How to record a Google Meet call on a Mac

Option 1: Meet's own recorder

If your plan includes it, open Meeting tools, then Recording, then Start recording. Everyone in the call is told when recording starts and stops.

The recording goes to the organiser's Google Drive, in a folder called Google Meet, and the link is emailed to the organiser and to whoever started it.

• Plans that can record: Business Standard and Business Plus, Enterprise plans, Essentials, Workspace Individual, some Education plans, and Google One with 2 TB or more. Business Starter can't.
• Who can press Record: the host, people the host allows, and people from the host's organisation when host controls are off. Your organisation's admin has to turn recording on.
• Limits: a recording stops after 8 hours, and breakout rooms can't be recorded.

Good for: meetings you organise on a paid plan. Not good for: free Gmail, or someone else's meeting.

On a free Gmail account

Free personal Google accounts aren't on Google's list of plans that can record, so the Record button doesn't appear. Free calls with three or more people also end after 60 minutes.

To keep a record of a free call, use one of the two options below. Both work with Meet in any browser, because they record your Mac, not Meet.

Option 2: macOS itself

From macOS 27, the screenshot tool can record the other people's voices. Press Shift-Command-5, choose Record, open Options and pick Include System Audio. On macOS 26 and earlier it records only your microphone, so you'd hear just your side.

You get a video file of your screen with sound. There's no transcript, no summary and no search.

Option 3: a recorder app on your Mac

A recorder app captures what your Mac plays and what your microphone hears, with the system audio permission macOS asks for. It works with Meet on any plan, in Chrome, Safari or another browser, and nothing joins the call.

Parrot is one of these. It's free and open source, transcribes on your Mac while you talk, and writes a report when you hang up. Here's how to set it up:

1. 1

   Download Parrot and pick a model

   Open the DMG, drag Parrot to Applications, and choose a Whisper model on first launch. It downloads once and runs on your Mac from then on.

2. 2

   Allow two permissions

   System audio for the other side and microphone for yours. The welcome tour opens the right settings panes. On macOS 14 the system audio permission is called Screen Recording, but Parrot records sound only.

3. 3

   Hit record when the call starts

   Click record or press Command-R. The transcript appears as people talk, and the report is ready when you stop.

Other apps work this way too, such as Granola, Meetily and Anarlog. See how they compare.

Compare meeting recorders

Three ways to record Google Meet on a Mac

Tell people you're recording

The law depends on where everyone is. In the US, federal law allows a recording if one person on the call agrees, but California and about ten other states need everyone's consent. In the UK and EU, data protection law expects you to tell people when you record for work.

This isn't legal advice. The simple habit that covers you almost everywhere: say at the start that you're recording, and why.

Questions

Can you record Google Meet for free?

Not with Meet's own Record button, which needs a paid Google plan. A recorder app like Parrot, or the macOS 27 screenshot tool, records the call on your Mac whatever plan you're on.

Why don't I see the Record button in Google Meet?

Usually because your plan doesn't include recording, you're not the host and haven't been allowed, or your organisation's admin has turned recording off.

Where do Google Meet recordings go?

To the organiser's Google Drive, in a folder called Google Meet, with one folder per meeting. Google also emails the link and adds it to the Calendar event.

Will people know I'm recording?

Meet's own recorder tells everyone. A recorder app on your Mac sends no notice, so say it yourself.

More recording guides

• How to record a meeting on a Mac without a botThree ways to record a Zoom, Google Meet or Teams call on a Mac with no bot in the meeting: the meeting app's own recorder, macOS itself, or a recorder app.
• How to record a Zoom meeting on a MacRecord a Zoom meeting on a Mac with Zoom's own recorder, the macOS screenshot tool or a recorder app, even as a participant without the host's permission.
• How to record a Microsoft Teams meeting on a MacTeams records only with a Microsoft 365 licence, and guests can't. Three ways to record a Teams meeting on a Mac, including as a guest or on free Teams.