Calls

The Calls page decides how PrivateGoat notices your calls: whether it offers to record when one starts, asks whether the meeting is over when it ends, and keeps pictures of the call window. It never starts a recording on its own.

Notice when a call startsCopy Anchor Link

On by default. When a call app — Teams, Zoom, FaceTime, Slack, Webex, Discord or a browser — holds the microphone for a few seconds while PrivateGoat is idle, a small panel under the menu bar asks whether to record, with Record and Not now. Once per call.

When to change it: turn it off if you start every meeting yourself with ⌃⌥R, or if you are on calls you never record.

If it fails: an app that is not on the list gets no prompt; start the meeting yourself. Recording by hand always works. More on The call prompt.

Ask whether the meeting is overCopy Anchor Link

Ask whether the meeting is over when the call ends is on by default. While PrivateGoat records, a panel asks "Is the meeting over?" with Stop Recording and Keep Recording when the call app stops using the microphone, or when the call window closes. It stays until you answer and never stops the recording by itself.

When to change it: turn it off if you often keep recording after a call, such as a debrief in the room. It is off whenever Notice when a call starts is off, because both use the same watcher.

Save screenshots of the call windowCopy Anchor Link

Off by default. While a meeting records, PrivateGoat keeps small pictures of the call window when it changes, shown beside the transcript. The pictures are also how speaker names are read from the call window on Speakers, so switch this on before the meeting if you want names.

When to change it: turn it on for meetings where slides matter, or for names from the call window.

If it fails: without the Screen & System Audio Recording permission, no pictures are taken and the recording is unaffected. Details on Call screenshots.

For the curiousCopy Anchor Link

• The call watcher reads macOS Core Audio's "running input" flag per process; it needs no Screen Recording permission and reads no window titles. A call app must hold the microphone for 3 seconds.
• Not now silences the prompt for that call for ten minutes. The watcher keeps its state in memory only.
• The window-closed signal for the end question needs call screenshots on; without them, the microphone is the only signal.
• Pictures are HEIC (or JPEG), at most 1920 px on the long edge, capped at roughly 60 MB per hour, never taken while paused, and stored in the meeting's screens/ folder. They can be kept in the encrypted vault.

What leaves your MacCopy Anchor Link

Nothing. The watcher runs on the Mac, and call-window pictures stay in the meeting's folder: never uploaded and never sent to a model. No screen video is ever saved.

RelatedCopy Anchor Link

• The call prompt — both panels, word for word.
• Call screenshots — how pictures are taken and shown.
• Recording a meeting — starting and stopping by hand.