Guide
A meeting recorder that works offline
A meeting recorder works offline when everything after the microphone happens on your own computer. Recordist records, transcribes, searches and, with its built-in engine, writes the notes with no network once its models are downloaded, so a room with no Wi-Fi, a train or a flight does not stop it. Nothing about a meeting waits to upload: the audio never leaves your computer, and with the built-in engine neither does the transcript. We make Recordist, and this guide says what works with no network, what needs the internet once, and the few requests the app makes.
What works with no network
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Recording
Your microphone and the sound your computer plays are written to a folder on your computer as the meeting goes, so a crash loses at most a second, and a recording cut off by a restart is recovered at the next launch. By default it asks before it records, with a small card.
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Transcription
Whisper runs on your computer, so the transcript builds while you talk. On a Mac the default model keeps up with a live call; on Windows and Linux, a preview, it runs on the processor and is slower.
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Notes
The built-in engine writes the summary, the decisions, the open questions and the action items on your computer, and each item is checked against the line of the transcript it came from before the notes are saved.
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Search, and the line itself
Search everything finds a sentence across every meeting, from an index on your disk. Open it at the line and press the time to hear it said, while the audio is kept.
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The licence
There is no account. A Pro key is checked on your computer, with no sign-in.
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Prep Briefs, on a Mac
Before a calendar meeting with people you have recorded a call with, the brief is built on your Mac from your own notes, with no AI model and no network.
What needs the internet once
The app and its models are downloads. Setup fetches a small speech model first, Base (English, 142 MB) or Small (multilingual, 466 MB), so you can record sooner, then the default model, Large v3 Turbo (574 MB), in the background unless you untick it. The built-in notes engine and its model follow: on a Mac, once the first speech model is on disk, with a model of 0.9 GB on 8 GB of memory or 2.4 GB on 16 GB or more; on Windows and Linux, the engine, about 1.4 GB, downloads the first time you make notes.
Download them once, on a connection you trust, and the work after the microphone needs no network again. Each download is listed in the Privacy Ledger with its purpose, and the speech models and the notes engine are checked against a size and SHA-256 built into the app before they are used.
If a meeting ends before the notes engine has arrived, Recordist writes basic notes that quote the transcript, marked so you know to write them again later.
The few requests it makes, and how to stop each one
With no network these requests fail, and none of them carries anything about your meetings unless you chose a cloud AI provider.
- The update check, at launch and every six hours: a request for one fixed file, with no app version, platform or identifier. With a licence key stored, the same check fetches the public list of withdrawn keys, with no key in the request. Turn it off with Check for updates automatically, in Settings → General.
- Calendar feeds you add, every five minutes while the app runs, except during a recording. Remove the address in Settings → Detection.
- Notes from a cloud AI provider, only if you choose one: the transcript of that meeting goes from your computer to that provider under your own account. The built-in engine, the default, needs no network.
The Privacy Ledger, in Settings → Privacy, lists each request with where it went, its size and its reason, so you can check this page rather than take it on trust. The Trust Center has the full list.
A meeting in a room, a call on a weak connection
A video call needs the internet, and no recorder changes that. What a recorder on your computer changes is everything after the microphone. While it records, nothing about the call is sent anywhere, so the recorder adds no upload to a weak connection.
For a meeting in a room, start the recording yourself: on a Mac, Record… from the menu bar icon, or the shortcut, Cmd+Shift+R on a Mac and Ctrl+Shift+R on Windows and Linux (not under Wayland). The same card asks first. Every voice in the room reaches the one microphone, so every line of the transcript is labelled You. Tell the people in the room, as you would on a call, and if anyone says no, do not record.
Free and Pro
Free for Mac, Windows and Linux. No account and no email needed. Windows and Linux are a preview. The Mac app is signed with our Developer ID and notarised by Apple.
Recording, transcription and search are free, with no time limit, and Free writes notes for 3 calls a month. Every install includes 7 days of Pro, with no card, starting with your first recorded call of 10 minutes or more. Pro writes up every call and drafts the follow-up email with the notes. Pro is US$9 a month or US$90 a year for anyone who subscribes by 30 November 2026, and that price stays for as long as the subscription stays active; from 1 December 2026 new subscribers pay US$15 a month or US$144 a year.Pro is CA$9 a month or CA$90 a year for anyone who subscribes by 30 November 2026, and that price stays for as long as the subscription stays active; from 1 December 2026 new subscribers pay CA$15 a month or CA$144 a year.Pro is €9 a month or €90 a year for anyone who subscribes by 30 November 2026, and that price stays for as long as the subscription stays active; from 1 December 2026 new subscribers pay €14 a month or €139 a year.Pro is £8 a month or £79 a year for anyone who subscribes by 30 November 2026, and that price stays for as long as the subscription stays active; from 1 December 2026 new subscribers pay £12 a month or £119 a year.
Questions
Does Recordist need the internet to record?
Can I record a meeting in a room with no Wi-Fi?
Do the notes need the internet?
Does the licence need to be checked online?
Can I turn off everything that goes online?
Can I listen to a call again on a plane?
Related: A notetaker that keeps the audio, A Granola alternative for Windows and Linux, the transcription models, and privacy and data.
Model sizes are those of the files Recordist downloads. Transcripts and notes are produced by software and can be wrong; the audio is kept so that you can check them against it. If something here is out of date, write to support@recordist.app and we will correct it.