Getting consent to record
What to say before you record a meeting, wording you can reuse in a calendar invite, and where the rules come from.
In closed beta
Meeting Notes is in closed beta and not yet available to everyone. This article describes how it works.
Tell people before you start recording. A sentence at the top of the call covers most situations, and it takes about five seconds.
Say it at the start of the call
Say it once, before you press record, and wait for the room to respond. Something like:
I'm recording this call so I get a transcript and can pay attention instead of typing. Say the word if you'd rather I didn't.
Two things make this work. You said it before the recording started, not after, and you left an opening for someone to say no. If anyone objects, don't record. A summary is not worth a colleague feeling surveilled.
Put it in the invite for recurring meetings
Saying it out loud every week gets old, and people stop hearing it. For a standing meeting, put it in the calendar invite instead:
This meeting is transcribed with an AI notetaker so we have a written record. Reply here if you'd prefer it wasn't.
Keep saying it out loud when someone new joins. The invite covers the regulars, not the guest who has never seen it.
What Epilude records
Epilude records two things while a meeting is running: your microphone, and the meeting audio your Mac plays. That second stream is how the other participants reach the transcript, which is why the recording needs the Screen Recording permission.
Nothing joins your call. There is no bot in the participant list, no second attendee, and nobody else in the meeting sees that Epilude is running. Some people find that reassuring and others find it exactly the reason to say something out loud, which is the point of the sentence above.
By default, Meeting Notes transcribes in Epilude's cloud, and summaries are always created there. With Local transcription, and always in Local Mode, the meeting audio stays on your Mac. Cloud-processed audio is not kept on Epilude's servers, and your notes and transcripts live on your Mac. See How Meeting Notes works for the full picture.
The rules depend on where you are
Recording laws differ by country and by region, and sometimes by who is on the call. Some places require only that you tell participants. Others require every participant to agree before you start. Workplace and sector rules can be stricter still, and a meeting with people in several countries can be covered by more than one set of rules at once.
If you are recording for work, check with whoever handles this at your organization before making it a habit.
Not legal advice
Giving any notice and getting any consent the law requires is your responsibility, and Epilude does not determine what applies to a given meeting. See the Terms of Service for what you agree to when you use Meeting Notes.