Transcription and on-device AI

promptpov transcribes your meetings on your Mac; audio is never uploaded. The transcript feeds the Notebook, Recap, briefings and the AI Assistant. With on-device AI, the AI features run on your Mac too.

Turn on transcription

Transcription is part of Pro.

1. Open Settings → General.
2. Tick Transcribe my voice during meetings. macOS asks for microphone access the first time.
3. Under Mic input, pick the microphone you use for meetings, or leave it on the default.
4. Wearing headphones? Tick Also capture remote participants' voices (for headphone users). Otherwise their voices go into your ears and never reach the mic, so the transcript has only your side. This needs Screen Recording permission.

Start it automatically or yourself

Under Default per meeting in Settings → General:

• Start on automatically each meeting: transcription starts when promptpov detects a meeting.
• Start off, I'll enable each meeting manually: it waits until you turn it on.

Either way, the Transcription button on the Control HUD is your on/off switch. Click it to pause or resume. Right-click it for Pause transcription (this meeting), Resume transcription and Open transcription settings…. A pause lasts for that meeting only.

With Auto-pause transcription in sensitive meetings (HR, interview, legal, medical…) on, promptpov pauses transcription when a meeting's title or notes look sensitive. A banner offers Enable anyway (this meeting).

How others know

While transcription runs, your promptpov video shows a small 🎙 transcribing on my device label at the bottom, so everyone on the call can see it. Your menu bar icon changes to a waveform too.

In an audio-only meeting nobody can see that label, so promptpov pauses transcription and asks first. Click I've announced it — continue after you've told the room, Show card + badge instead to replace your face with a card carrying the label (your camera must be on in the meeting app), or Pause transcription (this meeting).

Live captions

To read the transcript as you talk, enable the Live Captions widget (part of Pro) on your dashboard at promptpov.com. It floats on your screen only (never on your video), shows roughly the last 30 seconds, and clears itself after about 30 seconds of silence.

Choose a transcription model

Open Settings → AI → Transcription model:

Model	Download
Small	190 MB	Fast, good balance
Medium	539 MB	Slower, better on accents and technical vocabulary
Large	1.08 GB	Slowest, best accuracy

promptpov starts with Medium on a Mac with 16 GB of memory or more, and Small otherwise; the one that suits your Mac says Recommended for your Mac. Small and Medium are English-only; Large handles other languages. Click Download if the model you picked isn't on your Mac yet. A change applies from the next meeting.

During a meeting, promptpov re-transcribes the audio every few minutes for a cleaner transcript, which is what Notebook items come from. After the meeting it transcribes the whole meeting once more for the Recap. If that fails, the Recap offers Retry with Small.

To fix names it gets wrong, see Teach transcription your spellings.

On-device AI

One on-device model runs the AI features: summaries and Topics, pre-meeting briefings, the Recap's draft, Room Vibe, and the AI Assistant, including its lookups into your past meetings and calendar. On a Mac with 16 GB of memory or more it also catches action items, decisions and questions in the Notebook during meetings. With less memory, that in-meeting capture is off so transcription keeps running smoothly.

You need Pro, a Mac with Apple Silicon, macOS 26, and about 13 GB of free disk.

1. Open Settings → AI.
2. Click Install On-device AI (~13 GB). It downloads in the background.
3. When it says the model is installed, tick Use on-device AI (Pro Privacy). Remove frees the space later.

Or use your own AI key

Instead of on-device AI, you can use your own Anthropic or OpenAI account:

1. Open Settings → API Keys.
2. Paste the key next to Anthropic or OpenAI and click Save.
3. Pick it under Active AI Provider.

If your company runs its own AI service, click Add Custom Endpoint… and enter its details from your IT team. The AI Assistant can't look things up in past meetings or your calendar this way; that needs on-device AI.

Limits and privacy

• Audio stays on your Mac. Transcription runs on your Mac with any setup; audio is never uploaded and there is no cloud transcription.
• With on-device AI on, nothing leaves your Mac. Your transcript is never sent to a cloud provider, even if you also saved a key. If the model isn't installed or a request fails, that feature waits or skips; it never switches to the cloud.
• With your own key or company endpoint, transcript text goes to that provider for AI features. Settings → API Keys shows where under Data flow. Keys are stored in your macOS Keychain and never sent to promptpov.
• Transcripts and Notebook items are stored on your Mac. See Meeting history and privacy.