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Meeting notes for consultants

Listenr records client calls from your own Mac, so no bot joins and no extra vendor ends up holding a recording of your client’s staff. You choose which model writes the notes, which is the answer a client’s security team asks for.

Listenr is a meeting notes app for consultants on Mac. It records client calls from the Mac in front of you, using the call audio and your microphone, so no bot joins the meeting and no extra vendor ends up holding a recording of your client’s staff. Transcription runs on your Mac by default, and you choose which model writes the notes: one on your Mac, your own API key, or Listenr Cloud. The free plan is licensed for personal use, so billable client work belongs on Pro.

What a client’s security team will ask

Where does the audio become text? On your Mac. The default is Apple’s on-device speech recognition, and the optional Parakeet, SenseVoice and Whisper engines also run locally. The only exception is OpenAI cloud transcription, which you would have to select and which uses your own OpenAI key.

Who sees the content when the notes are written? That depends on one setting:

  • Local model or Apple Intelligence: nothing leaves the Mac.
  • Your own Anthropic or OpenAI key: the prompt goes from your Mac directly to that provider. Listenr’s servers are not involved.
  • Listenr Cloud (Pro): the prompt goes through Listenr’s servers to a model Listenr hosts.

For a stricter client, switch the notes model before the call.

What is in the prompt? The meeting title, date, duration and platform; participant display names with join and leave times; your typed notes and any images you attached; the meeting chat where Listenr can read it; and the transcript. Email addresses are not sent, and the list is the same for every provider. The full breakdown is in what leaves your Mac.

Other answers a review needs: the app is notarized and runs with the hardened runtime, but it is not App-Sandboxed. Meeting files are owner-only on disk, which is not encryption. API keys live in the macOS Keychain. There is no analytics, telemetry or crash reporting.

Who agreed to what

When a change order is disputed six weeks later, you need to know who said it, not just that it was said. Listenr separates the voices on your Mac after the call. Your side is “You” and everyone else is Speaker 1, Speaker 2 and so on.

Names are added where the meeting app tells Listenr who was talking:

  • Google Meet: through the Listenr browser extension for Chrome, Brave, Edge, Arc or Safari.
  • Zoom desktop app: through an Accessibility setting you switch on. It only reads the participant list and never clicks anything.
  • Microsoft Teams: Listenr names speakers in Teams calls too.
  • Zoom in a browser and other apps: voices stay as Speaker numbers.

When the evidence is unclear, Listenr keeps the Speaker number instead of guessing a name. The participant list records join and leave times, so you can see who was in the room when the scope moved. Anything you type during the call goes into the notes prompt in full.

Finding what a client said months ago

Every call becomes searchable text on your own disk. Search it in the app, from the listenr command line, or let Claude Desktop or Claude Code read it through the local MCP server. The CLI and local MCP are free on every plan, read-only by default, and read only the database on your Mac.

Getting notes to the client

Notes deliver to Obsidian or Apple Notes as local files, or to Notion on Pro. Any meeting also exports as Markdown, which is usually the safer way to send a client their notes. A share link, on Pro, creates a public page, so read how sharing works before using one on client work.

When to pick a bot-based recorder

Listenr records only the Mac you are sitting at. If you need notes from a workshop a colleague runs, or a call you could not attend, a bot that joins on its own does that. A bot also shows the client a visible recorder in the participant list, which some clients require. The notetaker bots comparison covers the trade-off.

Common questions

Can I use an AI notetaker on a client call?

That depends on your client’s rules about recordings. Listenr records from your own Mac and nothing joins the call, so using it does not hand a recording of the client’s staff to a third party. The one place another company can enter is the model that writes the notes, and you pick that model in settings.

Does Listenr add a vendor to my client relationship?

Only if the notes model you pick involves one. A local model on your Mac or Apple Intelligence sends nothing. Your own Anthropic or OpenAI key sends the prompt from your Mac directly to that provider. Listenr Cloud, the hosted option on Pro, sends it through Listenr’s servers to a model Listenr hosts.

Does the audio of a client call leave my Mac?

No, unless you choose OpenAI cloud transcription, which sends audio to OpenAI with your own key. Every other transcription engine in Listenr runs on the Mac, including the default, Apple’s on-device speech recognition. A recording is kept only if you ask for it, and it stays on your disk.

Is the free plan enough for consulting work?

No. The free plan includes recording, on-device transcription, speaker labels, notes from a local model or your own API key, the command-line tool and the local MCP server, but it is licensed for personal use only. Paid client work belongs on Pro. Current prices are on the pricing page.

Do I have to tell the client I am recording?

Often yes. Recording consent rules differ by country and by state, and some require everyone on the call to agree. Listenr does not announce itself, so no bot or banner tells the client. Telling them is your job, and your engagement contract may say more.

Install it before your next call.

Recording, transcription and notes from a model on your Mac are free. macOS 15 or later, Apple Silicon.

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