Onboarding and permissions

First launch

Onboarding explains data handling before walking you through voice features. Mellow uses neutral labels such as Continue; the real permission decision remains in the system dialog.

Microphone and Speech Recognition

These are needed only for voice input. Mellow uses Apple system speech recognition and does not upload or save audio. If denied, re-enable them under Settings → Privacy & Security.

Calendar, Reminders, and alarms

These are not requested during onboarding. Arrange asks only after you choose a destination, and writes only the content you confirm. Mellow does not read existing events or invite other people.

Mac Accessibility and Input Monitoring

Accessibility inserts results back into the source app. Input Monitoring supports single-key shortcuts such as Fn. Without Accessibility, use Control-Option-Space and paste the copied result.

3. Voice and text input

Hold to speak

Hold the microphone to start and release to finish. You may pause briefly and continue; new speech is appended to the current transcript. Swiping upward never archives the document.

Tap to talk

Select tap mode under Me → Input settings. Tap once to start and again to stop. The 15-second silence countdown begins only when no speech is detected, and speaking again cancels it without clearing the transcript.

Text

Tap Text to use the keyboard. After submitting, Mellow stays in text mode until you explicitly choose the microphone again.

Long transcripts follow the latest sentence automatically. You can scroll upward to review earlier content; when you resume speaking, the view follows the newest text again.

4. Rewrite

  1. Choose Rewrite on Home.
  2. Select an audience/scene above the microphone. Auto decides the writing scene only—it never switches the product mode.
  3. Speak the original or type a draft. Mellow rewrites it after you finish.
  4. Expand Original to compare. Another version creates parallel results; swiping within the result does not trigger a mode change.
  5. Copy shows a lightweight Mellow confirmation, or continue through the system share sheet.

Manage Rewrite Scenes under Me. Selecting or creating a scene makes it available immediately; only destructive actions require confirmation.

5. Quick Note

Quick Note is for ideas, reflections, meeting thoughts, and longer spoken capture. It preserves your point while removing empty introductions, mechanical repetition, and filler, then creates a title and natural paragraphs.

  1. Choose Quick Note and hold the microphone. You can pause and continue.
  2. Release to organize the complete transcript into a readable note.
  3. Open Original to inspect the raw transcript. Tap the title or body to edit; changes save locally.
  4. Hold again to merge more speech into the same note, or tap New Quick Note for a clean document.
  5. Save to Apple Notes or Notion. Use the system share sheet for Feishu and other apps. Mellow sends only the current note after you act.

6. Arrange

Arrange combines the device date, time, and time zone with your words to understand phrases such as “tomorrow afternoon.” It extracts a title, time, place, notes, and what to bring.

  1. Choose Arrange and say what needs doing and roughly when.
  2. Review the draft card. Tap time, place, or notes to edit; ambiguous dates offer natural-language choices.
  3. Choose Calendar, Reminders, or an alarm. The system requests permission only when you use that destination for the first time.
  4. A Mellow confirmation appears after saving. If it fails, the card remains available for correction and retry.

7. Share from another app

Select text or a link in Safari, Notes, or another app with a share sheet, then choose Mellow. The Share Extension receives only what you submit in that action. Choose Rewrite or Quick Note after returning to Mellow.

If Mellow is missing, scroll to the end of the share sheet, choose More, and add it to Favorites.

8. Knowledge Base

Add specialist terms, names, product names, and common misrecognitions under Me → Knowledge Base. A canonical term may have multiple aliases. One Knowledge Base improves Rewrite, Quick Note, and Arrange.

Sign in to sync across Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Local entries still work if sync fails, and deleting an entry synchronizes the deletion.

9. Connectors and destinations

Apple Notes

No Mellow sign-in is required. Tap Save to Notes, then confirm the destination in the system interface.

Notion

Sign in to Mellow, open Me → Connectors, tap the full row to connect Notion, and choose it as the default. Authorization does not read or sync existing documents. Mellow creates a private page only when you tap Save on a specific Quick Note.

You can disconnect at any time. Connector credentials are encrypted on the server and removed with account deletion.

Feishu and other apps

The current release does not provide a cross-tenant Feishu OAuth connector. Open the system share sheet from a Quick Note and choose Feishu, or copy and paste the text. This does not mean that Mellow creates a native Feishu document directly.

10. History, editing, and a new task

History uses a list-first layout on both iPhone and iPad. Tap an item to open its detail and inspect source text, result, mode, and time.

Speaking again normally continues the current Quick Note. Tap New Quick Note for a clean document. Switching to another product mode starts a fresh task.

11. Mellow for Mac

  1. Download Mellow.dmg, drag Mellow into Applications, and launch it there.
  2. Use onboarding to test the microphone, Speech Recognition, and shortcuts. Keep Control-Option-Space as a fallback.
  3. Hold your configured speaking key in any app, or select text before invoking Mellow.
  4. Choose a scene and preview the result. With Accessibility enabled Mellow can insert it; otherwise it copies the result.
  5. Use Settings → About Mellow to check for updates. Updating keeps local scenes, Knowledge Base entries, and history.

12. Troubleshooting

No speech detected

Check Microphone and Speech Recognition permissions and avoid tapping too quickly. Mellow distinguishes silence from a denied permission.

Relative time is wrong

Check the device date, time, and time zone, then edit the time on the Arrange card. Treat the confirmation card as the final source of truth.

Notion is unavailable

Confirm that you are signed in to Mellow, have a working network connection, and completed Notion authorization. Return to Connectors and retry if authorization was interrupted.

Individual help

Email the device model, OS version, reproduction steps, and a screenshot to support@mellow.halosearch.cn. Never send passwords, verification codes, or payment information.