recordist

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Press kit

Everything you need to write about Recordist: descriptions you can copy, the facts, logos, real app screens and how to reach us. You can use anything on this page in articles, reviews and listings about Recordist.

What Recordist is

Three lengths of the same description. Each one is accurate as it stands, so you can use it without the others.

In one sentence

Recordist is a Mac app that writes notes from your calls on your own computer, asks whether to record when a call starts, and never joins the call.

In one paragraph

Recordist is a desktop app for Mac computers with Apple silicon that turns calls into transcripts and notes on the computer itself. It records the microphone and the sound the Mac plays, so no bot joins the meeting, and when a call starts, a card asks whether to record it. The person recording still tells the others on the call. Transcription runs on the Mac, and a built-in engine writes the notes there too, or the person can use their own AI provider key. There is no account, and audio never leaves the Mac.

About Recordist (100 words)

Recordist is a Mac app that writes notes from calls on the user's own computer. It records the microphone and the sound the Mac plays, so nothing joins the call, and when a call starts, a card asks whether to record. The person recording tells the others on the call. Transcription runs on the Mac, and a built-in engine writes the summary, decisions and action items there unless the user picks their own AI provider. Audio never leaves the Mac, and there's no account. The free beta needs a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 14.6 or later. See recordist.app.

Fact sheet

Checked on 8 October 2026 against version 0.3.10 of the app.

Name
Recordist, one word with a capital R. The website is recordist.app.
What it is
A desktop app that records calls on the person's own computer, transcribes them there and writes notes: a summary, decisions, action items and open questions. Recordist has no server that holds recordings, transcripts or notes.
Platforms and requirements
A Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or later) and macOS 14.6 or later. Windows and Linux versions are not offered yet. Early builds aren't notarised by Apple yet, so macOS asks once before the first launch.
Memory and notes
On a Mac with 8 GB of memory, the built-in engine uses its smallest model, which can miss action items or state decisions nobody made. For the best notes, use a Mac with 16 GB or more, or your own AI provider key.
Current version
0.3.11, released 8 October 2026. Every version before 1.0 is a beta.
Price
The beta is free. Free is $0 with no time limit: every install starts with 14 days of Pro, and after that it includes 3 AI notes a month, with unlimited recording, transcription, search and Prep Briefs. Pro is $6 a month, or $48 a year ($4 a month). Team is $9 per user a month. Checkout for Pro and Team isn't open yet. The pricing page has the details.
Privacy
Audio never leaves the Mac. With the built-in engine, transcripts and notes stay on the Mac too. If the person chooses a cloud AI provider, the transcript of each meeting they write notes for goes from the Mac to that provider under their own key. There is no account and no telemetry. The Privacy Ledger in the app lists its network requests, apart from a few kinds named in the help article, none of which carries meeting content, and the Privacy receipt adds them up.
Consent
When a call starts, a card asks "Record this meeting?", and nothing from that call is recorded until the person answers. Apps the person adds to the auto-record list skip the card, and that list starts empty. The Record now button in the main window starts at once. Recordist doesn't tell the other people on the call, so the person recording tells them.
Speakers
The person's own voice is labelled You. Everyone on the other side of the call shares one label for now, and it can be renamed in each meeting.
Exports and assistants
A meeting exports as Markdown, text, SRT, VTT or JSON, and Export to folder saves the Markdown into any folder, such as an Obsidian vault. Assistants such as Claude Desktop, Claude Code and Cursor can search meetings through a local API, MCP and A2A, which by default answer only on the same Mac.
Open-source gateway
The gateway that connects those assistants to Recordist is open source under the MIT licence: app.recordist/gateway in the official MCP Registry, @recordist/gateway on npm, and recordist-app/gateway on GitHub. It is optional and works with the Recordist app on the same Mac.
Built with
whisper.cpp for transcription, and an Ollama runtime that the app manages, with open Qwen models, for the built-in notes engine.
Made by
A small independent software studio. The company's legal name and address are on the Terms page.

Dates

  1. Version 0.1.0, the first private build. Details
  2. Version 0.3.0: the Privacy Ledger, Prep Briefs and the Free, Pro and Team plans. Details
  3. The open-source gateway is published on npm and in the MCP Registry. Details
  4. Version 0.3.5: every version before 1.0 is a beta, and macOS 14.6 becomes the minimum. Details
  5. Version 0.3.10: managed settings for IT, Markdown export and the Privacy receipt. Details
  6. Version 0.3.11: AI notes checked against the transcript, a small first speech model so the first recording can start sooner, and size and SHA-256 checks on the speech models and the notes engine it downloads. Details

The public launch date hasn't been announced. Until then, the free Mac beta is open, and the download link comes by email from the beta page.

Logos

The logo is the mark, a rounded square with an amber dot in its corner, beside the name in lowercase. Choose the file for the background it will sit on. Please keep the proportions and colours as they are, and leave some space around it. The SVG files have the name as outlines, so they look the same on any computer.

Logo for dark backgrounds: the Recordist mark and name

Logo for dark backgrounds

The mark and the name.

SVG PNG, 1280 × 320

Logo for light backgrounds: the Recordist mark and name

Logo for light backgrounds

The mark and the name.

SVG PNG, 1280 × 320

Mark for dark backgrounds: the Recordist mark

Mark for dark backgrounds

For small spaces, such as a profile picture.

SVG PNG, 1024 × 1024

Mark for light backgrounds: the Recordist mark

Mark for light backgrounds

For small spaces, such as a profile picture.

SVG PNG, 1024 × 1024

Colours

  • Amber #E8A33D
    the dot, on dark
  • Deep amber #C8861B
    the dot, on light
  • Ink #141418
    text on light, the mark on dark
  • Night #0A0A0C
    dark background
  • Paper #F7F6F2
    light background

The name in the logo is set in Inter SemiBold. Headings on the website use Instrument Serif.

Share image

The Recordist share image: the logo and the line Your meetings, written down and kept on your own computer.

1200 × 630 PNG, the image link previews use.

App screens

These are screens of the real app, version 0.3.9, with made-up people and meetings. The notes in them, and the action items and Prep Brief built from those notes, were written by hand for this example in the app's own format. Select a screen to open it at full size. The same sample meetings are in the browser demo, which runs the real interface.

The Recordist card that appears when a call starts: Record this meeting? with the meeting title, the attendee, a reminder about consent, and the buttons Record, Not this one and Snooze. (opens the full-size image)
The card that appears when a call starts. Nothing from that call is recorded until the person clicks Record, unless that app is on their auto-record list.

Download PNG, 1152 × 642

Recordist meeting library listing five recent meetings: two interviews, a programme sync, a 1:1 and a hiring sync, grouped by day. (opens the full-size image)
The Meetings list, with a Prep Brief for a calendar meeting that starts soon with someone recorded before.

Download PNG, 2560 × 1600

A programme sync in Recordist: the transcript on the left and notes on the right with a summary, a decision and three action items, each with an owner and a due date. (opens the full-size image)
A meeting with its transcript and notes: a summary, a decision, and action items with owners and dates where they were said.

Download PNG, 2560 × 1600

A recorded interview in Recordist: the transcript on the left with timestamps, and AI notes on the right using the Interview template, with a summary, open questions and action items. (opens the full-size image)
An interview with notes from the Interview template.

Download PNG, 2560 × 1600

Recordist search results for the word start, showing matching sentences from three meetings with their dates and times. (opens the full-size image)
Search everything finds a word in every meeting, with the sentence and the time it was said.

Download PNG, 2560 × 1600

The Recordist action items list, showing open items from several meetings with owners and due dates. (opens the full-size image)
Action items from every meeting in one list.

Download PNG, 2560 × 1600

How to write about us

Name and spelling

  • Write Recordist, one word with a capital R. The lowercase recordist appears only in the logo.
  • The website is recordist.app, and the account on X is @recordistapp.
  • Please call the makers Recordist, or the team behind Recordist. We don't name individuals, and quotes are given in Recordist's name.

Words that stay true

  • Recordist records calls on the person's own Mac, and no bot joins the call.
  • When a call starts, a card asks whether to record it.
  • The person recording tells the others on the call. Recordist doesn't tell them.
  • Audio never leaves the Mac. With the built-in engine, transcripts and notes stay on the Mac too.
  • Recordist needs a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 14.6 or later. Windows and Linux versions are not offered yet.

If you compare Recordist with other tools, our comparison cites a source for each claim about another tool, with the date it was read.

Please don't write

That it runs on Windows, Linux or an Intel-based Mac.
Recordist needs a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 14.6 or later. Windows and Linux versions are not offered yet.
That it asks before every recording.
Apps the person adds to the auto-record list skip the card, and so does the Record now button in the main window.
That nothing ever leaves the computer, or that it is 100% local.
Model downloads and update checks use the internet, and if the person chooses a cloud AI provider, transcripts go to it. Audio never leaves the Mac.
That it is invisible, undetectable or secret.
Nothing joins the call, so the person recording tells the others.
That it knows who said what.
The person's own voice is labelled You, and everyone on the other side of the call shares one label for now.
That it is notarised by Apple.
Early builds aren't notarised yet, so macOS asks once before the first launch.
That its notes are always accurate.
The notes carry a reminder to check them against the recording before acting on them.
That Ask reads all of a person's meetings.
Ask reads the last 5 or 8 meetings, or the ones a search found, and it is part of Pro.
That it is compliant with HIPAA, GDPR or another law or standard.
We make no such claim. The Trust Center and the summary for reviewers say what the app does with data.
Numbers of users, downloads or customers.
We haven't published any.
Speaker separation or a live co-pilot.
Neither is in the app.

Contact

For press, write to [email protected]. Please say where your piece will appear and when you need an answer.

If you'd like to try Recordist, ask for the free beta on the beta page, or open the demo in your browser, where nothing is recorded.

Help with the app: [email protected]. Security reports: [email protected].

Links

On this site: Features · Pricing · Changelog · Trust Center · Summary for IT, security and legal reviewers · The app in your browser · Known issues · MCP server for developers