Recorder on somebody’s computer
Zoom My Notes can transcribe a Teams or Google Meet call with no sign in the call — what to do about it
My Notes is a personal note-taker in the Zoom app. In Zoom meetings it shows a banner and a pencil icon. In Teams, Google Meet and in-person meetings it listens through the user's own microphone and the sound their computer plays, and nobody else is told.
Not in the list of people it records on its owner's computer
Read on 10 November 2026
How it hears the call
- In a Zoom meeting it transcribes the meeting's own audio, and everybody sees a banner saying the meeting is being transcribed (unless they chose not to see it again); the person using it has a pencil icon in the participant list.
- In Teams, Google Meet or a room, it uses the computer's microphone and system sound, through permissions the user granted to the Zoom app. It can pop up a prompt to start a note whenever the microphone comes on.
- If the person using it mutes themselves in Teams or Meet, it still hears them: it listens to the computer, not the meeting app.
If it is yours: stop it recording
- If you use it: pause or stop transcription inside My Notes. In Teams, Meet and in-person meetings, that is the only switch — the meeting's host has none.
- You can also stop the prompts that offer to start a note every time your microphone comes on.
- A host can stop people using My Notes in the Zoom meetings they host, in Zoom's web settings under Settings → Notes → My Notes; a company's admin can switch it off for the whole account.
If somebody else in the call is using it
- In a Zoom meeting, look for the pencil icon in the participant list. The host can stop that person's transcription; anyone else can ask the host to.
- In Teams, Google Meet or a room there is nothing to see. Zoom reminds the user to follow the law, which may mean telling people — so if you want to know, ask whether anyone is taking notes with an app.
What it keeps
Zoom keeps no audio: it is deleted once the transcript is made. The notes and transcript are saved to the user's Zoom account and, by default, only that user can see them. In a Zoom meeting, if the host deletes the meeting's assets, transcripts made with My Notes are deleted too, unless the user had already finished and saved theirs.
In Zoom's own words
Where it works
Zoom“My Notes is a note-taking feature in the Zoom Workplace app that supports Zoom Meetings, third-party meetings like Microsoft Teams or Google Meet, and in-person discussions”
library.zoom.com/ai/ai-whitepaper/my-notes
How it hears other apps' calls
Zoom“My Notes transcribes third-party and in-person meetings by using operating-system permissions to access the user’s selected microphone and the device’s system audio”
library.zoom.com/ai/ai-whitepaper/my-notes
The prompt to start
Zoom“My Notes can use automatic voice activity detection to identify when the device microphone becomes active and display a prompt to start a new note.”
library.zoom.com/ai/ai-whitepaper/my-notes
Mute does not stop it
Zoom“muting within a third-party meeting application or browser does not prevent My Notes from transcribing audio detected by the device”
library.zoom.com/ai/ai-whitepaper/my-notes
Nobody else is told
Zoom“When used in third party meetings, My Notes does not provide participants with Zoom-native in-meeting indicators or host-managed requests to stop transcription.”
library.zoom.com/ai/ai-whitepaper/my-notes
The reminder to its user
Zoom“users who enable the feature receive a reminder to follow applicable laws when transcribing conversations, which may include providing notice.”
library.zoom.com/ai/ai-whitepaper/my-notes
Only its user can stop it there
Zoom“Once transcription is active, users must pause or stop transcription from within My Notes when audio capture is not desired.”
library.zoom.com/ai/ai-whitepaper/my-notes
In Zoom meetings: the host
Zoom“Zoom meeting hosts can stop active My Notes transcription for everyone in the meeting or for specific participants.”
library.zoom.com/ai/ai-whitepaper/my-notes
In Zoom meetings: the banner
Zoom“When My Notes is turned on in a Zoom Meeting, each participant in the meeting will see a banner indicating that the meeting is being transcribed, unless they have opted to not show it again.”
library.zoom.com/ai/ai-whitepaper/user-transparency-and-notice
In Zoom meetings: the pencil
Zoom“users using My Notes are marked by a pencil icon.”
library.zoom.com/ai/ai-whitepaper/user-transparency-and-notice
No audio kept
Zoom“After the meeting ends and transcription is complete, the audio data used for processing is deleted, while the resulting notes and transcripts remain saved in the user’s Zoom account according to the applicable retention settings.”
library.zoom.com/ai/ai-whitepaper/my-notes
Private to its user
Zoom“By default, My Notes are only available to the user who created them and are not automatically shared with the meeting host or other participants”
library.zoom.com/ai/ai-whitepaper/my-notes
Read on 10 November 2026 from Zoom's own help pages. Something changed? Tell us.
A meeting with nothing to remove
On Meetful the notes are written by the meeting itself, from each person's own microphone, so no extra guest joins. Anybody can leave themselves out of the notes and stay in the call.
Other notetakers
Livestorm recording and transcriptsLivestorm, a webinar and meeting app, records every event unless the organiser unticks a box, and can turn the recording into a transcript afterwards. A red REC sign shows while it records.Zia keynotes in Zoho MeetingZoho Meeting's Zia writes short notes — topics, decisions, action items — from a meeting's recording transcript, using an OpenAI account the host connected. No recording, no notes.Lark AI NotesLark Meetings can summarise a meeting as it happens and send everybody an AI Notes document afterwards. Unless the organiser restricts it, any participant can switch it on — or off.GoTo Meeting recording and transcriptsGoTo Meeting's organisers can record a meeting, and, if their company's admin has switched it on, GoTo writes a transcript from the cloud recording. Attendees are told when recording starts.Webex meeting recordingIn Webex only the host — or a cohost standing in for an absent host — can record. A meeting can be set to record from the moment it starts, and a company can have every cloud recording transcribed.OtterOtter Notetaker joins Zoom, Google Meet and Teams calls from the calendar of whoever connected one — often years ago, to transcribe a single meeting.
Try Meetful
Meetings that take their own notes
Free video meetings in the browser: every line of the transcript under the name of who said it, and the summary and action items when you hang up. Nothing to install — guests just open the link.