Meeting transcription with no bot joining the call

A lot of transcription tools work by sending a bot into your Zoom, Meet or Teams call. It appears in the participant list, everyone sees it, and your audio routes through that service to get transcribed. Sometimes that is fine. Often it is awkward, or just not allowed.

Trace records the audio your Mac is already playing, through a system-audio tap built into macOS, plus your mic on a separate track. Because it taps the system output instead of dialling into the meeting, there is no extra attendee and no notice in the room. Your call looks exactly the way it would if you were not recording.

From there it transcribes on-device, with Whisper large-v3-turbo by default and faster Parakeet options, so the audio never leaves your machine. It auto-detects the spoken language too, across roughly 99 languages on the default model. Every session gives you two WAV files, JSON and Markdown transcripts and a small meta.json, plus a live recap during the call (which can translate the meeting into your language as it happens) and a hotkey to flag key moments as they happen.

How "no bot" actually works

• Capture method: Trace records system audio through a macOS audio tap, not by joining the meeting.
• What others see: No new participant. The call is unchanged for everyone else.
• Works anywhere: Zoom, Meet, Teams, a browser tab, a phone bridge. Trace takes the call from your Mac’s own audio, so the platform never matters.
• Privacy: On-device transcription means the audio is never uploaded to be turned into text.
• Two tracks: Mic and system audio are saved separately, so you can tell who said what.

FAQ

Will people on the call know I’m recording with Trace?

There is no bot or extra participant, so nothing in the meeting reveals it. Make sure you follow your local laws and any consent rules for recording.

Does it work with Zoom, Google Meet and Teams?

Yes. Trace takes the call from your Mac’s own audio rather than joining it, so the platform does not matter and there is no per-app integration to set up. It follows whichever app is on the call, so music playing in another tab stays out of the transcript.

Where does the transcription happen?

On your Mac. Trace uses an on-device speech model (Whisper by default, with faster Parakeet options), so audio is not sent anywhere to be transcribed.

Do I need to give people a heads-up?

Recording consent rules vary by place. Trace gives you the technical ability to record privately; following the law is on you.

Get Trace

Record your meetings with no bot and no upload. One-time purchase, no subscription.

Compare

• Otter alternative: Record on your Mac with no bot in the call, transcribed on-device.
• Offline transcription for Mac: Everything stays on your machine, and it works with the network off.
• Granola alternative: The same record-the-meeting simplicity, without the cloud notebook.
• MacWhisper alternative: Both stay on your Mac. Trace is shaped around meetings first.
• Fireflies alternative: No notetaker joining your calls, and nothing sent to a cloud.
• Record Zoom meetings: A hotkey instead of recording permissions, transcribed on-device.
• Transcribe Teams meetings: No admin policies, no notification banner, transcribed on your Mac.
• Transcribe Google Meet: Works on any Meet call, any plan, straight from the browser tab.

Related guides

• Record a meeting on a Mac: Capture your mic and the other people on the call as two tracks, no bot required.
• Is recording a meeting legal?: A plain, high-level look at consent rules, and why you should check your own jurisdiction.
• All guides: the full library of how-tos and explainers.