Getting started.

Finish setup

On first launch, echo99 shows a short checklist. Each row is one tap:

• Microphone access — so echo99 can hear your side of the call. Click Grant and approve the macOS prompt.
• System-audio access — captures the other side (what your Mac plays). Click Grant and approve.
• Transcription model (v3) — the multilingual speech-to-text model, downloaded once to your Mac. Change it later in Config.
• Speaker model — tells the other voices apart, labeling them “Them-1”, “Them-2”, and so on.
• Storage location — where recordings are saved. Default is ~/Documents/echo99; click Choose… to change it.

The two models download from the internet once. After that, recording and transcription work with Wi-Fi off.

You’re ready

When every row is checked, click Continue. echo99 lives in your menu bar — no dock icon, no window.

Automatic recording

Open the echo99 menu and turn on Auto-record calls once. The setting stays enabled across launches. When another Mac app uses your microphone for a few seconds, echo99 starts recording automatically and stops when the microphone is no longer in use.

Record manually

1. Click the echo99 icon in the menu bar → Start Recording.
2. Have your call as usual. echo99 captures your mic and the system audio as separate tracks.
3. Click Stop when you’re done. Transcription runs on your Mac automatically.
4. Open the recording folder to read the transcript and play back either track.

Where your recordings go

Each recording is its own folder under ~/Documents/echo99/:

• mic.wav — your microphone (labeled “Me”).
• system.wav — the other side (diarized into “Them-1”, “Them-2”).
• metadata.json — timestamps and device info.
• transcript.json / transcript.txt — the full transcript with speaker labels.

If a permission was denied

If you clicked “Don’t Allow” by mistake, echo99 can’t record until you re-enable it:

• Microphone: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone → turn echo99 on.
• System audio: System Settings → Privacy & Security → find the audio-recording entry and enable echo99.

Relaunch echo99 after changing a permission.

Requirements

• macOS 14.4 or later (that’s when Apple added the system-audio capture echo99 uses).
• Apple silicon & Intel both supported; on-device transcription is fastest on Apple silicon.