How to Record a Call on Mac (Both Sides, With Audio)

To record a call on a Mac, use the calling app's own recorder if it has one: the Phone app can record calls from your iPhone. Otherwise, Shift-Command-5 gets the other side only on macOS 27 or later, and QuickTime hears just your microphone. For a transcript, Reline records your mic and your Mac's audio. Tell the other person first.

A call on a Mac has two audio sources. Your microphone hears you. The other person comes out of your speakers or headphones as system audio. A tool that records only the microphone gets your voice clearly and the other person as a faint echo from the speakers, or not at all with headphones on. So before a call that matters, make a 30-second test call and play it back.

Start here: the app's own recorder captures both sides with no setup on your Mac. Apple's Phone app and FaceTime have one in some languages and regions, business phone apps usually have one, and most consumer calling apps have none.

Since macOS Tahoe 26, the Phone app on your Mac makes and takes the cellular calls of your nearby iPhone, and it has its own recorder:

1. Set it up once: your Mac and iPhone on the same Wi-Fi network, signed in to the same Apple Account, your iPhone set up to allow calls on your Mac, and FaceTime signed in with your phone number turned on, on both devices.
2. Check Apple's macOS Feature Availability page to see whether call recording is offered in your language and region.
3. During the call, click the More button, then Call Recording. Both of you hear an audio notice that the call is being recorded.
4. To stop, click the Stop button or hang up. The recording is saved to a Call Recordings folder in Notes; click View Saved Call to open it.

Apple's guide also says to make sure the other person is willing to be recorded. Apple's macOS Tahoe announcement describes these recordings as audio with transcriptions in Notes, and its Feature Availability page lists call transcription for fewer languages than call recording. With Apple Intelligence turned on, you can also get a summary of the call.

Apple's FaceTime guide for macOS 27 describes recording a FaceTime audio call when you talk to one other person: click the More button during the call, then Call Recording. Both of you hear a notice, and the recording and its transcript go to the Call Recordings folder in Notes. The guide describes no recorder for FaceTime video calls.

We have not verified that Reline captures calls relayed from your iPhone or FaceTime calls, so use Apple's recorder for those. Reline is for calls in apps that play through your Mac's normal sound output, such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal or a call in your browser.

The Screenshot toolbar comes with every Mac and records the screen with sound. You get a video and no transcript, and the other person is only in it on macOS 27 or later.

1. Press Shift-Command-5 to open the Screenshot toolbar, then choose to record the entire screen or a portion of it.
2. Click Options and choose a microphone for your voice. On macOS 27 or later, also choose Include System Audio, so the other person is recorded too.
3. Click Record, then stop with the stop button in the menu bar (or press Command-Control-Esc).
4. The .mov file lands on your desktop, unless you picked another place under Save to in Options.

On macOS 26 and earlier there is no system audio option, so the other person is in the file only as far as your microphone heard them from the speakers; with headphones, not at all. To check your version, open the Apple menu and choose About This Mac.

QuickTime Player also makes screen recordings, and Apple's guide gives it the same choice: a microphone for your voice or other audio. It mentions no system audio for QuickTime, so you get your own voice, and the other person only if your speakers are loud enough for the microphone to pick them up.

• OBS Studio: on macOS 13 or later with OBS 30 or later, add a macOS Audio Capture source to record all desktop audio or one app, next to your microphone. You get a recording file with both sides and no transcript. Older setups need extra routing software, which OBS's guide lists.
• Audacity: its own guide says macOS has no built-in desktop audio recording and points to Soundflower, which it says is not compatible with Apple silicon Macs. Without extra software, Audacity on a Mac records your microphone only.

Reline cannot record a call happening on your iPhone, and there is no Reline mobile app. Putting the phone on speaker next to your Mac records a room, not a call: both voices reach the microphone, so the Me vs Other labels cannot separate you from the other side, and the far voice is only as clear as the phone speaker. For a cellular call, take it in the Phone app on your Mac and use its recorder, or check what your phone offers.

If you want notes rather than a video: Reline is the tool we make, so weigh our view accordingly. Its Mac desktop app captures your microphone and the sound your Mac plays, locally, then gives you a live transcript, an AI summary and the kept audio. No bot joins the call, and none could join a WhatsApp or Signal call anyway.

1. Download the Reline app for Mac and sign in. You can start on the Free plan, which includes 10 hours of transcription.
2. Allow the microphone when macOS asks, then allow system audio (see the table below).
3. Put on headphones if you can: they keep the other side out of your microphone, so the Me vs Other labels stay clean.
4. Place or answer the call in WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal or your browser, and ask whether you may record for notes. Once you hear a yes, press Record in Reline. The live transcript starts as people talk, in 60+ languages with automatic language detection.
5. Stop when you hang up. You get the transcript, an AI summary next to it, and the kept audio, with a play button on every transcript line.

Speaker names: the transcript is labeled Me vs Other (your microphone vs the call audio), and Reline does not read names from the calling app. In a group call, open Who is on the other side beside the record button and choose Separate speakers (beta): Reline numbers each voice on the call side (an estimate), and you click a voice to name it yourself.

Rather not install anything? Reline also runs in Chrome. It hears your microphone at once, and if the call plays in a browser tab, you share that tab with its audio to capture the other side.

Each guide has the exact steps and limits for one app. Meetings on a Mac have their own guides.

• No video: Reline keeps audio and a transcript, not a screen recording. For the picture of a video call, use Shift-Command-5 or OBS.
• It records the sound your Mac plays, not one app, so other sounds on your Mac are captured too.
• We have not verified it with calls relayed from your iPhone or with FaceTime calls: use Apple's recorder for those.
• It does not record a call on your iPhone itself, and there is no mobile app.
• It does not take a recording you already made: Reline transcribes live while it records and has no audio or video upload. A .mov from Shift-Command-5 needs a tool that transcribes files.
• No speaker names from the calling app: the beta Separate speakers option only numbers voices for you to name.
• No on-device AI: transcription, summaries and storage run in the cloud. Only the capture is local.
• It does not detect WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal or FaceTime calls on its own, so you press Record yourself.

A recorder on your Mac adds nothing to the call. Shift-Command-5, QuickTime Player, OBS, Audacity and Reline play no announcement and show no notice, so the notice is on you. Apple's own recorders in the Phone app and FaceTime are the exception: both people hear a notice. Several US states, California among them, require every party to agree before a call is recorded, and in the EU you need a lawful basis under the GDPR and should say why you record. Rules differ by country and state, so check the rules where everyone on the call is. The simple habit: say at the start of the call that you are recording for notes, and stop if someone objects.

• Apple Support, "How to record the screen on Mac" (102618): support.apple.com
• Apple Support, "Take screenshots or screen recordings on Mac": support.apple.com/guide/mac-help
• Apple Support, Phone App User Guide for Mac, "While on a call in the Phone app on Mac": support.apple.com/guide/phoneapp
• Apple, "macOS Feature Availability": apple.com/macos/feature-availability
• Apple Newsroom, "macOS Tahoe 26 makes the Mac more capable, productive, and intelligent than ever" (9 June 2025): apple.com/newsroom
• Apple Support, FaceTime User Guide for Mac, "Use FaceTime audio call features on Mac": support.apple.com/guide/facetime
• Zoom Support, "Managing Zoom Phone ad hoc recording settings" (KB0082050): support.zoom.com
• WhatsApp, "WhatsApp Voice and Video Calling": whatsapp.com/calling
• Signal Support, "Voice or Video Calling": support.signal.org
• Telegram, FAQ and blog (recording video chats and live streams): telegram.org
• OBS Studio, "macOS Desktop Audio Capture Guide": obsproject.com
• Audacity Support, "Recording desktop audio": support.audacityteam.org