How to record and transcribe a call on your Mac without sending it to the cloud
Meeting notes are only useful if they exist. Many transcription services solve that by sending your audio to a server, or by adding a bot to your meeting. If your calls are confidential, or you simply do not want a bot in the room, there is another way: record and transcribe on your own Mac. This guide shows how with WyzeScribe, and where it falls short.
1. Know what you are allowed to record
Before anything else: rules on recording conversations vary by country and region, and some require the consent of everyone on the call. WyzeScribe does not announce itself, so telling participants is your job. When in doubt, say it out loud at the start of the call.
2. Allow the two permissions
macOS protects both the microphone and the sound your Mac plays. WyzeScribe needs:
- Microphone, to record your voice.
- Screen & System Audio Recording, to capture the sound of the call.
macOS asks the first time you record. If you refuse the second one, the app does not stop: it continues with your microphone only and tells you how to enable it in System Settings > Privacy & Security. You then need to relaunch the app.
3. Join the call first, then press Record
WyzeScribe records the sound your Mac plays together with your microphone. That has a useful consequence: it does not depend on the call app, so it works whether you use Zoom, Teams, Meet or something else, and no bot joins the meeting. Open your call, press Record and carry on.
One limit follows from this. Sound that your call app does not play through your Mac cannot be captured. If you use headphones with a built-in conference mode or a hardware phone, check with a short test first.
Choose the language of the call before you start, or leave it on automatic detection. If most of your calls are in one language, set it as the default.
4. Watch the text appear
While people talk, a live transcript builds on screen. Each line is tagged Me (your microphone) or Call (the sound from your Mac), with a timestamp. This is the real extent of speaker labelling: WyzeScribe tells you apart from everyone else, but it does not separate the individual people on the call.
Level meters for your microphone and the call sound let you notice quickly if one of them goes silent. The app also warns you if no call sound is arriving.
5. Correct what matters
Speech recognition is good on clear speech and weaker with background noise, strong accents, people talking over each other and technical terms. WyzeScribe uses a compact model so it can run on any Apple silicon Mac. That is a trade-off: it is private and works offline, but it is not perfect.
So treat the transcript as a draft. You can edit any line in place without losing its timing, and click a line's time to hear that exact moment again, at the speed you choose. Check names, numbers and decisions before you rely on them.
6. Search and export
Search inside a transcript and jump between matches, or search your whole library to find the call where something was said. Export a transcript as plain text, Markdown or subtitles (.srt). If you picked the wrong language, re-transcribe the saved recording.
7. Decide what to keep
Each recording is stored on your Mac as an audio file plus its text. You can delete only the audio and keep the text, or delete the entire recording. Deletion is permanent, so export what you need first.
What stays on your Mac
The speech model ships inside the app and runs locally, with no connection to a transcription service. Recordings and transcripts are stored only on your computer. Once you export a file and share it, though, it is out of the app's hands.
A quick checklist
- Check you may record, and tell the participants.
- Allow the microphone and system audio permissions.
- Join the call, then press Record.
- Treat the transcript as a draft and correct what matters.
- Export what you need, then delete what you do not.
