Getting Started with the Wave Chrome Extension
Record any browser tab, your microphone, or both — transcribed and summarized in your Wave library.
The Wave Chrome extension records the audio playing in any browser tab, your microphone, or both at once — no bot joining the call and no screen share. Recordings land in your Wave library and get the same transcript and summary as everything else.
Install and sign in
Install Wave AI from the Chrome Web Store.
Click the Wave icon in your Chrome toolbar, then click Get Started.
A Wave sign-in window opens with Sign in with Google, Sign in with Apple, and Sign in with Microsoft. Pick the same one you use for your Wave account.
Use the same login method as the Wave app. Signing in a different way looks like a brand-new account to Wave, and you'll get "No existing account found. Make sure to login with the same method that you used for the Wave app." Your recordings won't show up in your library.
Choose what to record
The popup has two Audio sources you can turn on and off:
- Tab Audio — everything playing in your current Chrome tab: Google Meet, browser Zoom, Teams on the web, a lecture, a podcast, a video.
- Microphone — your own voice, for a memo or for your half of a meeting.
Turn both on to capture the call and your voice in one recording. At least one source always has to stay on, so the last one won't switch off. Under the toggles, Current tab shows which tab Wave will capture (in microphone-only mode this reads Context instead — it's just the tab you happened to be on).
If you have more than one microphone, a Microphone dropdown appears with System Default plus each device. You can change it before or during a recording.
Record
Open the tab you want to capture, then click the Wave icon.
Set your audio sources, then click Record. If Wave needs microphone permission, it opens a Microphone Access page — click Allow Microphone and recording starts on its own.
A timer and audio-level meter run while you record. You can close the popup; recording keeps going in the background.
Click Stop. The button switches to Saving... while the audio uploads, then you'll see "Recording uploaded! Processing transcription..."
Two things you can do mid-recording: click Cancel to throw the recording away without saving, and — if you move to a different tab — click Record this tab instead to move the capture over without stopping. Tab audio still plays through your speakers the whole time, so a meeting sounds completely normal.
Finding your recordings
Your five most recent sessions are listed under Recent Sessions at the bottom of the popup. Click one to open it at app.wave.co, or click Open Wave Library to see everything. A session still being transcribed shows a Processing badge.
Extension recordings sync to your Wave account like any other session, so they show up on your phone, on the web app, and in Wave Desktop too.
What it can't record
- Chrome's own pages. Tabs on
chrome://, extension pages, andabout:pages can't be captured — Wave reports "Cannot capture audio from internal pages." Switch to a normal web page first. - Audio outside Chrome. A desktop Zoom or Teams client, a native music app, or a phone on speaker isn't in a browser tab. For those, use Wave Desktop, which captures your computer's system audio.
- Other Chromium browsers. The extension ships for Chrome.
FAQ
Check that Tab Audio is on and that the tab is actually playing sound. The level meter moves while Wave hears audio — if it's flat, the wrong source is on, or you're capturing the wrong tab.
Wave shows "Access denied. Please allow microphone access in your browser settings." Click the icon at the left of the Chrome address bar, set Microphone to allow, then start the recording again.
Almost always a sign-in mismatch. Sign out of the extension using the icon next to your email in the popup header, then sign back in with the exact method you use for the Wave app.
Yes — that's the point of the extension for browser meetings. It captures the tab locally, so nothing appears in the participant list. For meetings held in a desktop app, Wave Desktop does the same thing at the system level.
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