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Piper Desktop is a companion app for macOS and Windows that records meetings locally from your computer — capturing your microphone and, on supported systems, your computer’s own audio too, invisibly to other attendees, with no bot in the call. It’s the right tool when you’d rather not send a visible recording bot, when you’re on a platform the bot can’t join, or when you want to capture an in-person or ad-hoc conversation. Everything it records syncs back to the Piper web app for transcription, notes, CRM sync, and analysis, exactly like a bot-recorded call.
Piper Desktop complements the recording bot — it doesn’t replace it. Use the bot for hands-off, scheduled coverage with video, and use Desktop when you want a discreet, audio-only local recording.

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Download & Install

Get Piper Desktop from inside the Piper web app: click Get the Desktop App in the sidebar (visible on every page except Settings) to open a download modal with the latest release for macOS (Apple Silicon or Intel) and Windows. Piper Desktop is currently in Beta.

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Signing In

When you open Piper Desktop for the first time, you’ll see the Piper Desktop login screen with the message: “I can record your meetings, calls, Slack Huddles, and much more from here, without sending the bot.” Sign in with the same work account you use for the web app:
  • Enter with Google
  • Enter with Microsoft
You’ll be asked to accept the terms of use and privacy policy before continuing. Sign-in opens in your browser and returns you to the app once complete.
Read-Only team members can’t use Piper Desktop — signing in shows a “No access” screen with only a Sign Out option. See User Roles for what each role can do.

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Today and History Tabs

Piper Desktop is organized into two tabs at the top of the window: Today, for meetings in progress or still to come, and History, for browsing past meetings day by day.

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The Today Tab

The Today tab organizes your day into two sections: When Piper detects an active meeting on your screen, a “Conversation detected” banner appears with the meeting platform and a Record now button. If the recording bot is already active in the meeting, Record now stays available alongside the bot’s live status — a pulsing red dot when it’s actively recording, or an orange warning badge if it’s waiting in the lobby for the host to admit it. Piper Desktop recognizes conversations on:
  • Zoom
  • Google Meet
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Slack Huddles
  • WhatsApp and Telegram (desktop app or web)
  • FaceTime and Phone calls (macOS)
For the first four, Piper detects the call directly. For the rest, it watches for your microphone staying active for a few seconds (adjustable under Profile & Preferences) and treats that as a conversation — since there’s no participant or platform data to link to a CRM record, Record now on one of these opens a quick audio note instead of the usual Activity/Meeting-type screen.

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The History Tab

Once a meeting is no longer in progress or upcoming, it moves out of Today and into History, which shows one day at a time:
  • Use the arrow buttons (or the ← / → keyboard shortcuts) to move between days, or click Today to jump back to the current day.
  • Click Calendar to open a month view and jump straight to a past date — days with recorded transcriptions are marked with a dot. You can’t navigate to future days or months.
  • Each meeting shows its title, time, and attendees, plus either a Done badge with its duration and an Open in Piper link (for meetings that were recorded), or a Not recorded label.
  • If nothing happened on a given day, History shows “No meetings on this day.”

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Recording a Meeting

1

Start the recording

Click Record now on the “Conversation detected” banner, or on an upcoming meeting card.
2

Assign the recording

On the confirmation screen, link the recording to the right Activity and Meeting type — plus Contacts, Companies, Deals, and (on Salesforce or Pipedrive) Leads, if your team has a CRM connected. Starter-plan teams without a CRM connected skip straight to Activity and Meeting type. If the meeting came from your calendar, the activity is filled in automatically.
3

Choose how to record

Pick a recording mode:
  • Record locally — invisible to attendees. Piper captures your microphone and, on supported systems, your computer’s own audio, directly from your computer. If the recording bot is already in the call, you’ll see a confirmation first — recording locally means losing the bot’s transcription for this call, so remove the bot first if you want to keep it.
  • Send bot now — audio + video; the Piper bot joins the call as a visible participant (available when the meeting supports it).
4

Control the session

During recording you’ll see a live timer and an audio waveform. Use Pause, Resume, and Stop at any time. You can still adjust the linked deal, company, and meeting type while recording — the activity and contacts lock once recording starts.
5

Let it sync

When you click Stop, the recording saves and uploads to Piper for transcription. The meeting moves out of the Today tab and into History, and the full transcript, notes, follow-up email, and CRM field extraction appear in the web app once processing finishes.
Because local recording is audio-only and invisible to attendees, always make sure you have consent to record, in line with your team’s policy and local laws.
If the meeting already has a transcript from an earlier recording, Piper asks you to confirm before starting a new one — recording again overwrites the existing transcript.

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Editing a Meeting’s Details

In the Today tab, click the pencil icon on any meeting card to open the details panel, where you can review attendees and adjust the linked deal, company, meeting type, and contacts before or after recording. This isn’t available from History — past meetings there are read-only aside from the Open in Piper link.

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Audio Notes

From the History tab, click + Audio note on a meeting to record a quick voice memo after the fact — useful for capturing a takeaway or context you didn’t say out loud during the call. The recording uploads and attaches to that meeting’s activity as an audio-only note, and syncs back to the Piper web app alongside the rest of the call’s data. You can also record a standalone audio note that isn’t tied to any meeting, using the floating Record now button available throughout the app (separate from the “Conversation detected” banner). Give it a title and, optionally, a Meeting type, then record and stop as usual — it’s saved as its own new activity and syncs to Piper for transcription and notes just like a recorded call. Like other local recordings, audio notes capture your microphone plus, on supported systems, your computer’s own audio — see Permissions.

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Profile & Preferences

Open the profile panel from the avatar in the top-right corner to:
  • Toggle dark mode
  • Open Piper Desktop at Login — automatically launch the app when your computer starts
  • Turn meeting notifications on or off — “Meeting detected,” “Meeting starting,” and “Meeting ended” alerts
  • Meeting detection — set how many seconds your mic must stay active before Piper treats a WhatsApp, Telegram, FaceTime, or Phone call as a conversation (1–300 seconds, default 15)
  • Check for updates — Piper Desktop updates itself; click Check to look for the latest release, then Restart & install when one is downloaded
  • Sign out
If your installed version falls too far behind, Piper Desktop will block the app with a full-screen update prompt until you install the latest release — this happens automatically and doesn’t affect your account or recordings.

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Permissions

So it can detect and record meetings, Piper Desktop asks for a few system permissions the first time you record:
  • Microphone access — to capture call audio
  • Screen recording / screen access — to detect when you’re in a meeting
  • Notifications — for optional meeting-start and meeting-end alerts
On macOS you’ll be prompted to grant these in System Settings the first time they’re needed. If microphone or screen-recording access is missing, the Record locally button is disabled with an inline warning until you grant it.
Screen recording access also lets Piper Desktop capture your computer’s own audio (not just your microphone) during a local recording, on macOS 14.2 or later. If that permission is missing or your macOS version is older, local recordings silently fall back to microphone-only audio — nothing fails, you just won’t hear the other side of the audio that was playing on your computer.

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Error Messages and Troubleshooting

If Piper Desktop can’t load your activities, can’t load History, or can’t start a local recording, it shows a plain-language error card with a Try again button (recording-start errors show a Back button instead). Common messages:
  • No internet connection — Piper Desktop lost its network connection. Reconnect and click Try again.
  • No meeting detected — Piper couldn’t detect an active meeting to record. Confirm the meeting window is open, then try again.
  • Microphone access needed — macOS or Windows is blocking microphone access. Grant it under Permissions above, then try again.
  • Screen recording access needed — macOS or Windows is blocking screen-recording access. Grant it under Permissions above, then try again.
These errors resolve on their own once the underlying issue (connectivity, an open meeting, or a granted permission) is fixed — no restart required.

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Desktop vs. the Recording Bot

Use Piper Desktop when…

You want a discreet, audio-only recording with no visible bot, you’re on a platform or huddle the bot can’t join, or you’re capturing an ad-hoc conversation from your computer.

Use the Recording Bot when…

You want hands-off, scheduled coverage that joins automatically with audio and video, and you’re comfortable with a visible participant in the call. See Recording Bot.