Meeting-Rec review (2026): a Mac App Store capture app that keeps the tape

Meeting-Rec is a meeting capture app for the Mac, sold on the Mac App Store. Audio, video of the meeting window, snapshots, and AI-structured notes are the pitch, with transcription and the default notes model running on the machine. If you have wanted a local notetaker that also keeps the tape and the slides, this is one of the few apps aimed at that, and the App Store listing is a real distribution advantage. You install it the way you install other Mac software, with Apple’s review in between.

It is Mac only. The free tier is capped on video, transcription hours, and search. The Pro lifetime price is lower than most “pay once” notetakers, and the monthly and yearly options exist beside it. We make a competing local notes app. Meeting-Rec is ahead of us on video and on App Store distribution. We are ahead where you also need Windows, or you do not want a video archive.

Claims below are from meetingrec.app, checked 22 September 2026. One caution: the free column on the page lists some items the intro and the FAQ assign to Pro. Where they disagree, this review follows the intro and the FAQ.

Who Meeting-Rec is for

A Mac user, macOS 14 or later, Apple Silicon, who wants the meeting saved as more than a transcript. The meeting window as video, a snapshot of a whiteboard, slides pulled out of that video. People who like buying from the App Store, and who want a free tier they can use before paying.

It is the wrong app on Windows, and it is more tool than you need if a summary and action items are the only artefact you will ever open.

What it does well

The recording is richer than a transcript. It captures the meeting window as MP4, with mic and system audio, and keeps tracking the window if you move or resize it. Free video is up to 720p. Pro goes to 4K. Snapshots during the meeting (the site cites a keystroke) land in the session folder. That is a different product from a notes app that discards the picture.

Slides, on Pro. Apple Vision detects slide changes, OCRs them, and can export a searchable PDF. The site lists English, Swedish, German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese for that OCR. The pricing intro says slide extraction ships with Pro, along with session merge and Teams automation. If the slides are why you would buy it, confirm Pro is what unlocks them.

On-device notes without a key. WhisperKit for transcription. A built-in MLX model, which the site names as Qwen 3.5 9B, for structured markdown: summary, action items, decisions. No API key required. You can still switch a stage to OpenAI or to a local server such as LM Studio, Ollama, or llama.cpp. The default path is the one that stays on the Mac.

App Store distribution. Sandboxed, Mac App Store, no account required to try it. Search, transcripts, and recordings live in a folder on the Mac, and the app will show you the folder. That is a clearer storage story than a lot of “private” marketing.

Teams automation, on Pro. The menu bar app can start and stop when a Microsoft Teams meeting starts and ends. The FAQ says that auto-start is a Pro feature. Zoom, Meet, and in-person recording are manual.

How it works

Nothing joins the call. ScreenCaptureKit takes system audio. The meeting window is what gets recorded, not the whole desktop, per the site. Transcription and the default language model run on the Mac. Recordings stay in your home folder unless you move them. Nothing is synced unless you sync it yourself.

Speaker separation is described as beta, on-device, with a line that nothing about voices is stored. We are repeating their wording, not certifying the implementation.

A cloud model is opt-in, with your key. If you turn that on, that stage leaves the machine. The default does not.

There is no Windows build. The site says native macOS 14 and later, optimized for Apple Silicon.

Pricing

As published 22 September 2026:

	What the page says
Free	Unlimited audio recording. 5 hours of video a month. 10 hours of transcription a month. 30 searches a month. Video up to 720p. On-device providers available
Pro, once	$69, described as not renewing, future updates included
Pro, recurring	$5.99 a month or $39.99 a year, managed in App Store settings
Pro features called out in the intro	Unlimited video, transcription, and search. Video up to 4K. Teams auto-start and stop. Session merge. Slide extraction with OCR

The free list on the same page also shows Teams automation, session merge, and slide extraction. The intro says Pro unlocks those, and the FAQ says Teams auto-start is Pro. Believe the intro and the FAQ, then check the App Store listing, because a strikethrough on a marketing page is easy to miss and easy for a later edit to change.

Privacy and compliance

Default processing on the device, files in a folder you can open, optional cloud only with your key, sandboxed App Store build. That is a strong practical privacy story for a Mac app. We did not find a HIPAA claim on the page we checked, and we will not invent one.

Consent is still yours. Video of a meeting window is a recording. See meeting recording consent laws. A missing bot makes notice more your job, not less.

Private Notetaker does not claim HIPAA certification.

Who should skip it

Skip it if you need Windows. Skip it if you will not use the video, the snapshots, or the slides, and you only wanted a summary. The free transcription cap, 10 hours a month, will also run out for someone in meetings all day, which is what Pro is for. Skip the cloud provider toggle if the whole point was that text stays on the Mac.

Stay if you are on a Mac, you want the tape, and $69 once (or the small subscription) is the shape of payment you wanted. For that job, Meeting-Rec is a more complete capture tool than we are.

When Private Notetaker is the better fit

Private Notetaker is the better fit when the deliverable is the notes, on both Mac and Windows, with no video library to manage. Transcript, summary, and action items run on the device. No bot. No cloud processing and no optional cloud model in the product. Offline works for that whole pipeline.

Pricing is $15 a month or a $149 lifetime license, with a 7-day trial and no card required. Meeting-Rec’s $69 lifetime Pro is cheaper if you are staying on a Mac and you want their capture features. Our lifetime license is the way to avoid an ongoing subscription for the cross-platform notes app. The $15 plan is there if you prefer to rent.

MacWhisper review if you wanted files more than meetings. Best local AI notetakers for Mac for the wider set. AI note takers without a subscription for how one-time prices behave over time.

Meeting-Rec claims from meetingrec.app, checked 22 September 2026. Free versus Pro bullets on that page conflict; this review follows the page intro and FAQ. App Store price and feature flags can change.