What Is an AI Notepad? Meaning, How It Works, Examples

An AI notepad is a notes app you type in during a meeting while it listens to the call on your own computer. No bot joins the meeting. When the call ends, the AI combines your rough notes with the transcript and writes finished notes: decisions, next steps and the details you had no time to type.

Think of it as three parts working together. The notepad is a normal note where you jot what matters to you. The listener captures your microphone and the sound your computer plays, so it hears both sides of a Zoom, Teams or Google Meet call without anyone joining the meeting. The writer is the AI that, after the call, turns your fragments plus the transcript into clean notes.

Your rough notes matter. If you type “budget?” at minute 12, a good AI notepad treats that as a sign the budget discussion is important to you and gives it room in the final notes. Granola describes the same idea on its own blog: an AI notepad combines real-time transcription with human-guided notes.

One caution on the word itself: not everyone uses it the same way. Granola and Reline use “AI notepad” for meeting notes. Some roundups, such as the Yaps list of AI notepad apps, use it for personal capture apps that tidy up what you type or say and say a notepad does not join meetings at all. Both uses exist, so check what a product actually listens to.

The short version: a note taker bot replaces you in the note taking; an AI notepad keeps you in charge and fills the gaps. If you want a record of every meeting without lifting a finger, a bot or a notepad both work. If you want notes that read like you wrote them, without a stranger in the participant list, a notepad is the better fit.

1. Before the call: you open a note, often from a calendar event, so the note already has the meeting title and the people invited.
2. Capture on your device: the desktop app records your microphone and the sound your computer plays. Nothing joins the call, so this works in Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, Slack huddles or any other call app.
3. Live transcript: the audio is sent to a speech-to-text service and the transcript appears while people talk.
4. Your notes: you type what matters, in your own words. Short fragments are fine.
5. After the call: the AI reads the transcript and your notes and writes finished notes, often in a template you picked (a 1:1, a sales call, an interview).
6. Afterwards: you edit the notes, ask questions about the meeting, share the note or send the next steps to the tools your team uses.

Granola is one of the best known AI notepads, and it ranks for this question with its own guide. Here is how it compares with Reline on facts each company publishes. A wider ranking is in our guide to the best AI notepad.

Where Granola is ahead: phone apps and a SOC 2 Type 2 report. Where Reline is ahead: a Linux (beta) desktop app and a web app, a recording you can replay line by line instead of audio that is deleted, help for meetings in a room, and notes that live in a full workspace with real-time editing and permissions that keep every note private until you share it.

• Bot-free capture: does it record on your computer, or does a bot have to join? Can you use it in a meeting you do not host?
• Any call app, and the room: does it work in every call app, and also for a meeting around a table with no call at all?
• The real recording: can you replay what was said, or is the audio deleted once the transcript exists? A transcript line you can hear is how you settle “did she say 10 or 15?”.
• Your notes count: does the AI use what you typed, or does it ignore your notes and summarize the transcript only?
• Answers you can check: when you ask a question, does the answer show the transcript lines and times it came from?
• Templates: can you save a template per meeting type (1:1, interview, sales call) and reuse it?
• Sharing and permissions: who can see a note by default? Can you share one note with one person without opening your whole folder?
• Platforms: Mac, Windows, the browser, a phone, Linux (often beta, if offered at all). Check the one you actually use, and whether mobile records calls or only rooms.
• Languages: how many languages it transcribes, and whether it detects the language on its own.
• Price and free plan: what the free plan limits (hours, history, length per meeting) and what one paid seat costs.
• Privacy: where audio, transcripts and notes are stored, whether audio is kept, whether your data trains models, and what security report the vendor can show.
• Where notes go next: Slack, Notion, Linear, Zapier or an MCP connection to your AI tools.

• It is only as good as the audio it hears. A laptop mic at the far end of a table, a weak connection or people talking over each other all make the transcript worse, and the notes inherit the mistakes.
• Room meetings mix voices. With one microphone in a room, every voice arrives on the same channel. Tools can estimate who is speaking, but that estimate can split one person in two or merge two similar voices.
• It hears sound, not the screen. Slides, the meeting chat and anything typed in the call are not in an audio transcript unless someone reads them out.
• The AI can be wrong. Treat the finished notes as a draft and check key numbers against the transcript or the recording.
• Nobody is told automatically. With no bot in the call, other people see nothing, so telling them is your job (see below).

• No phone app. Reline runs on the desktop and in the browser.
• Names do not appear on their own. On a call, the transcript separates Me (your microphone) and Other (the call audio). The beta Separate speakers option numbers the voices on the other side, and you name them yourself.
• Live only. Reline transcribes while it records; it cannot transcribe a file you upload later.
• Mac: system audio needs macOS 14.2 or later; on older versions Reline records your microphone only.
• Windows: Reline records the whole default output device, so mute music and other sounds during the call.
• Free plan: up to 1 hour of recording per note, and 10 hours of transcription.
• No SOC 2 report yet.

Usually not from the call itself. Because nothing joins the meeting, there is no extra name in the participant list. Granola says it offers an optional chat message at the start of transcription and a watermark on shared notes. Reline shows nothing in the call. Either way, that is not a reason to skip the 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 meeting that you are recording for notes, and stop if someone objects.

If your calls happen on a phone and you want a SOC 2 report today, Granola is a strong pick. If you want Linux (beta) or the browser, meet in rooms as well as on calls, or want the recording kept so you can replay the exact words, Reline fits better. We compare seven options, with prices and platforms, in a separate guide.

Reline (which we make) is an AI notepad inside a full notes workspace. Open a note, start recording, type what matters, and when the call ends you get a summary shaped by your notes and a Lens of your choice, with the recording and a live transcript in 60+ languages. Nothing joins the meeting.

• Granola blog, "What is an AI notepad?" (July 24): granola.ai/blog/what-is-an-ai-notepad
• Granola pricing page: granola.ai/pricing
• Yaps blog, "10 Best AI Notepad Apps in 2026": yaps.ai/blog/best-ai-notepad-apps-2026