Quick answer: To transcribe a Zoom meeting on a Mac without a bot, open Lyonesse for Mac, choose Microphone + System Audio as the audio source, and allow Lyonesse under Screen & System Audio Recording in System Settings. Then quit and reopen Lyonesse, and record. Your voice comes from the microphone and the other people come from the sound your Mac plays, so no one has to be invited to the call.
The short version
- Open System Settings, go to Privacy & Security, and turn on Microphone for Lyonesse.
- In the same place, turn on Screen & System Audio Recording for Lyonesse.
- Quit Lyonesse and open it again. macOS only applies the change after a restart of the app.
- In Lyonesse, open Settings, go to Audio Source, and pick Microphone + System Audio.
- Run a 20 second test before the real call. Say a sentence, play a video, stop, and read both.
- Start recording when the call starts. Stop when it ends, and the transcript and speaker labels are created on your Mac.
Why a Mac needs two permissions
Your microphone only hears your room. The people on the call come out of your speakers or headphones as sound your Mac plays, and macOS treats that as a separate kind of audio. To hear it, an app needs the Screen & System Audio Recording permission. The name is misleading. Lyonesse uses it to listen to sound. It does not read or save what is on your screen.
If you only turn on the microphone, you get a transcript of your own voice. The other side of the call is missing, and the transcript looks normal enough that you might not notice until later. For that reason the recorder shows a notice when Microphone + System Audio is selected but the system audio permission is off.
After you allow the permission, macOS asks you to quit and reopen the app. Do that before you record. A recording started before the restart can still be missing the other side.
Set up Lyonesse for Mac
Lyonesse for Mac has one audio source setting for recordings. It is in Settings under Audio Source, with three choices: Microphone Only, System Audio, and Microphone + System Audio. For a call, use Microphone + System Audio, so your voice and the other speakers are both recorded into the same file.
Start a recording, then check the recorder. If it shows the notice about system audio, open System Settings from the notice, allow Lyonesse, and reopen the app before you start the real call.
If you use a Bluetooth headset, check the input and output devices before the call. A headset that switches between a phone-quality profile and a music profile can change what the Mac hears. Test the setup with the headset you will actually wear.
Test it for 20 seconds first
A meeting is a bad time to find out that one side is missing. Before you join, start a short recording, say one full sentence, and play a short video or any sound from another app. Stop the recording and play it back. You should hear your sentence and the sound from the video. If the video is missing, go back to the permission step. If your sentence is missing, check the microphone choice in System Settings.
Tell people you are recording
Lyonesse does not announce a recording to the other people on the call. You need to do that yourself. Say something like, "I'm recording this on my Mac so I can get the notes right. Let me know if you'd rather I didn't." Then wait for an answer before you start.
The rules differ by country, state and employer, and some places require every person on the call to agree. This is general information, not legal advice. If the call is with clients, patients or a regulator, check your own policy first. If the recording is for a class, the school's rules usually decide, and can you record a lecture covers what to ask.
Bot or no bot: what is the difference?
Many meeting tools join the call as a participant. They appear in the list, they send their own audio to their servers, and everyone can see them. That can be useful, but it is a different setup from recording on your own computer.
A Mac app captures from the device you are using. Nothing joins the call and no invitation is needed. The trade-off is that the recording only covers what your Mac plays and hears. If you are on a phone or a second device during the call, that audio is not captured by this setup. For the bot-based tools and how they work offline, see whether Fireflies works offline and the Otter alternative that runs offline.
Where the audio goes
Recording, transcription, speaker labels, summaries and Q&A run on your Mac, with no Lyonesse cloud. The first time you use a speech model or speaker model, the Mac downloads the model file. Only the model comes in. Your audio does not go out for that.
Whether the audio leaves your Mac depends on the language. For English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Chinese, the speech engine works on the device, and the audio stays there. Danish, Dutch and Swedish also stay on the device once you download the Parakeet model in Settings. For other languages, the speech engine may need Apple's servers, and in that case the audio is sent to Apple. Check the language you record in before a call with a sensitive topic.
If iCloud sync is on, your notes, transcripts and summaries are copied to your own iCloud account, which Apple hosts. It is on by default. You can turn it off in Settings if you want the text to stay on one device. The details are in our privacy policy.
When it goes wrong
- Only your voice is in the transcript. The system audio permission is off, or it was granted after the app started. Turn it on in System Settings, quit Lyonesse, reopen it, and record again.
- No sound at all from the other side. Check that the call app is playing through the output you expect, then run the 20 second test again.
- The sound drops when you switch headphones. Bluetooth headsets can change the audio profile mid-call. Use wired headphones or a built-in speaker for important calls.
- The recording stopped early. Check the recording in the library before you assume it is gone. Lyonesse saves audio to disk as it records, so an interruption should not lose everything you captured.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I transcribe a Zoom meeting on a Mac without a bot?
Yes. Lyonesse for Mac records from your own computer, so no bot joins the call. Turn on Microphone and Screen & System Audio Recording for Lyonesse, then record with Microphone + System Audio selected.
Why does Lyonesse ask for Screen & System Audio Recording?
macOS uses that permission for any app that needs to hear the sound your Mac plays, including the other people on a call. Lyonesse uses it only to capture that sound for the transcript.
Does this work for Teams and Google Meet too?
The setup is the same for any app whose sound plays through your Mac, including Teams and Meet in a browser. Run the 20 second test with the app you use before you rely on it for an important call.
Does a Mac transcript leave my Mac?
Not to a Lyonesse server. For the listed languages the audio stays on the device. For some other languages, Apple's speech service can process the audio, so check the language first. iCloud sync copies text to your own iCloud if it is on.
Related reading
- AI meeting notes offline
- A private meeting assistant
- A meeting minutes template
- AI meeting minutes apps
Get Lyonesse for Mac
Record a call from your Mac with no bot, get a speaker-labeled transcript on the device, and ask questions about it later. Works on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
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