Setup
Meeting transcription works out of the box — no calendar connection required. OpenWhispr detects meetings automatically through process and microphone monitoring.1
Grant screen recording (macOS)
macOS requires screen recording permission to capture meeting audio. You’ll be prompted during onboarding.
2
Start a meeting
Meeting detection is on by default. When a meeting starts (Zoom, Teams, FaceTime, Google Meet), a notification asks if you want to record.
3
Optional: Connect Google Calendar
Go to Integrations > Google Calendar to auto-fill meeting titles and attendees in your notes. This enhances the experience but isn’t required for transcription to work.
How detection works
OpenWhispr uses two primary signals to detect meetings, with an optional third:- Process monitoring — detects Zoom, Teams, FaceTime, and Webex
- Microphone activity — catches browser-based calls like Google Meet
- Calendar awareness (optional) — when connected, shows the event name in the notification and auto-fills meeting details in the note
Live transcription
Meeting audio is transcribed in real time via a cloud streaming provider (OpenAI Realtime, AssemblyAI Universal-3 Pro, or Deepgram). During a meeting:- Text appears as it’s spoken
- Speaker labels are assigned live and refined after the call
- A dedicated meeting hotkey lets you start/stop independently from dictation
Speaker diarization
OpenWhispr identifies who’s speaking during a meeting:- Live labels — assigned during recording
- Post-processing — clusters are refined into stable speaker groups
- Voice fingerprints — attach voice profiles to contacts so recognized speakers carry their name across meetings
- One-click reassignment — fix any mislabeled speakers after the call
Controls
A floating pill appears at the top of the transcript during recording. From there you can:- Toggle identification off for this meeting — transcripts fall back to “You” / “Others” labels based on audio source (your mic vs system audio). Your global setting stays unchanged.
- Adjust expected speaker count — a “1 other in call” stepper. Calendar attendees pre-fill the count; bump it up if more people join. Unscoped recordings cap at a sensible default to prevent phantom speakers.
After the meeting
Meeting transcriptions are saved as notes. You can:- Review and edit in the note editor
- Apply AI actions to clean up or summarize
- Search across past meetings using semantic search