← Back to home

Record Zoom calls on Mac — both sides, one file

Capture any Zoom call on macOS without asking the host for permission, without a bot joining, and without BlackHole. Both sides are mixed into a single .m4a, and transcription happens locally on your Mac.

How it works with Zoom

  1. 1

    Click record in your menubar

    Before or after the Zoom call starts. ⌘R toggles recording instantly — no settings to open.

  2. 2

    Talk normally

    Call Recorder captures Zoom's output (their voice) and your mic in parallel. You'll see a red dot in the menubar and a gentle reminder every 5 min.

  3. 3

    Stop — get a mixed .m4a

    Hit stop and both sides are mixed into a single timestamped file in ~/Recordings/CallRecorder/. Click Transcribe to get a local transcript.

Why Call Recorder for Zoom

Zoom's built-in recording requires host permission and saves separate audio tracks you then have to mix. Call Recorder sits in your menubar, captures Zoom's system audio plus your mic, and hands you a finished .m4a the moment you stop.

  • No need to ask the Zoom host for recording permission
  • No 'recording' banner shown to other participants
  • Works with Zoom, Zoom Phone, and Zoom webinar audio
  • Captures screen-shared video audio (e.g. if someone plays a clip)
  • Transcription uses Whisper large-v3-turbo on the Apple Neural Engine
  • Skip the post-call mixing — you get one file, not four

Zoom — Q&A

Does Zoom notify the host that I'm recording?+

No. Call Recorder captures the audio at the OS level — Zoom has no idea it's being recorded. Please check your local law before using this; in two-party-consent jurisdictions you must inform everyone.

Can I record Zoom Phone calls?+

Yes. Any audio that plays through your Mac's speakers — Zoom meetings, Zoom Phone, voicemails — is captured the same way.

Do I still need BlackHole / Loopback?+

No. Call Recorder uses ScreenCaptureKit, Apple's native system-audio API. No kernel extension, no virtual audio device.

What about Zoom's own recording?+

You can run both. But Zoom requires host permission and saves separate tracks you have to mix. Call Recorder gives you a ready-to-share mixed file immediately.

Will transcription handle cross-talk?+

Whisper large-v3-turbo handles overlapping speech reasonably, but timestamps are more reliable when people take turns. For heavy cross-talk, mic-only recordings give cleaner transcripts per speaker.

Ready to record zoom properly?

$15 lifetime, or $12/year. 30-day refund. Transcription included.

Get Call Recorder