Frequently asked questions.

Is echo99 free?

Yes. echo99 is a free download with no account, no signup, and no subscription. Download it, click record.

Does echo99 join my calls as a bot?

No. echo99 never joins a meeting. It records your microphone and your Mac’s audio output locally, so there is no bot participant, no invite, and nothing added to the call itself. Recording laws still apply; see below.

Can echo99 record calls automatically?

Yes. Turn on Auto-record calls once from the menu bar and the setting stays enabled across launches. When another Mac app uses your microphone for a few seconds, echo99 starts recording automatically; after the microphone is no longer in use, it stops the recording. This works with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Slack huddles, FaceTime, Webex, and browser-based calls, without a bot or calendar integration. Getting started shows where the switch is.

Does my audio ever leave my Mac?

No. Recording, transcription, and speaker labeling all run on your Mac. The app ships with limited telemetry: a launch-time update check that sends an anonymous install id. Your audio and transcripts are never uploaded.

Where are my recordings stored?

In ~/Documents/echo99/, one folder per recording, named by its start time (the location is configurable in Config → Storage). Each folder holds mic.wav, system.wav, metadata.json, and after transcription transcript.json and transcript.txt. They are plain files, yours to keep, search, or delete. More in where your recordings go.

Which apps can echo99 record?

Anything that plays audio through your Mac: Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Slack huddles, FaceTime, Webex, browser-based calls, webinars, and ordinary playback.

Which languages does it transcribe?

The default transcription model handles 25 European languages, among them English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Polish, and Czech. The optional Parakeet Unified model is English only. The technology page lists every language for each model.

How does speaker labeling work?

Your microphone track is always labeled Me. echo99 tells the voices on the system-audio track apart on your Mac, so other participants come out as Them-1, Them-2, and so on, with timestamps. Name a speaker once and echo99 puts that name on the same voice in later calls. See speaker identification.

Can it summarize my calls?

Yes. A small language model running on your Mac turns a transcript into a summary. Pick the model in Config → LLM, then open Summary in the Recordings window, or have every recording summarized after transcription. See meeting summaries.

Can I transcribe an existing recording?

Yes. Import Recording… in the echo99 menu takes an audio or video file (such as WAV, MP3, M4A, FLAC, MP4, or MOV) and transcribes it on your Mac with speaker labels. See transcribing audio and video files.

Which Macs does it support?

macOS 14.4 or later (that is when Apple introduced the system-audio capture API echo99 uses). Apple silicon and Intel are both supported; on-device transcription is fastest on Apple silicon.

Does it work offline?

Yes. Setup downloads two speech models once, one for transcription and one for telling speakers apart. Summaries need one more download, only if you use them. After that, recording, transcription, and summaries work with Wi-Fi off. The technology page lists every model.

What permissions does it need?

Two: microphone access and system-audio recording. echo99 asks for both in its first-launch checklist and never records without them. If you denied one by mistake, getting started shows how to turn it back on.

How do updates work?

echo99 checks for a new version each time it launches and tells you when one is ready to download. What’s new lists every release.

Is it legal to record calls?

It depends on where you and the other participants are, and many places require the other side’s consent. echo99 gives you the recorder, not legal advice: tell people you are recording and check the rules that apply to you.