Record meetings automatically on your computer

With automatic recording on, you never have to remember to press Record for a call on your computer. When a meeting app starts using your microphone, Wave shows a short countdown, records in the background, and stops when the call ends. The recording lands in your library with a transcript and notes like any other.

Automatic recording is off until you turn it on. It is a setting for this computer only, so turn it on separately on each Mac you use. It needs macOS 14.2 or later, and it is coming to Wave for Windows.

Turn it on

1. Open Wave and go to Settings › General.
2. Under Meetings, switch on Record meetings automatically.
3. Read the short notice that appears. It explains what Wave will do and checks that Wave is allowed to use your microphone and system audio, so a recording can start later without a system prompt. If something is missing, press Allow next to it.
4. Press Turn on.

Two more options appear under the switch:

• Include calls in a browser. On by default. Covers Google Meet, Teams on the web, Zoom in a browser and other calls in Chrome, Safari, Edge, Firefox, Arc and Brave.
• Pause: for 1 hour, for the rest of today, or until you turn it back on. The same options are in the Wave icon in the menu bar or system tray.

What triggers a recording

Wave watches which app is using your microphone. These apps start a countdown as soon as they have held the microphone for about ten seconds: Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Webex, Slack huddles, Discord, FaceTime and WhatsApp. A browser starts the countdown after about twenty seconds, or sooner when a meeting on your connected calendar is happening right now or the browser is also playing audio.

Dictation, Siri, voice typing tools, screen recorders and Wave's own phone calls never start a recording.

Wave also does nothing when:

• you are signed out or still setting up Wave;
• your free trial has ended (you get the usual "Microphone is active" reminder instead);
• Wave is already recording;
• your screen is locked;
• a Wave meeting bot is already scheduled for the meeting on your calendar.

The countdown

A small pill appears at the top right of your screen: Recording Zoom in 8 s. It never takes focus away from your call. You can:

• press Record now to skip the wait;
• press Cancel to skip this call. Wave then leaves this conversation alone for 30 minutes;
• open the ⋯ menu for Don't record Zoom automatically or Pause for 1 hour / today.

If you do nothing, Wave starts recording when the countdown reaches zero. The mini window opens in the corner and the Wave icon in the menu bar or tray turns red, so a recording in progress is always visible. The main Wave window stays where it was.

If the meeting is on your connected calendar, the recording takes the meeting's name. Otherwise it is named after the app until the AI title arrives.

When the call ends

When the meeting app lets go of the microphone for a minute, Wave stops and saves the recording, and shows a "Wave saved your Zoom recording" notice. Click it to open the notes.

A recording shorter than 30 seconds is discarded rather than saved, so opening Zoom and leaving again does not create a session.

Recordings you started yourself by pressing Record are not stopped automatically. The four-hour safety stop still applies to every recording.

Apps you never want recorded

Pick Don't record … automatically from the countdown's menu, and that app no longer starts a countdown on this computer. The apps you have excluded are listed under Settings › General › Meetings; press the × on a chip to allow the app again. The "Microphone is active" reminder still works for excluded apps if you keep it on.

Telling other people

Wave does not announce the recording to the other participants. Recording laws vary by place; in many of them everyone on the call has to know. Say that you are recording, the same as you would when you press Record yourself.

Troubleshooting

The countdown never appears. Check that the switch is on and not paused, that the app is one Wave recognises, and that your Mac runs macOS 14.2 or later. If Wave is already showing the "Microphone is active" reminder for the same call, the app was not recognised; press Record on the reminder.

A pill says "Couldn't record … automatically". Press Open Wave to see why. The usual causes are a missing microphone permission or an expired trial.

Wave recorded something you did not want. Stop the recording from the mini window and delete it from your library, then use Don't record … automatically for that app.

Everything else about the app, including the mini window, the tray and the "Microphone is active" reminder, is in Wave for Mac, Windows & Linux.