AI meeting minutes for
APPI-conscious teams.
Most AI notetakers send a bot into your meeting, and many imply 'on-prem' or 'domestic-only' while quietly processing your data in the cloud overseas. Reline does neither. No bot ever joins the call, capture happens locally on the device, and we are precise about the rest: transcription, storage, and AI run in the cloud and may be processed outside Japan. We do not claim domestic-only servers or a standalone build — we help you assess the cross-border transfer honestly. Bot-free removes the surprise participant, not your duty under the APPI.
A meeting bot is a personal-data headache — and 'domestic-only' is often a myth
When a third-party bot joins a call it becomes another processor touching personal data, and many Japanese teams are told a tool is 'on-prem' or 'kept in Japan' when it is not. Under the APPI, cross-border transfer of personal data needs the person's consent or equivalent measures. Reline reduces the surface — no bot joins, capture is local — and tells you the real story about the cloud so your privacy lead can actually assess it.
A meeting bot is an extra processor on personal data — one more sub-processor, cross-border, and retention question for your privacy lead, on every single call.
Japanese procurement often asks for domestic servers (国内サーバー) or a standalone build (スタンドアロン). Many AI notetakers are cloud and imply on-prem or on-device — and the gap surfaces in security review.
Under APPI Article 28, transferring personal data overseas needs the person's consent or equivalent safeguards. A tool that is vague about where data goes makes that assessment impossible.
'Secure' and 'private' are not the same as a clear, documented record of processing and transfer you could show the PPC (個人情報保護委員会).
Client and IT policies frequently ban third-party meeting bots outright — so a bot-based notetaker is dead on arrival on exactly the accounts that matter most.
Bot-free by architecture, not by setting
Reline never joins your meeting as a participant. It captures the meeting's system audio plus your microphone locally, through the operating system's documented audio API, so it works on Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, a dial-in, or an in-person room the same way. Because the meeting platform never sees a third party, there is no extra bot-processor on the call — and an IT policy that blocks recording bots does not block you. Speaker labels are Me vs Other, derived from which audio stream each line came from. Reline runs as a desktop app on macOS and Windows, plus the web, with Linux in beta; there is no mobile app. Fewer parties in the room by design is the simplest data-minimization there is.
Where your data actually runs — the honest version
We are precise about this because in Japan it is exactly what security review checks. Capture is local: the raw audio is recorded on your machine, with no bot joining the call. But the work after that runs in the cloud — transcription is done in the cloud, recordings and files are stored in Cloudflare R2, and summaries are generated by cloud AI models. We do not offer domestic-only (国内) servers and there is no standalone (スタンドアロン) build; data may be processed outside Japan. Reline does not do on-device transcription or on-device AI, so we will never tell you the audio never leaves your device. Your content is not used to train third-party models. Ask us for the current sub-processor list and regions, and we will give you the real answer your privacy lead can document for a cross-border-transfer (越境移転) assessment.
Cross-border transfer stays your call — we make it cleaner
Bot-free removes the surprise third-party participant, but it does not remove your responsibility under the APPI to inform the people you record and to handle any overseas transfer of their personal data correctly. Reline gives you a clear, visible in-app recording state and a recording-policy template so your team can standardize disclosure instead of improvising it, plus the processing and region details you need for the transfer assessment. We help you do it properly; we do not pretend the obligation disappears.
Private by default, with real access control
Reline is private by default with a five-level permission model on every note and folder. A workspace role alone grants nothing — each person who can see a meeting's minutes is an explicit grant you made. That is data-minimization by construction: a recording is visible only to the people you deliberately share it with, not to everyone in the workspace. Enterprise adds an audit log so you can show who accessed what, and when.
Built for procurement: DPA, SSO, audit log
Enterprise includes a data-processing agreement, SSO via WorkOS (Google and Microsoft), an audit log, and admin policy controls — the things security review actually asks for. Be clear about the limits, because we would rather you trust us: there is no SOC 2, HIPAA, ISMS, or PrivacyMark (Pマーク) certification today. If your procurement requires a specific certification, talk to the team first so nobody oversells what exists.
Pricing for individuals, teams, and regulated orgs
Free is $0 — solo note-taking with a one-hour limit per note. Professional is $15 per user per month ($140 per year, about $12 a month) and unlocks unlimited recording, transcription, and storage. Enterprise is $32 per user per month ($26 a month billed annually) and adds shared workspaces, the data-processing agreement, SSO, an audit log, admin controls, and an SLA. Transcription supports 60+ languages.
Dig deeper
APPI questions, answered
- Is Reline APPI compliant?
- Reline is built to support your APPI obligations: no third-party bot joins the call, capture is local, access is private-by-default, and a data-processing agreement is available for Enterprise. Compliance is a shared responsibility — Reline provides the controls and the agreement; informing the people you record and handling any cross-border transfer is yours. There is no 'APPI certification' to hold, and we don't claim one.
- Are your servers in Japan? Is there a standalone version?
- No to both, and we won't pretend otherwise. Reline is cloud-based: transcription, storage (Cloudflare R2), and AI run in the cloud and may be processed outside Japan. There is no domestic-only or standalone build. What we do offer is bot-free local capture, private-by-default access, no model training on your content, and the region details you need to assess a cross-border transfer.
- Does a bot join and record my meeting?
- No. Reline never joins as a participant. It captures your mic and system audio locally, so there is no extra bot-processor on the call — which also means it keeps working when IT blocks third-party meeting bots.
- Is my audio processed on-device?
- No. Capture is local, but transcription, storage, and AI summaries run in the cloud. Reline does not do on-device AI and won't claim your data never leaves your device — and your content is not used to train third-party models.
- Does bot-free mean I don't need consent or a cross-border assessment?
- No. Bot-free removes the surprise third-party participant, not your responsibility under the APPI to inform the people you record and to handle overseas transfer of their data. Reline gives you a clear recording state, a policy template, and the region details to do it properly.
- Are you SOC 2, HIPAA, ISMS, or PrivacyMark certified?
- Not today. Reline offers private-by-default access control, an audit log, SSO, and a data-processing agreement on Enterprise. If you require a specific certification, talk to the team first.
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