Roundnote

Support

Answers to the questions people ask most. Not here? Email support@roundnote.eu. We read every message and usually answer within a few working days, in English or Dutch.

Contents

Getting started

What do I need?

A Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 26 or later. Summaries by Apple Intelligence need Apple Intelligence switched on; Gemma 4 takes about 5 GB of disk space. The iPhone and iPad app needs iOS 18 or iPadOS 18 or later, the Watch app watchOS 11 or later.

How do I set Roundnote up?

When you first open it, Roundnote asks three things: where to keep recordings and transcripts (a folder you choose, or inside the app), whether to transcribe on this Mac or with an AI service, and who writes the summaries. Then record a meeting, or drop a recording on the window, the menu bar icon or the Dock icon.

How do I record a Teams or Zoom meeting?

In Settings › Recording, choose what happens when a meeting starts: Record automatically, Ask me or Do nothing. Roundnote notices Teams, Zoom, Webex, FaceTime, Slack, Discord and calls in a browser, and records your microphone and the call's sound. The first time, macOS asks for access to the microphone and to the computer sound (System Audio Recording). Roundnote doesn't announce itself in the call, so tell the others you're recording.

And a meeting in a room?

Click Record Now (⌘N), or press Control-Option-R from any app, which also stops the recording; Settings › Recording can change the shortcut. The arrow next to Record Now chooses what it records: Microphone Only for a meeting in a room, or Microphone and Computer Sound, the default, for a call in an app Roundnote doesn't recognise.

Can I add recordings I already have?

Yes. Drop any audio or video file on Roundnote, use File › Import Recording, or put it in the Inbox folder you chose in Settings › Storage.

Can I see the words while the meeting runs?

Yes. While Roundnote records on your Mac, a small window next to your call shows the words a few seconds after they're spoken, with who's speaking: Speaker 1, Speaker 2 and so on, or the name of someone who agreed to have their voice remembered. Click a label to name a voice; the name goes into the finished meeting. It's a preview: the transcript with who said what is made when the meeting ends. Shrink the window to one line, or switch the live text off in the window or in Settings › Recording. On battery it pauses in Low Power Mode or below 20%, and says so; the recording goes on.

How do I mark a moment or take a note?

Click Mark in the recording window, or press Control-Option-M from any app, also while Teams or Zoom is in front; Settings › Recording can change the shortcut. Type a note in the same window, and it's kept with its time. Mark on your iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch works the same: its marks come to the Mac with the recording. Marks and notes go into the summary as what you found important, and your notes stay with the meeting under My notes.

How do I tell the others I'm recording?

Copy Consent Line puts a ready-made line on the clipboard to paste in the meeting chat or the invitation: “I'm transcribing this meeting on my Mac with Roundnote. Nothing is uploaded, and your voice is only remembered if you agree. Tell me if you'd rather not.” It's in the window that offers to record a call, in the calendar's reminder, in the recording window, in the menu bar while recording and in Settings › Privacy, where you can put it in your own words. When Roundnote starts recording a call, it also puts the line on the clipboard by itself, ready to paste with ⌘V; Settings › Recording can switch that off.

On your Mac or with an AI service

Should I transcribe on my Mac or with an AI service?

On your Mac is private, costs nothing extra and works offline: the speech and voice models are built into the app. An AI service can suit you if you already pay for one. Its audio goes to that service, and you pay it yourself. Recognising voices always happens on your Mac either way.

Does Roundnote work offline?

Yes. Transcribing and recognising voices run on-device, with the models built into the app, and need no internet connection. Summaries are written on your Mac too, by Apple Intelligence or by Gemma 4, which is a one-time download.

How do I set up an AI service?

In Settings › AI › Transcription, choose OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Groq or Other AI service (URL), add your API key and click Test Connection. Any service with an OpenAI-compatible /audio/transcriptions endpoint works, as long as it returns timestamps (verbose_json); gpt-4o-transcribe doesn't. Summaries can use a service too, or a model server on your Mac such as Ollama, LM Studio or oMLX. Addresses must start with https, except on this Mac or your local network. Before meetings go to a new server, Roundnote asks once and says what goes there.

Which summary model should I choose?

Apple Intelligence is built into macOS and fine for most meetings. Gemma 4 by Google also runs on your Mac: it reads a long meeting in one go, so long meetings are summarised faster and more as a whole. It takes about 5 GB. Change it in Settings › AI › Summary.

Which languages does Roundnote understand?

100 languages: 25 European ones with the built-in speech model, including Dutch, English, German, French and Spanish, and the rest with Whisper. Each turn's language is recognised, so meetings that mix languages work. Set the spoken language in Settings › AI only for Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese or Slovenian, which can't be told apart from their neighbours.

Can Roundnote translate a meeting?

Yes. While you record, the menu next to the live text shows it in The Meeting's Language, the one spoken most, so a meeting that mixes languages reads as one, or in a language you pick under Translate Into; Show Original shows the words as spoken. A finished meeting has Translate Transcript and Translate Summary, which keep the translation next to the original, with Show Original. Apple's translation does this on your Mac; macOS may ask to download the languages first. For the languages Apple doesn't translate, choose Translate with Gemma in Settings › Recording › Translation. Translate Summary can also go to the AI service you set up for summaries, or to an assistant in the Share menu; What left this Mac then lists it. Sharing and downloads keep the original.

How is Roundnote different from Otter, Fireflies or Granola?

Mostly in where your meetings go. Otter.ai and Fireflies.ai usually add a notetaker to the call, and transcribe and keep your meetings on their servers. Granola doesn't join the call, but transcribes and summarises in the cloud, and doesn't keep the recording. Roundnote transcribes, recognises voices and summarises on your Mac, unless you choose an AI service, and keeps the recording with the transcript. It's bought once; their paid plans are a subscription per person.

iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch

How do recordings get from my iPhone or iPad to my Mac?

Install the free Roundnote app on your iPhone or iPad, and on your Apple Watch. On the Mac, open Settings › iPhone, iPad & Watch › Pair a Device…; on the iPhone or iPad, choose Connect to Your Mac, pick the Mac and enter the code. From then on, recordings go to the Mac whenever both are on the same Wi-Fi, and the Watch sends its recordings through the iPhone. Sending through iCloud, from anywhere, is coming.

Can I start a recording with the Action button?

Yes. Choose Roundnote's Record shortcut for the Action button on your iPhone or Apple Watch Ultra, or say “Record with Roundnote” to Siri. The same button stops it again, and the Watch gives a tap when it starts and stops.

What if the battery runs out or the app stops?

The recording is kept up to that moment, marked as recovered and sent to your Mac as usual. A phone call or Siri pauses a recording, which then continues in the same file.

Does the iPhone or iPad transcribe?

No. Your Mac does all the transcribing; the iPhone, iPad and Watch record and send.

Voices and consent

How does Roundnote know who is speaking?

It tells the voices in a meeting apart and compares each with the people you've named before. A voice it doesn't know stands out, as Speaker 2 for example, tagged Needs a name: play a sample, then type a name or pick a suggestion. A meeting that doesn't need names can be marked Don't Name Speakers in its ⋯ menu.

Why does Roundnote ask whether someone agreed?

A voice profile is biometric data, which the GDPR protects specially. So Roundnote only remembers a voice when you confirm the person explicitly agreed. Choose Name for This Meeting Only to use the name without keeping their voice; that person is then never learned automatically. A name you give in the live text while recording counts for that meeting; for someone who hasn't agreed yet, Roundnote asks “Remember Jan's voice?” when the finished meeting first opens.

How do I take a voice back out?

In People, Forget Voice deletes a person's voice profile and keeps their name, and Delete removes the person. Settings › Privacy › Forget All Voices deletes every profile. You can also switch off remembering voices for the whole app, a category or one meeting.

What if speakers are mixed up?

In a meeting's Speakers, Not X undoes a wrong match, Same Person As… merges two speakers and Split… splits one. Wrong number of speakers? analyses the meeting again. If people get mixed up often, make Settings › Privacy › Match strictness stricter; if Roundnote keeps asking about someone it should know, make it looser.

A name is spelled wrong. How do I fix it?

Add names and terms in Settings › Words, with corrections such as “Akme” to “Acme”. To fix one line, move the pointer over it and click the pencil; Roundnote offers to always write it that way.

Claude, ChatGPT and other assistants

Do I need Claude or ChatGPT?

No. Recording, transcripts, summaries, decisions, action items and search all work in Roundnote on its own. Claude and ChatGPT are for asking across your meetings in your own words, if you use them.

How do I connect Claude or ChatGPT?

In Settings › Assistants, Add to Claude… saves Roundnote's extension for the Claude desktop app, which then asks to install it; Claude Code gets a command to run once in Terminal; and Add to ChatGPT… adds Roundnote to the ChatGPT desktop app's settings file, ~/.codex/config.toml, keeping the rest of it, after which you restart ChatGPT. Then ask, for example: “What did Jan and I decide about the quote since August?” The assistant searches your meetings, says in which meeting and at what moment, and opens it in Roundnote when you ask. This works while Roundnote is closed; if the assistant asks you to open Roundnote, open it once and ask again.

What does the assistant see?

Only what it looks up while you chat: lists of meetings and people, summaries, decisions, action items and the passages it needs. It sends those to its own service, Anthropic or OpenAI, as part of your chat. Meetings and categories set to Hide from Assistants never reach it, and it can't save anything to them. It never sees voice profiles.

Can the assistant change my meetings?

Only with what Roundnote's tools let it save, shown as from Claude or ChatGPT. It can save a refined summary, shown as Refined · Claude with the original one click away, or a translated one, next to the original. It can add action items or mark them done; Roundnote's own item for the same task then makes way, so nothing is listed twice. It can also save the decisions, shown under the summary; tags, in place of Roundnote's; a new title, as if you renamed the meeting; and an extra section under its own heading, such as a follow-up email, which goes into your downloads but never to other people. It can't change the transcript, people's names or Roundnote's own summary.

Does it work on the web or on my phone?

No, only in the desktop apps on your Mac. For a single meeting, the Share menu's Ask items open a new chat in the assistant's app or on its website, with the meeting filled in or on your clipboard to paste.

Can Claude or ChatGPT write the summary instead?

Yes. Choose Share › Ask Claude, Ask ChatGPT or Copy for AI, then a request: Summary and Action Items, Summary Only, Action Items Only or Follow-up Email, or Your Own Question to ask what you like. A request sends what it says (the transcript, the summary, the action items or your notes) and asks for what it saves back. When the assistant has Roundnote's tools, it saves the result in the meeting: the summary as Refined · Claude, the action items From Claude, and Roundnote's own summary stays. Edit Requests…, at the end of every Ask menu, opens the Requests window: change the requests there, or make your own that also ask for decisions, a title, tags or an extra section.

Can I ask another assistant, such as Gemini?

Yes. Switch it on in Settings › Assistants › In the Share menu: Mistral Vibe, Gemini or an assistant of your own, by its name and web address, such as your company's chat. Share › Ask Gemini, for example, then opens its website with the meeting on your clipboard to paste. These assistants answer in the chat: only Claude and ChatGPT can read and save through Roundnote's tools.

How do I send a meeting to everyone who was invited?

Choose Share › Send to Invited People on a finished meeting, or the button under its Actions. It opens an email in Mail or Outlook to the people on the meeting's calendar invitation, leaving you out, with the summary and action items in the message. The transcript goes along as set in Settings › General: attached as Word, PDF, Markdown or text, or in the message itself. A meeting without an invitation goes to the people Roundnote recognised whose email addresses it knows; Share › Email addresses the same people. Your own notes stay out of the email.

The calendar

What does the calendar do?

Allow access in Settings › Calendar. A meeting recorded during an event gets the event's title, the people invited are suggested first when a voice needs a name, and the summary email has the attendees filled in. For events without a call, Roundnote can remind you to record.

Does it work with Google or Outlook calendars?

Yes, once they're in the macOS Calendar app: add the account in System Settings › Internet Accounts. Or add the calendar's link (.ics) in Settings › Calendar.

Buying and restoring Pro

What's free?

Your first 5 meetings, with every feature. Rewriting a summary, analysing the speakers again or merging meetings doesn't count as a new meeting. Recording on the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch is always free.

What happens after the 5 free meetings?

Your meetings stay fully usable. New recordings are kept and wait, under Transcribe with Pro, until you buy Pro. Nothing is lost.

How do I buy Pro?

From the window that opens at your 6th meeting, or from Settings › General. Pro is a one-time purchase through the App Store, for the Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch apps together: €29 at launch, €39 after that. There's no subscription.

How do I get Pro on another Mac?

Sign in with the same Apple Account and choose Restore Purchases in Settings › General. Pro isn't shared through Family Sharing.

Can I get a refund?

Purchases go through Apple, so ask Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com.

Your data

Where are my meetings stored?

On your Mac: in Roundnote's own folder, and in the folders you chose for recordings and transcripts (Settings › Storage). There's no Roundnote server. The privacy policy has the details.

How do I delete things?

Delete a meeting from its menu, or choose Delete Recording, Keep Transcript to save space. Settings › Storage can delete recordings after a number of days, and Settings › Privacy meetings after a set time. To remove everything, delete the app, its folder ~/Library/Containers/eu.roundnote, and the folder ending in eu.roundnote in ~/Library/Group Containers.

How can I see what left my Mac?

Each meeting lists it under What left this Mac: nothing, or each time it went somewhere, with when and where. An AI service's address (for transcribing, summarising or translating the summary), Claude or ChatGPT reading it through Roundnote, an email you opened (and to whom) and what you shared with an assistant or Copy for AI, naming the request. It lists where, never the words themselves, and goes into the copies you download, never into an email. Spotlight, Roundnote's own search and translations made on your Mac stay there and aren't listed.

Can I lock Roundnote?

Yes. Switch on Require Touch ID to open Roundnote in Settings › Privacy. Recording and transcribing go on while it's locked, and the menu bar and notifications don't show meeting titles. While the lock is on, your meetings and people stay out of Spotlight and Siri.

When something goes wrong

How do I send you the diagnostics file?

Choose Help › Send Diagnostics. Roundnote makes a small file with the app version, your Mac and macOS, whether the built-in models load, how many meetings and people you have, your settings (without keys or folders) and recent warnings and errors. Nothing from your meetings: no transcripts, summaries, titles or names. You see what's in it, and it opens an email to support@roundnote.eu with the file attached.

Transcribing is slow. What can I do?

The first meeting on a new Mac prepares the models for its chip once, which takes longer. If it stays slow, switch on Debug mode in Settings › General › Troubleshooting, transcribe a meeting and send the log (Download Log…) with your email.

The recording has my voice but not the others in the call.

Roundnote needs access to system audio. Check that Roundnote is allowed in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Screen & System Audio Recording, then record again.

Still stuck?

Email support@roundnote.eu with what you did, what you expected and what happened. Attach the diagnostics file if you can. Please don't send recordings or transcripts unless we ask, and then only ones you're allowed to share.