**AI Note Taker for Mac Without a Bot, On-Device | SozAI**
Source: https://sozai.app/meeting-notes/mac/

Mac app

# An AI note taker for Mac that records the call on your side, with no bot

SozAI for Mac hears your microphone and the Mac’s sound, so Zoom, Teams or a browser call all work. The speech is transcribed on the Mac; only the text goes to your account.

[Get SozAI for Mac, free to download](https://sozai.app/download/macos/)

## The short answer

SozAI for Mac (macOS 14 or later) has a meeting mode that records your microphone, the Mac’s sound, or both, so it captures a call in any app, desktop Zoom and Teams included, without a bot in the meeting. The speech is transcribed on the Mac itself: the audio is not uploaded, only the finished text with timestamps is saved to your SozAI account, and these meetings don’t use your transcription minutes. What you give up is the AI layer: there are no speaker labels and no automatic notes for these meetings, only the timestamped transcript.

## What the meeting mode records

Before you start, you choose one of three sources. The labels below are the ones in the app.

| Source | What it hears | Use it for |
| --- | --- | --- |
| “You and the others” | Your microphone and the Mac’s sound | A video call in Zoom, Teams, Webex, Slack, a browser, anything |
| “Microphone only” | Your microphone | A meeting around a table |
| “Mac sound only” | Whatever the Mac plays | A webinar or a talk you only listen to |

The Mac’s sound means the sound of all apps, captured through macOS’s screen and system audio recording. That is why the meeting app doesn’t matter, and why no bot is needed: the Mac hears the call the same way you do.

## Recording your first meeting

1. Install [SozAI for Mac](https://sozai.app/download/macos/) and sign in with Google, Apple or a one-time email code, the same account as on your phone or the web.
2. Start a new meeting. The first time, SozAI downloads its speech recognition once; after that it works without the download.
3. Choose the source: “You and the others” for a call.
4. Allow the two macOS permissions when asked: Microphone, and Screen & System Audio Recording (System Settings → Privacy & Security). Without the second one, only your microphone is recorded, and the app tells you so.
5. Press “Start recording”. The transcript appears on screen while people talk, a few seconds behind them.
6. At the end, press “Stop” and then “Finish”. SozAI writes down the last phrases and saves the text; you see “Meeting saved — it’s on all your devices”.

![SozAI for Mac writing a meeting transcript live while the recording timer runs](https://sozai.app/wp-content/themes/sozai/assets/images/screens/en/mac-meeting-live.webp)

Tell the other participants at the start that you are recording. Nothing in the call shows them that you are, and the rules on recording conversations differ from place to place; follow the ones that apply to everyone on the call.

## What happens to the audio and the text

The speech recognition runs on your Mac. The audio of the meeting is never uploaded to us or to any speech recognition partner. Only the finished text, with its timestamps, goes to your SozAI account, and from there it opens on your iPhone, iPad, Android phone and at web.sozai.app.

SozAI doesn’t keep the meeting’s sound either: once the text is saved to your account, the app deletes the audio file from the Mac. So you can read the meeting later but not play it back.

Notes are not made automatically for these meetings. If you want the summary, decisions and tasks, open the meeting and press “Make notes”: the text then goes to the AI service that writes notes, the same way as for any other recording, and the audio still stays off our servers.

If the Mac is offline, the meeting is recorded and transcribed anyway and kept on the Mac; it is saved to your account the next time there is a connection. Because nothing is transcribed on our servers, these meetings don’t count against your transcription minutes, free or paid.

![A saved meeting in SozAI for Mac: the timestamped transcript and the note that it is now on all devices](https://sozai.app/wp-content/themes/sozai/assets/images/screens/en/mac-meeting-saved.webp)

## Meeting mode, a normal recording, or the web version

The Mac app can also make an ordinary recording, which is uploaded and transcribed on our servers like a recording from the phone. And a call that runs in Chrome or Edge can be recorded by the web version instead. They suit different meetings.

|  | Mac meeting mode | Mac app, normal recording | Web version, “Both” |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Hears other apps’ calls | Yes, any app | No, microphone only | Only a call in a Chrome or Edge tab |
| Where it is transcribed | On the Mac | Our servers | Our servers |
| Audio uploaded | No | Yes | Yes |
| Text while the meeting runs | Yes | No, after it ends | No, after it ends |
| Speaker labels | No | Yes | Yes |
| Notes with decisions and tasks | Not automatically | Yes | Yes |
| Uses transcription minutes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Works offline | Yes, after the one-time download | No | No |

Our recommendation: use the meeting mode for calls in desktop apps, and whenever the audio of a meeting must not leave your Mac. If the call runs in a browser and you want the notes and who said what, record it with the web version instead; [meeting notes without a bot](https://sozai.app/meeting-notes/without-a-bot/) compares the two. For a meeting in a room where several people talk, a normal recording gives you speaker labels, which a transcript of five voices badly needs ([notes from in-person meetings](https://sozai.app/meeting-notes/in-person/)).

## Limits to know before you rely on it

- No automatic AI notes, and no speaker labels. You get the transcript with timestamps.
- If the Mac goes to sleep, or runs out of disk space, the recording stops. The text up to that moment is kept.
- A finished meeting can’t be continued later; start a new one.
- Transcript text can’t be edited on the Mac yet. Corrections work in the iPhone and Android app.
- Our published accuracy test measured server transcription, not the on-device speech recognition, so we have no numbers for this mode yet.
- There is no Windows app. On a Windows PC, use the web version in Chrome or Edge ([AI note taker for Windows](https://sozai.app/meeting-notes/windows/)).

## When SozAI is not a fit

- You want a full set of meeting notes from every call with no effort after it. A bot note taker, or the web version for browser calls, does more of that work.
- You need to replay the audio later. The meeting mode keeps the text, not the sound.
- Your Mac runs a macOS older than 14.
- Someone on the call hasn’t agreed to be recorded.

Everything SozAI does with meetings, from rooms to video calls, is on the [AI meeting notes page](https://sozai.app/meeting-notes/). The text saved to your account is stored on our servers in Germany (Hetzner); our [sub-processor list](https://sozai.app/subprocessors/) names every company that handles your data.

Updated October 27, 2026 By [Merey Tleugazin](https://sozai.app/about/merey/)

Answers

## Frequently asked questions

Is there an AI note taker for Mac that doesn’t use a bot?

Yes. SozAI for Mac records your microphone and the Mac’s sound, so it captures a call in any app without anyone entering the meeting. It transcribes on the Mac and saves the text with timestamps to your account.

Can SozAI for Mac record the Zoom or Teams desktop app?

Yes. Choose “You and the others” and allow Screen & System Audio Recording in System Settings → Privacy & Security. Without that permission only your microphone is recorded.

Is my meeting audio uploaded?

No, not in the meeting mode. The speech is transcribed on the Mac, and only the finished text is saved to your SozAI account.

Do Mac meetings use my transcription minutes?

No. Meetings transcribed on the Mac don’t count against your minutes. Normal recordings and uploaded files, which are transcribed on our servers, do.

Does the Mac meeting mode write AI meeting notes?

Not automatically. You get a transcript with timestamps, without speaker labels. For automatic notes with decisions and tasks, record a browser call with the web version or make a normal recording.

Does it work without an internet connection?

Yes, after the one-time download of the speech recognition. The meeting is transcribed on the Mac and saved to your account when the Mac is back online.

Which Macs does SozAI support?

Macs with macOS 14 or later. The app is on the Mac App Store and is free to download, with 30 minutes of server transcription included once.

Is there a SozAI app for Windows?

No. On Windows, use the web version at web.sozai.app in Chrome or Edge, which records your microphone and a call’s browser tab.

Turn your next recording into text

Record, upload a file or paste a link. You get the transcript, speakers and a summary back.

 [Get SozAI for Mac, free to download](https://sozai.app/download/macos/)

Free on iOS and Android. No account required for YouTube transcripts.


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