Built-in note-taker
Zoom is recording your meeting: saying no, and who can stop it
When a Zoom meeting is being recorded, Zoom asks everybody for consent as they join or as recording starts — and the only way to say no is to leave. Only the host or a co-host can stop it.
Part of Zoom's own app
Read on 10 November 2026
How it got into your call
- The host or a co-host pressed Record. A cloud recording needs a licensed user on a paid Zoom account; a recording to the computer is saved on the computer of whoever recorded.
- Some accounts are set to ask only people from outside the company for consent, so colleagues may not see the prompt.
Turn it off
- The host or a co-host stops it from Record in the meeting controls — the same button that starts it.
- If you are not the host, ask them to stop before you speak, or to leave out the part you do not want recorded.
Stop it in a call that is running
- When Zoom asks for consent, OK agrees. Cancel or Leave, then Leave Meeting, is how you say no — it takes you out of the meeting.
- If you are already in the meeting when recording starts, you are asked then, without changing your settings.
- Zoom's prompt offers two answers, agree or leave. If you want to stay but not be recorded, that is for the host to arrange — ask them.
What it keeps
A cloud recording is available only to the host, unless they share it. A recording made on a computer stays on that computer and is converted after the meeting ends.
In Zoom's own words
Everybody is asked
Zoom“When joining a meeting that is already being recorded or the host begins recording, participants are asked to provide consent.”
support.zoom.com/hc/en/article
Saying no
Zoom“Click Cancel or Leave, then Leave Meeting to opt out and exit the meeting.”
support.zoom.com/hc/en/article
Only outsiders, on some accounts
Zoom“Depending on the account, admins can adjust this consent notification to only affect external participants, or apply to all meeting participants, internal or external alike.”
support.zoom.com/hc/en/article
Who can stop it
Zoom“allowing the co-host to manage the administrative side of the meeting, such as managing participants or starting and stopping a recording”
support.zoom.com/hc/en/article
The button
Zoom“Record : Start or stop a cloud or computer recording.”
support.zoom.com/hc/en/article
Who can record to the cloud
Zoom“In order to start a cloud recording, you must be a Licensed user on a paid account.”
support.zoom.com/hc/en/article
Who has the cloud recording
Zoom“cloud recordings are only available to the host of the session”
support.zoom.com/hc/en/article
A recording on a computer
Zoom“After you end a Zoom meeting, your computer-recorded meeting will convert.”
support.zoom.com/hc/en/article
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
Zoom meeting transcriptsSince May 2026 Zoom separates live captions, which nobody can save, from meeting transcripts, which are a saved record. Transcripts are off unless a host or admin turns them on — but an admin can turn them on for every meeting.ChatGPT RecordChatGPT's record mode runs in the ChatGPT app on its user's Mac and hears the meeting through their computer. Nothing joins the call, and OpenAI puts the duty to ask for consent on the person recording.Productive NotetakerProductive, the agency management tool, has a notetaker that joins calls as a visible participant and announces itself in the chat. Once the meeting has started, its own user can no longer stop it from Productive.AudioCodes Meeting Insights (Mia)Meeting Insights is AudioCodes' meeting recorder, sold to companies. Its bot, Mia, joins under a name the company sets — often somebody's first name followed by “Meeting Assistant” — and removing it stops the recording.Motion AI NotetakerMotion, the calendar and project app, has an AI Notetaker that joins Zoom, Google Meet and Teams calls as a visible participant. Motion says anybody in the meeting, not just the host, can remove it — though its user can send it back.Speak AI Meeting AssistantSpeak AI's Meeting Assistant joins Zoom, Google Meet, Teams and Webex calls from its user's calendar, under whatever name and picture they give it. A company can bar it from another organisation's calls altogether.
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.