Recording meetings on a Mac

How to record a FaceTime call on a Mac

Ask first — FaceTime calls are where recording law is strictest. Then the two ways to record one on a Mac, FaceTime's own Call Recording and Notey.

By the Notey team at AInject · · · 6 min read

In short

Ask before you record a FaceTime call. Personal calls are where recording laws are least forgiving: in many places recording a private conversation without everyone's agreement is an offence, and a family member or friend who finds out later rarely treats it as a technicality.

You can record a FaceTime call on a Mac in two ways. Apple's own FaceTime app can record an audio call with one other person and plays a notice to both of you. A recorder on your Mac, such as Notey, can record FaceTime calls too, and transcribes them on the Mac — but it is not part of the call, so the other person hears nothing unless you tell them.

This guide starts with consent, because on a personal call it matters more than the method, then covers both ways to record.

A FaceTime call is usually a private conversation with one person, often someone you know well. That is the setting recording laws were written for.

  • Some places require everyone's agreement. Several US states, and many countries, make it an offence to record a private conversation unless every party agrees. One-party and two-party consent sets out the US states and the nuances. When the other person is somewhere else, assume the stricter rule applies.
  • Where one person's agreement is enough, that person is you — but that is a legal floor, not a standard of behaviour.
  • The other person cannot see a recorder that is not in the call. FaceTime's own recorder tells them. A separate app does not.

The practical rule is the same everywhere: ask at the start, and stop if they say no. "Do you mind if I record this so I don't lose track of the details?" is enough. How to ask for consent to record has more wording, including what to do when someone hesitates. Is it legal to record a meeting? gives the wider background.

Option 1: FaceTime's Call Recording

Apple's FaceTime User Guide for Mac, checked in September 2026, describes a Call Recording feature for FaceTime audio calls with one other person. The version of macOS you run decides whether you have it, and Apple says availability also depends on your language and region, so check Apple's guide to FaceTime audio call features for your version. The guide does not describe recording FaceTime video calls.

As Apple describes it:

  1. During a FaceTime audio call with one other person, click the More button.
  2. Click Call Recording. Both of you hear a notice that the call is being recorded.
  3. To stop, click the More button again, then Stop.
  4. Afterwards, open the Notes app and go to the Call Recordings folder to play the recording and read the transcript.

Apple says that with Apple Intelligence you can also summarise a recorded call, where that is available.

This is the simplest option when it fits: it is built in, and the notice does the telling for you. It does not cover group calls or video calls.

Option 2: Record the call with Notey

Notey is a Mac app that records your microphone and the sound your Mac is playing as two separate tracks and transcribes both on the Mac. It notices FaceTime calls and asks whether to record, so it covers calls FaceTime's own recorder does not, such as video calls and group calls.

Set it up once

  1. Download Notey and open it. It runs on Apple silicon Macs with macOS 26 or later. You do not need an account to record.
  2. Allow Microphone when macOS asks, and allow audio recording for what your Mac plays. Notey never asks for Screen Recording; it captures the Mac's audio through a Core Audio process tap.

Record a FaceTime call

  1. Start or answer the call, and ask the other person whether you may record.
  2. Notey's floating button says a FaceTime call has started and asks whether to record. Nothing is saved until you choose Allow. If they said no, choose Not now.
  3. While it records, a red dot and the elapsed time show in the Notey window, the menu bar and the floating button. That indicator is for you; the other person sees nothing in FaceTime.
  4. When the call ends, the button offers to finish. Let the countdown run out, or choose Keep recording.

What you get

  • A transcript on your Mac, your side as You and theirs as Them, because the two arrive on separate tracks.
  • The recording on your disk, every line playable.
  • Live transcription in ten languages, and for English, a second, more accurate on-device pass after the call.
  • Nothing sent anywhere unless you have an account and ask for AI notes, in which case only transcript text is sent, never audio.

Notey records only what your Mac hears. If the call is not coming through the Mac, it has nothing to record.

Which should you use?

  • An audio call with one person, and your Mac offers Call Recording: use FaceTime's own recorder. The built-in notice is the clearest possible way to tell the other person.
  • A video call, a group call, or you want the recording kept with your other meetings: Notey, after asking.
  • You have not asked: neither, yet.

A few habits

  • Use headphones. On speakers, your microphone also hears the other person, and their words land on your track.
  • Say what you will do with it. "I'll keep the notes and delete the recording next week" is a more comfortable request than an open-ended one.
  • Delete what you do not need. In Notey, deleting a meeting removes its recording, transcript and notes.

The same approach, with more on host permissions and call apps, is in how to record a Zoom meeting on a Mac. For calls in WhatsApp's Mac app, which has no recorder of its own, see how to record a WhatsApp call on a Mac.

Frequently asked questions

Can you record a FaceTime call on a Mac?

Apple's FaceTime User Guide for Mac, checked in September 2026, describes recording a FaceTime audio call with one other person, with a notice both of you hear. A recorder on your Mac such as Notey can also record FaceTime calls. Either way, ask the other person first.

Does the other person know if I record a FaceTime call?

With FaceTime's own Call Recording, yes — Apple says both participants hear a notice. With a separate app on your Mac, FaceTime shows them nothing, so you have to tell them.

Where do FaceTime call recordings go?

Apple says FaceTime's recordings and their transcripts go to a Call Recordings folder in the Notes app. Notey keeps its recordings and transcripts on your Mac, in Notey.

It depends on where you and the other person are. Some places let one party to a conversation record it; others need everyone's agreement, and private calls are where those rules are applied most strictly. Asking first covers you almost everywhere.