Use case · No plugin, no bot

No Chrome extension. No bot in the call. No install on their side.

Most transcription tools ship as a Chrome extension plus a calendar bot plus a meeting joiner. Three install steps, three IT reviews, and the whole thing breaks the moment your call isn't a browser tab. Minuta is one signed desktop app — it captures the audio your computer is already playing and gives you the text.

Before, during and after

Minuta screen with saved configurations ready for a new meeting

Minuta screen with saved configurations ready for a new meeting
Minuta screen with saved configurations ready for a new meeting

The install stack nobody asked for

Some transcription workflows depend on a browser extension, calendar access, or a meeting bot. Those steps can add friction when IT blocks extensions or the call runs outside the browser. Minuta uses a desktop app that captures system audio locally and sends it to cloud AI for transcription.

The actual functionality you want is simple: capture the audio that's already coming out of your computer speakers, run it through a transcription model, give you the text. Everything else — the Chrome extension, the calendar OAuth, the meeting bot — exists because the products were architected for the cloud era when local system audio capture wasn't viable. It is now.

Where it actually matters

Locked-down computer

"IT blocks every recorder you've ever tried"

Your work computer has browser extensions and calendar bots blocked by policy. Minuta runs as a desktop app with no meeting bot, browser extension, or calendar OAuth. Your IT team can review the app and documented cloud AI data flow.

FaceTime / native app

"Calls that aren't browser tabs"

Customer call on FaceTime. Or a podcast recording in QuickTime. Or a native Zoom client without the latest SDK. None of these work with a Chrome extension. Minuta captures system audio — whatever is playing through your computer, transcribed in real time. Doesn't matter what app made the sound.

Anti-friction / cross-team

"You don't ask the other side to install anything"

Five-person customer call. Minuta does not add a meeting participant or require the other side to install anything. The desktop app captures system audio locally and sends it to cloud AI for transcription.

How Minuta plugs in without plugging into anything

Open Minuta before the call. Run the call however you'd run it — Zoom web, Zoom native, Teams, Meet, FaceTime, Phone via Continuity, podcast recorder, browser tab playing a webinar. Minuta listens to your system audio and transcribes in real time.

  • One signed desktop app. Standard installer, no admin install, no Chrome extension. IT review is the standard signed-app review.
  • Captures system audio at the OS level. Works on Zoom (web or native), Teams (web or native), Meet, FaceTime, Phone (Continuity), native podcast recorders, anything that plays sound through your computer.
  • No bot joins the call. The other side sees nothing because nothing third-party is in the room.
  • No calendar OAuth, no contact list scraping, no integration permissions. The app reads your microphone + system audio and that's it.

Why this is structurally different from the alternatives

  • Otter requires a Chrome extension and a calendar bot for the auto-record flow. Tactiq is Chrome-only by architecture. tl;dv joins as a bot every time. Each is a different friction profile; all three break in IT-locked or non-browser environments.
  • A signed desktop app is a one-time IT review. A Chrome extension + calendar OAuth + meeting bot is three separate reviews — and the bot one is often a hard no in security-conscious orgs.
  • The user's privacy posture is "I don't have to ask anyone else to install something" — that's true zero-friction onboarding, not just the user's own zero-install but the whole call's.
  • The 7-day trial includes 120 minutes total. After that, Free includes 60 shared transcription and translation minutes per month.

Other situations Minuta is built for

More ways professionals stay sharp on live calls across English, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Other honest comparisons

Pick the meeting tool that actually matches your call.

Try it without installing anything else

Try every feature for 7 days, with 120 minutes total. After that, Free includes 60 shared transcription and translation minutes per month; copilot answers require Pro. See current plans.

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