Phone Call Transcription on Your Mac
You can transcribe a phone call on your Mac: put the call on speaker next to the Mac, record it with Dalm and get a transcript and summary. The phone itself isn’t connected. Recording a call may need the other person’s consent.
Speech is recognised on the Mac and no audio is sent anywhere; the text of the call syncs to our servers automatically, where a language model writes the summary.
How it works today
- Put the call on speaker and set the phone next to the Mac.
- Start a meeting in Dalm. Nothing is playing on the Mac, so the call is recorded the way a meeting in the room is — through the microphone — and the voice on the speaker is told apart from yours.
- Stop when the call ends. The speech is recognised on your Mac and the audio is deleted once the text exists. The transcript syncs to our servers automatically, and a language model reads it to write the summary.
The phone itself is not connected to the Mac and nothing is installed on it: Dalm hears the call the way a person at the table would.
Tips for clear audio
- Distance. Put the phone close to the Mac, with its speaker facing the Mac rather than the desk.
- Volume. Turn the phone’s speaker up; a quiet voice on the far end is the first thing to get lost.
- The room. Close the door, switch off fans and music, and avoid typing next to the microphone while the other person talks.
- A test. Before a call that matters, record a test call of a few minutes with both people talking, and check that both voices are in the transcript. A recording with fewer than 100 words does not count as a meeting, so a very short test leaves nothing to check.
These are common-sense steps, not settings we have measured.
Consent
Recording a call may need the other person’s agreement. Some places require only one person on the call to agree, and that person can be you; others require everyone, and a call across a border or a state line can fall under both. This page does not say what applies to your call. The rules by place are on recording consent laws, and the US states that require everyone are listed on call recording laws by state.
What you get
- A transcript split by voice. Yours and the voice on the speaker, each with its lines. Names are optional; until you give them, each voice shows a guess or a number.
- A summary. Written by a language model from the transcript and the notes you typed during the call. Every quote shows you where it was said — open it and the transcript opens at that place. Documents save as Markdown, Word or PDF.
- The call next to your meetings. Everything you say lands in one archive you can search: meetings, phone calls, conversations in the room, and what you dictate to a model.
More on a meeting at a table is on in-person meetings, and the Mac itself must meet the system requirements.
What’s not supported yet
- No iPhone app. iPhone app in development: iPhone version — join the waitlist.
- No direct capture of a call. Dalm does not connect to the phone, a carrier or a calling service. A call on the Mac itself, in a meeting app, is recorded as a meeting; a call on the phone is recorded on speaker.
Other ways to record a call made from a phone, including the one built into it, are in the guide to recording a phone call.
Questions
- How do I transcribe a phone call on a Mac?
- Put the call on speaker and set the phone next to the Mac, then start a meeting in Dalm. Nothing is playing on the Mac, so it records the room through the microphone, as it does a meeting at a table, and tells the voice on the speaker apart from yours. When you stop, you get a transcript split by voice and a summary.
- Can I record a phone call without an app on my phone?
- Yes, with the phone on speaker: Dalm records the call through the Mac's microphone, and nothing is installed on the phone or connected to it. The speech is recognised on the Mac and no audio is sent anywhere; the text of the call syncs to our servers automatically.
- Do I need consent to record a phone call?
- Often, yes. Some places require only one person on the call to agree, and others require everyone. What applies depends on where each person is; the rules by place are on recording consent laws and call recording laws by US state.
- How do I get clear audio on speakerphone?
- Keep the phone close to the Mac with its speaker facing it, turn the phone's volume up, and take the call in a quiet room without typing next to the microphone. A test call of a few minutes before an important one shows whether the other voice comes through; a recording with fewer than 100 words does not count as a meeting.
- Is there an iPhone app?
- Not yet: iPhone app in development. Today a call is transcribed on a Mac, with the phone on speaker next to it.