Google Meet in the browser, detected: the Kalima extension
The Kalima desktop app has long noticed when a Teams call starts. Calls in a browser tab were invisible to it. The new Kalima extension closes that gap for Google Meet, Zoom, Teams, Webex, Jitsi and Whereby.
The meeting starts, people say hello, someone shares the agenda, and five minutes in you notice that nobody pressed record. For the Microsoft Teams app, the Kalima desktop app has been catching that moment for a while: it notices the call and offers to record it. For a call in a browser tab, it could not.
The reason is simple. A computer knows which programs are running and which ones use the microphone. It does not know which of your forty browser tabs is a meeting. Guessing from window titles and audio levels was slow and unreliable, so Kalima did not pretend.
The new Kalima browser extension answers the question directly. It tells the desktop app the moment you join a call in Chrome, Edge or Brave, and the desktop app does the rest.
What changes when the extension is installed
Join a Google Meet call in your browser and the desktop app reacts the same way it does for the Teams app:
- Ask me first (the default): the Meeting Assist panel appears at the bottom of your screen and asks Record this meeting? Pick the mode and languages, then Start recording.
- Start automatically: Kalima starts recording a clearly detected call on its own, and stops when the call ends.
Because the extension sees the tab itself, both ends are quick. Kalima knows when you joined and when you left, so an automatic stop does not depend on guessing when the sound faded.
Which meetings it covers
The extension recognises calls you join in the browser on:
| Service | In the browser |
|---|---|
| Google Meet | Yes |
| Microsoft Teams | Yes |
| Zoom (web client) | Yes |
| Webex | Yes |
| Jitsi Meet | Yes |
| Whereby | Yes |
Without the extension, Kalima detects only the Microsoft Teams desktop app. Zoom and Webex as installed desktop apps are not detected; start those recordings yourself, or join them in the browser.
What the extension does not do
This is the part worth reading twice, because a browser extension near your meetings deserves suspicion.
- It records nothing. It captures no audio or video and takes no screenshots. The recording is made by the Kalima desktop app, the same way as for any other meeting.
- It sends nothing to a server. The extension talks only to the Kalima desktop app on the same computer, through the browser's native messaging channel. Your meetings never pass through Kalima's servers because of it.
- It only runs on meeting sites. Its only permission is the channel to the desktop app, and it only loads on the meeting services in the table above. Your other tabs are none of its business.
- It needs the desktop app. Without the Kalima desktop app, the extension has nobody to talk to and does nothing.
What it reports is one fact: a call has started or ended in a tab, and which service it is. That is all the desktop app needs to offer the recording.
Set it up in two minutes
The extension's own icon tells you the state at any time: Connected to the desktop app, or The desktop app is not open with a hint to start Kalima. If you close the app and open it again, the extension reconnects on its own within a few seconds.
Control what gets detected
Every service has its own switch under Settings › Meetings › Supported apps. If you use Google Meet only for family calls, switch it off there and Kalima stays quiet in those tabs. Default behavior decides whether Kalima asks first or starts on its own, and Auto-stop when call ends ends recordings that detection started.
Before the first recording
Detecting a meeting is not the same as having permission to record it. Tell the people in the call that you are transcribing, ideally at the start. Our guide on consent wording has sentences you can use as they are.
The extension is free and works on every Kalima plan, including the free one. The meeting detection guide covers every setting in detail.
Try Kalima on your next call.
Live transcription and translation, no bot in the meeting. Free to start.
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