By Convo Team • Published January 8, 2026 • Last updated January 8, 2026
A bot-free meeting assistant records meetings without joining as a visible participant. Convo captures audio locally on your device: no bot in the participant list, no join notification, and your data stays private with AES-256 encryption.
Bot-Free Meeting Assistant
Record meetings invisibly, without bots.
No more "Otter.ai Bot has joined." Convo captures audio locally on your device, completely invisible to everyone else on the call.
Everyone sees the bot. Audio streams to the cloud.
No bot joins. Audio stays on your device.
What is a bot-free meeting assistant?
A bot-free meeting assistant records and transcribes your meetings without joining as a visible participant. Traditional tools add a bot like "Otter.ai Bot" or "Fireflies Notetaker" to the call, so everyone sees it and audio streams to the cloud. A bot-free assistant works invisibly by capturing audio locally on your device instead.
Convo captures audio directly from your computer's audio output. Nothing joins your meeting, nothing appears in the participant list, and no join notification fires. The audio is sent only to our transcription provider, which deletes it after processing and never trains on it. Your notes are then encrypted with AES-256 and stored securely.
Everyone can see a bot join.
No one can see Convo. It never joins the call or the participant list.
Everyone sees the bot. Audio streams to the cloud.
No one knows. No bot joins the call.
How bot-free recording works.
Local capture, then encrypted storage. No bot at any step.
Local audio capture
Convo captures audio directly from your computer's output. No bot joins the meeting; it simply listens to what you hear, locally on your device.
Nothing joins the call
No participant is added and no join notification fires. Audio goes only to our transcription provider, which deletes it after processing.
Encrypted storage
Your notes are encrypted with AES-256 and stored securely. You decide when and how to share them with your team.
Why professionals choose bot-free.
Privacy, reliability, and calls that stay natural.
No awkward interruptions
"Otter.ai Bot has joined the meeting" breaks the flow. With Convo, nobody knows you are taking notes.
Works when bots can't
Some meetings block bots outright. On external calls, client meetings, and sensitive discussions, Convo still works.
Complete data control
No recording bot joins the call. Audio is processed by our transcription provider, then deleted, and never used to train models.
No connection failures
Bots fail to join, get kicked by hosts, or drop mid-call. Local capture is 100% reliable.
Bot-free meeting assistants, compared.
Every tool here records without joining. Only Convo also helps you live.
| Tool | How it captures | Helps during the call | Notes after |
|---|---|---|---|
| Convo | Local system-audio capture on Mac and Windows | Yes: live suggestions, objection help, context from past calls | Yes |
| Granola | Local capture on Mac and Windows | No | Yes |
| Jamie | Local device capture | No | Yes |
| Shadow | Local capture | No | Yes |
| Notta (desktop) | Bot-free desktop mode | No | Yes |
| Fireflies (desktop app) | Local capture mode | No | Yes |
Works invisibly on every platform.
Because capture is local, there is nothing to integrate.
Zoom
Google Meet
MS Teams
Slack Huddles
WebExConvo captures audio locally, so it works with any platform that plays sound through your computer. No integrations needed. Runs on macOS and Windows.
FAQ
Common questions about bot-free recording
Record your next meeting invisibly.
Bot-free capture from local audio. No visible bot, no join notification, just private meeting notes.