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OpenWhispr watches for the start of a meeting and offers to take notes. It’s on by default. Nothing is recorded until you accept the prompt.

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What actually triggers the prompt

Two things: Both land in the same place, so overlapping signals give you one prompt rather than several.
OpenWhispr also notices when Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Webex or FaceTime are running, but that on its own does not produce a prompt — it’s only used as context. Having Zoom open in the background all day won’t nag you.

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When the prompt says different things

The wording follows what OpenWhispr knows:
  • “It sounds like you’re in a meeting.” — detected from your microphone
  • “Your meeting is starting.” — a calendar event about to begin
  • “It sounds like your meeting is underway.” — a calendar event already in progress
When the event carries a meeting link, the button becomes Join & transcribe and opens the call for you.

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When it stays quiet on purpose

The prompt is suppressed when it would be unwelcome or redundant:
  • You’re already recording a meeting
  • You’re mid-dictation — the prompt waits rather than interrupting you, and arrives once you’ve finished
  • There’s a short cool-down after you finish a recording, so ending one call doesn’t immediately prompt you about the same audio
  • You already dismissed that particular detection

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Turning it off

Open Settings, then Preferences under App, and find Notifications. Two separate switches: They’re independent, so you can keep calendar reminders and drop the microphone prompts, or the reverse. Disable all notifications in the same group silences both — along with everything else except error messages. Switching the prompt off doesn’t remove the feature — you can still start a meeting note whenever you like with the Meeting Mode Hotkey.

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If you never get a prompt

Work through these in order:
  1. Check the switches above. Both are on by default, but they’re the first thing to rule out.
  2. Talk for a bit longer. Microphone detection waits for sustained audio deliberately — a one-line “can you hear me?” may not be enough.
  3. Check your microphone is the one being used. If OpenWhispr is listening to a device you aren’t speaking into, it hears nothing. See choose your microphone.
  4. Connect your calendar if your meetings are scheduled. Calendar events don’t depend on hearing anything at all, which makes them the most reliable trigger — see connect Google Calendar.
If it still never fires, start the note by hand with the Meeting Mode Hotkey and tell us — that’s a bug worth hearing about.