What is Bot-free recording?
Recording a meeting from your own computer's audio, instead of sending an AI notetaker bot to join the call as a guest.
Many AI notetakers work by sending a bot into your meeting. It joins as an extra guest, often named something like “Notetaker”, and records from inside the call. Bot-free recording skips the guest: an app on your computer captures your microphone and your computer’s sound instead.
Why people prefer it
- No awkward guest. Clients and candidates don’t see an unfamiliar bot in the room.
- Works anywhere. Any app, a phone on speaker, or an in-person conversation, not just meetings with a link.
- No host permissions. Some companies block outside bots from their calls.
The trade-offs
A bot can see the call’s participant list and video. A bot-free app hears what your computer hears. Some bot-free apps still send audio to the cloud for transcription. Others, like Fetch, keep it local.
In Fetch
Fetch never joins your call. It notices Zoom, Google Meet, Teams and Slack calls starting and records from your PC, with transcription on your computer. See Automatic call detection and How to record Zoom meetings on Windows without a bot.
Questions people ask
Do I still need to tell people I'm recording?
Yes. Bot-free just means there's no extra guest in the call. Recording laws differ by place, and some require everyone's consent. Telling people is the right thing to do anyway.
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