MeetInk vs Apple's built-in call recording on Mac

Your Mac already ships with ways to record and transcribe audio. If you only need a transcript now and then, they may be enough, and they are free. This page sets out exactly what Apple's tools do on macOS Sequoia 15 and macOS Tahoe 26, where they stop, and where MeetInk picks up.

What Apple's built-in tools do

There are three separate features, and it helps to keep them apart.

Audio recording in Notes

In Notes you can attach an audio recording to a note (Attachment button, then Record Audio), see a live transcript while it records, and pause and resume. According to Apple's Notes guide:

• Transcription needs a Mac with M1 or later.
• Languages: English (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, UK and US), Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Japanese, Korean, and Simplified and Traditional Chinese. Apple notes that transcription isn't available in all languages and regions.
• Summaries: with Apple Intelligence turned on, Notes can summarize the transcript. Apple Intelligence also needs an M1 or later Mac and isn't available in every language or region.

What Apple's guide describes is recording in Notes, not capturing the audio another app is playing. It is designed for a voice memo, a lecture or a conversation in the room — not for pulling the other side of a Zoom call out of your Mac.

Phone call recording (macOS Tahoe 26 and later)

macOS Tahoe added a Phone app that makes and receives your iPhone's cellular calls on the Mac. Your iPhone and Mac need to use the same Apple Account and be on the same network. During a call you choose More → Call Recording, and:

• Both people hear an audio notice that the call is being recorded.
• The recording is saved to a Call Recordings folder in Notes, with a transcript.
• Apple Intelligence can summarize the recorded call.
• Availability depends on language and region. Apple asks you to check its macOS Feature Availability page; call transcription is listed for English (Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, UK and US).

Calls you record on your iPhone also show up in the Call Recordings folder in Notes on your Mac.

FaceTime audio call recording

On a FaceTime audio call with one other person, you can record the call and view the transcript in the Call Recordings folder in Notes. Both people hear a notice that it is being recorded. It is for one-to-one audio calls, not group calls.

What they don't cover

• Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams. Call recording is part of the Phone and FaceTime apps. It does not record calls in other meeting apps or in a browser.
• Group calls. FaceTime audio recording is for calls with one other person.
• Structured meeting notes. You get a recording, a transcript and, with Apple Intelligence, a summary. There are no meeting types, decisions, owners, or an action items list across calls.
• Questions across meetings. Each recording is a note. There is no way to ask "what did we agree with Acme last month?" across everything.

None of that is a criticism. These are general-purpose tools, and they do their job simply and well.

How MeetInk works

MeetInk is built specifically for the calls you take on your Mac, in whatever app you take them.

• Both sides of any call, without a bot. It records your microphone and the meeting app's own audio — Zoom, Meet, Teams, Slack and other meeting apps and browsers — and leaves out music or videos in other apps. Nobody sees a participant join. Echo cancellation keeps things clean on speakers.
• Transcribed on your Mac. Transcription and speaker separation run on the Mac's Neural Engine, and audio is never uploaded. Speakers are named from the calendar invite and the conversation, as suggestions you confirm.
• Notes for the kind of meeting. MeetInk detects 16 meeting types — standup, sprint planning, design review as a decision record, incident review, client call, sales discovery with a MEDDIC scorecard, interview, 1:1 and more — and writes notes to match, as the call goes. Every line links to the moment it was said.
• Decisions and action items. One list collects follow-ups from every meeting, and any item opens as a prefilled Linear issue.
• Ask AI about one meeting (answers cite the moment), a folder, or all of them, with search that runs on your Mac.
• Your calendar. A Today page from Google Calendar and your macOS calendars, and a notification when a meeting starts or a call app starts using the microphone.

You choose who writes the notes: Google Gemini (recommended, with a free tier), Claude or OpenAI with your own key — only the transcript text is sent, directly from your Mac — or a local model through Ollama, fully offline. On Gemini's free tier Google may use prompts to improve its models; its paid tier doesn't. The details are on the security page.

You can also import an audio file, such as a Voice Memo, and MeetInk will transcribe it on your Mac and write notes for it.

Side by side

	Apple's built-in tools	MeetInk
Cost	Included with macOS	One-time license + free tier
Records Zoom, Meet, Teams	No	Yes, both sides
Records phone calls	Yes, via the Phone app (macOS 26+) and your iPhone	No
Records FaceTime audio calls	Yes, one-to-one	Use FaceTime's own recording
Announces the recording	Yes, an audio notice to both people	No bot or notice — you tell people (consent)
Transcription	On a Mac with M1 or later	On your Mac (Apple silicon recommended)
Languages	Several, varying by feature and region	English
Speaker names	No	Yes, suggested from the invite and conversation
Summary	Apple Intelligence, where available	Notes shaped by 16 meeting types
Action items across meetings	No	Yes, with one-click Linear issues
Ask questions across meetings	No	Yes
Syncs across Apple devices	Yes, through iCloud	No — export Markdown to iCloud Drive or another folder

Where Apple's tools are the better pick

• You record phone calls. MeetInk doesn't handle cellular calls. The Phone app on macOS Tahoe, or call recording on your iPhone, does.
• You want everyone told automatically. Apple's audio notice takes care of telling the other person. With MeetInk that is your job.
• You take notes in other languages. Notes transcribes a dozen languages. MeetInk is English only today.
• You want it on your iPhone and iPad too. Notes syncs through iCloud. MeetInk is Mac only.
• You need a transcript occasionally and will write the notes yourself. Then you don't need another app, and free is the right price.

Where MeetInk is the better pick

If most of your meetings happen in Zoom, Meet or Teams, if you want both sides captured cleanly with speakers named, and if what you need afterwards is a standup update, a MEDDIC scorecard or a list of who promised what, MeetInk is built for exactly that — and keeps the audio on your Mac too. It also has a one-click local connector so Claude Code, Claude Desktop and Cursor can read your meetings.

Frequently asked questions

Can Notes record a Zoom or Google Meet call?

Apple's guide describes recording into Notes and recording Phone and FaceTime audio calls. It doesn't describe capturing the audio of other meeting apps, so if you need the other side of a Zoom, Meet or Teams call, use an app that records the meeting app's audio directly.

Does Apple's call recording need an iPhone?

The Phone app on macOS Tahoe makes and receives your iPhone's cellular calls, so yes, it works with your iPhone. FaceTime audio call recording happens in FaceTime on the Mac.

Can I bring an existing recording into MeetInk?

Yes. If you have the recording as an audio file, such as a Voice Memo, import it into MeetInk to transcribe it on your Mac and write notes for it.

Try MeetInk

Try it on your next Zoom, Meet or Teams call. Every feature is free for 14 days, no account needed, and it stays free for 5 meetings a month after that. See pricing for the one-time license.