Does Audiee.ai join Zoom like Fireflies or Otter?
No. Audiee.ai never joins a Zoom call, and nothing is added to the participant list. It is a Mac app that records from your Mac's own system audio and microphone, so the other people on the call see exactly what they saw before: no extra participant, no note-taker waiting to be let in. Fireflies and Otter work the other way round: their note-takers join the meeting as a participant, which is what puts a bot in the participant list. Audiee.ai also records only when you press start; it does not read other people's calendar invitations to decide which meetings to attend. Two things stay your job: telling the people on the call that you are recording, and knowing that the audio goes to the cloud to be transcribed (Audiee.ai's servers keep no copy).
Facts about Fireflies and Otter checked October 2026 and linked to the pages they came from in Sources.
What happens when a Zoom call starts
- Audiee.ai notices Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams or Feishu (Lark) on your Mac and offers to take notes. Nothing is sent to the meeting and nothing joins it.
- Recording begins when you press start, and not before. Audiee.ai does not read other people's calendar invitations to decide which meetings to attend.
- The audio comes from your Mac's system output and microphone — what you hear and what you say — so the participant list is unchanged.
- After the meeting, the transcript, summary, your action items and what you are waiting on from others are written as Markdown files on your Mac.
- Only you see them. Nothing is emailed to attendees; sharing means you name a recipient.
How Fireflies and Otter join a call
Fireflies sends its note-taker into the meeting as a participant, and by default emails the recap to everyone on the invitation; both are described on its own help pages (checked October 2026). Otter's note-taker also joins meetings as a participant: the Microsoft Q&A thread in Sources is a Teams user asking how to stop it attempting to join after it had been turned off (checked October 2026). Neither behaviour is a fault; it is how a bot-based recorder works. It is also why some companies block them, and why a recorder that runs on your own Mac is a different conversation to have with IT — see when IT blocks meeting bots.
What not joining the call does not change
- You still tell people. A bot at least announces itself; Audiee.ai does not. Say that you are recording at the start of the call. Audiee.ai reminds you before your first recording.
- Audio still goes to the cloud. Audiee.ai streams the audio to a transcription service and gets text back. Its servers keep no copy, and your notes stay on your Mac, but it is not an offline tool.
- Mac only. Audiee.ai runs on macOS 13 or later, on Apple silicon and Intel.
Will the people in the Zoom meeting know Audiee.ai is recording?
Not unless you tell them. Nothing joins the call and nothing announces itself, so disclosure is yours to make; Audiee.ai shows a notice before your first recording for exactly that reason. Recording law differs by place — see is it legal to record meetings?
Does it work on Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Feishu too?
Yes. Audiee.ai detects Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Feishu (Lark) on your Mac and offers to take notes. For any other call — Tencent Meeting, DingTalk, a WeChat call — or an in-person meeting through the Mac's microphone, press Ctrl+M.
Does Audiee.ai start recording by itself?
No. It records only when you press start. It does not join meetings on its own, and it does not read other participants' calendar invitations.
Where do the audio and the notes go?
Audio is streamed to a transcription service in the cloud and comes back as text; Audiee.ai's servers keep no copy of it. The transcript, summary and notes are written as Markdown files on your Mac. Delete the app and the files are still there. Audiee.ai is not an offline tool. The trust page lists every service involved.
Does Audiee.ai email the notes to everyone on the invitation, like Fireflies?
No. Only you see a meeting's notes until you share them, and sharing means typing a named recipient's email address; they get a read-only link that can expire and be revoked. Fireflies emails its recap to everyone on the invitation by default, according to its own help page (checked October 2026).
Sources
- Fireflies guide: meeting recap emails and privacy settings (checked October 2026)
- Microsoft Q&A: stopping the Otter.ai note taker from attempting to join Teams meetings (checked October 2026)
- Audiee.ai trust page: where your data goes, service by service
- Audiee.ai privacy policy
- When IT blocks meeting bots: the eight questions IT asks
- Is it legal to record meetings?
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