How to record a Zoom meeting on a Mac

Zoom has two of its own — a local recording saved to your Mac and a cloud recording saved to your Zoom account — and the third is to record the call's audio on your Mac with a separate app, which is what Notey does. They differ in who has to allow it, where the audio ends up, and what you get at the end.

This guide walks through each, then covers the part that matters regardless of method: making sure the recording is actually usable, and that the people on the call know about it.

The short answer

If you are the host and want a video file, use Zoom's own recorder. If you want notes rather than a video, or you are a participant, a recorder on your Mac is usually simpler.

Option 1: Zoom's local recording

Zoom's local recording writes the meeting to your Mac. It is available on free Zoom accounts as well as paid ones, but only on the desktop app — not on iPhone or iPad. (Zoom's documentation)

Turn it on

1. Open the Zoom app and choose zoom.us › Settings from the menu bar (older versions call it Preferences).
2. Open Recording. Check the folder recordings are saved to — by default it is a Zoom folder in Documents.
3. If you want each person's voice in a separate file, tick the option to record a separate audio file for each participant. This is the setting that makes an audio file useful for transcription later.

Record the meeting

1. Join or start the meeting.
2. Click Record in the meeting controls, then Record on this Computer.
3. If you are not the host, Zoom asks the host for permission. Nothing is recorded until they allow it.
4. When the meeting ends, Zoom converts the recording. Leave the app open until it finishes; closing it mid-conversion is the usual reason a local recording goes missing.

You end up with a video file and an audio file in the recording folder. There is no transcript: to get one you need to run the audio through something else.

Option 2: Zoom's cloud recording

Cloud recording saves the meeting to your Zoom account instead of your Mac. It needs a paid plan, and whether you also get an audio transcript depends on your plan and on what your organisation's Zoom admin has enabled.

1. In the meeting, click Record and choose Record to the Cloud.
2. After the meeting, Zoom emails the host when the recording is ready. It appears under Recordings in the Zoom web portal.

Cloud recording is convenient for sharing a video with people who missed the meeting. The trade-off is that the audio and video live on Zoom's servers under your account's retention settings, which some clients and employers do not allow.

Option 3: Record the call on your Mac 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 does not join the Zoom meeting and does not use Zoom's recorder, so it works the same whether you are the host or not — and the same on Google Meet, Teams, Slack huddles or a phone on speaker.

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 does not ask for Screen Recording, because it captures the Mac's audio through a Core Audio process tap, which does not need it.

Record a Zoom meeting

1. Join the Zoom meeting as usual.
2. When Zoom starts using audio, Notey's floating button says Zoom call started and asks whether to record. Nothing is saved until you choose Allow.
3. While it records, a red dot and the elapsed time show in the Notey window, the menu bar and the floating button. You can press Stop from any of them.
4. When the call ends, the button offers to finish. Choose Keep recording if you are still talking, or let the countdown run out.

The transcript appears while you talk. Your microphone is labelled You and the Mac's audio is labelled Them, because the two arrive on different tracks — no voice has to be learned to tell them apart. If several people spoke on the other side, a pass after the recording stops tells their voices apart, and you can name them.

If you want it to happen without thinking about it

• Arm the next call. Decide in advance to record the next call you join. It covers one call and lapses after an hour if none starts.
• Always record Zoom calls. Tick this on the floating button and Zoom calls start recording without the question. The choice is listed on Notey's Account screen, where you can change it back.
• Record from your calendar. It is off until you switch it on in Settings › Recording from your calendar and tick the calendars that count; then Notey records the meetings on them. The next one it will record is shown on the Home screen with Turn off beside it.

In every case the recording is announced on screen with Stop beside it.

What you get afterwards

• A transcript on your Mac. Written by the speech recognition built into macOS. For English meetings, Notey reads the recording again on your Mac after the call and keeps the words the recognisers agree on. Meetings you have already edited are left alone.
• Notes, if you ask for them. With an account and a plan — every paid plan starts with two free hours — Notey writes a summary with action items, minutes, a follow-up email and more. Only the transcript's text is sent for this, never audio, and everything the AI wrote is labelled as AI-generated.
• Search. Every meeting is searchable by what was said, with the recording playable from any line.

The audio stays on your disk. Nothing is uploaded to transcribe it, and with no account nothing leaves the Mac at all.

Get a usable recording, whichever method you use

Most bad Zoom recordings are bad for the same few reasons.

Wear headphones if you can. On speakers, your microphone hears the other side as well as you. Zoom's echo cancellation cleans that up for the people on the call, but a recorder capturing your microphone still picks it up. On a two-track recording, that is how someone else's words end up on your side. In Notey you can move a line to the other side if it happens.

Check the right microphone is selected. Zoom and macOS can disagree about which input is in use, particularly after plugging in a headset. In Zoom, click the arrow next to Mute and confirm the microphone; in macOS, check System Settings › Sound › Input.

Be wary of Bluetooth microphones. When a Bluetooth headset's microphone is in use, many headsets switch to a lower-quality audio mode for both directions. If transcripts from AirPods calls are poor, try the Mac's built-in microphone with the headphones for listening only.

Do a ten-second test before an important call. Record yourself and a video playing, and play it back. Checking that there is sound — not just that a file exists — catches most permission problems before they cost you a meeting.

Tell people you are recording

Zoom's own recorders announce themselves. A recorder on your Mac does not, because it is not in the call. That makes telling people your job.

Whether you must ask for consent depends on where you and the other participants are. Some places require only one party to the conversation to agree to a recording; others require everyone. Recording a meeting at work can also fall under data protection law, such as GDPR in the EU and UK, and under your employer's or client's policy. This is not legal advice — see is it legal to record a meeting? for the background.

The simplest habit is to say it at the start: "I'm recording this for my notes — is that all right?" It takes five seconds, and it covers you in almost every jurisdiction.

Recording other call apps on a Mac

The same three questions — who may start the app's own recorder, where its file goes, and whether a recorder on your Mac is the better fit — come up in every call app. Notey notices calls in Zoom, Teams, Slack, FaceTime and supported browsers; in the apps below you press Start yourself.

• Recording a Discord call, which has no recorder of its own on a Mac.
• Recording a Whereby meeting as a host or a guest.
• Recording a Jitsi Meet call, where the browser decides what is possible.
• Recording a GoTo Meeting when you are not the organiser.
• Recording a RingCentral meeting and its phone calls.
• Recording a Dialpad meeting or call.
• Recording a Zoom Phone call, which follows your admin's settings rather than Zoom Meetings'.
• Recording a WhatsApp call and a Signal call, where asking first matters most.

Which should you use?

• You host and want a video to share: Zoom cloud recording, if your plan and your client allow cloud storage.
• You host and want files on your Mac: Zoom local recording, with per-participant audio turned on.
• You want notes and a transcript, host or not, on Zoom and every other app: a two-track recorder on your Mac such as Notey.

Nothing stops you combining them — a Zoom recording for the video, Notey for the transcript and notes.

Frequently asked questions

Can I record a Zoom meeting on a Mac if I am not the host?

With Zoom's own recorder, only if the host gives you permission. A recorder that runs on your Mac, like Notey, captures what your Mac plays and does not ask Zoom. That does not change whether you should record — the law where you and the other participants are, and your organisation's policy, still decide that. See how to ask for consent.

Do other participants know when I record a Zoom call?

When you use Zoom's recorder, Zoom shows everyone a recording indicator and can play a notice. When you record on your own Mac with a separate app, Zoom does not know and shows nothing, so telling people is up to you.

Where does Zoom save local recordings on a Mac?

By default in a Zoom folder inside your Documents folder. You can change the location in the Recording section of Zoom's settings.

Does recording a Zoom call on a Mac need Screen Recording permission?

Zoom's own recorder does not ask your Mac for it. Third-party tools that capture your screen or audio through macOS screen capture do. Notey uses a Core Audio process tap for the Mac's audio, which needs only audio recording permission, so it never asks for Screen Recording.

Can I get a transcript of a Zoom call without uploading the audio?

Yes, if the transcription runs on your Mac. Notey transcribes with the speech recognition built into macOS, so the audio stays on your disk. Zoom's cloud transcripts are made from recordings stored with Zoom.