Most AI notetakers work by sending a bot into your meeting — a named participant that joins the call, announces itself, and sits in the attendee list next to everyone else. Since March 2026, Google Meet places third-party bots like these in a default-deny risk queue, so a bot showing up as a guest can be blocked before it ever records a word. Even when it isn't blocked, it's still a visible stranger on the call — the kind of thing that makes a client ask "wait, what is that?" in front of everyone.
TinyScribe skips the bot entirely. It records what your own Mac hears — your microphone and the system audio already playing through your speakers — during whatever call software you already use. There is no bot to queue: TinyScribe listens on your Mac, so Google Meet's risk check never sees anything to block, and your attendee list stays exactly as your guests expect it.
TinyScribe runs on your Mac, not inside the call. It listens to the same audio your Mac is already playing and picking up — the same thing you'd hear yourself with the volume up. Setup is your Mac and nothing else: open your meeting app the way you normally would, and the notes take care of themselves.
SpeechAnalyzer — nothing about the audio needs to leave your Mac to become text.One honest thing worth saying plainly: other participants don't see a TinyScribe indicator on their screen the way they'd see a bot in the attendee list. The red recording dot lives on your Mac's menu bar, not theirs. Whether and how you tell people you're taking notes is your call — see how TinyScribe handles recording consent.
Compare with the bots directly: TinyScribe vs Otter · TinyScribe vs Fireflies