Meeting Detection & Auto-Recording
Let Kalima detect your video calls and start recording with one click, or automatically.
The Kalima desktop app can notice when you join a video or voice call and offer to record it, with the right language and capture mode already set up. Depending on how you configure it, capturing a meeting becomes a single click, or something that happens completely hands-free.
Meeting detection is a desktop-app feature. It is not available in the browser. If you haven't installed Kalima yet, see Installing the Desktop App.
How it works
While the desktop app is running (including quietly in your system tray), it watches for calls on your computer. When it recognizes one, it rates how confident it is that you're really in a meeting, then reacts based on your settings.
- Detects your calls: Recognizes popular meeting apps and browser-based calls automatically.
- Meeting Assist prompt: A small panel pops up so you can start recording in one click.
- Hands-free option: Auto-start clearly-detected calls and record in the background.
- Auto-stop: Stops on its own when the call ends, so you avoid recording dead air.
Confidence levels
Kalima rates each detected call as high, medium, or low confidence:
- High confidence, Kalima is sure you're in a meeting. If auto-start is on, recording can begin without a prompt.
- Medium confidence, likely a meeting. The Meeting Assist panel appears so you can confirm.
- Low confidence, Kalima stays quiet and does nothing.
Detection runs locally on your computer and is best-effort, so it may occasionally miss or misjudge a call. You stay in control: nothing is recorded unless you accept the prompt or have turned on automatic recording.
The Meeting Assist panel
When Kalima detects a medium- or high-confidence call and Show meeting assist is on, a small panel (about 320 by 520 pixels) appears, typically in the bottom-right of your screen. From there you set up the recording in a few seconds.
Meetings started this way capture both your microphone and the meeting's audio, so everyone on the call is transcribed, not just you. To learn more about how the call's audio is captured, see Capturing Audio & Screen.
Your intent and language choices are remembered for next time, so recurring meetings are set up the way you like with no extra fiddling.
Recording modes
The Meeting Assist panel lets you pick how a recording is handled. Each mode is also available in the regular Studio recording controls.
| Mode | What it does | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Transcribe | Transcription only, no translation | Same-language meetings |
| Translate (one-way) | Transcribes and translates into one chosen language | Following a foreign-language meeting in your language |
| Two-way | Bilingual back-and-forth between two languages | Translated conversations between two speakers |
Translation and two-way modes draw on your normal plan usage. See Live Translation for the full picture.
Going hands-free
If you'd rather not click anything, Kalima can start and stop on its own. These options live in Desktop Settings → Meeting detection.
Auto-start fires only on high-confidence detections. For medium-confidence calls, Kalima still shows the Meeting Assist panel so you can decide. Auto-stop applies only to recordings that were started through meeting detection, and it waits for a couple of consecutive checks before stopping so a brief drop in the call doesn't cut your recording short.
Settings reference
All of these live under Desktop Settings → Meeting detection, except the per-app toggle which sits in the Supported apps card on the same tab.
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Enable meeting detection | Master switch for detecting calls on your computer | On |
| Show meeting assist | Show the assist panel when a call is detected | On |
| Auto-start high-confidence calls | Start recording automatically, no prompt, for clearly-detected calls | Off |
| Record in background | Hide the main window after a detected recording starts (requires auto-start) | Off |
| Include microphone by default | Include your mic when a detected meeting starts recording | On |
| Auto-stop when call ends | Stop recording automatically when the detected call ends | On |
| Detect Microsoft Teams | Include or exclude Microsoft Teams from detection (under Supported apps) | On |
| Local diagnostics | Keep a local-only detection log to help troubleshoot | Off |
Which apps Kalima detects
Kalima recognizes calls in many popular apps automatically, including:
- Native apps: Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Webex, Slack Huddle, Discord, Skype, RingCentral, GoTo Meeting, BlueJeans, and more.
- In the browser: Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Webex, Discord, Slack Huddle, and others in a supported browser.
Browser-based calls are recognized by their meeting addresses in supported browsers, so a working browser is needed for those.
Turning off detection for an app
You can stop Kalima from prompting on calls in apps you never want recorded. In Desktop Settings → Meeting detection → Supported apps, turn off Detect Microsoft Teams to exclude Teams. Detection still covers the other supported apps automatically.
Use cases
- Recurring stand-ups: Let Kalima prompt (or auto-start) every daily stand-up and client call so you never miss the opening minutes.
- Multilingual meetings: Pick Translate or Two-way right from the assist panel for a foreign-language call.
- Back-to-back days: Combine auto-start, record in background, and auto-stop for fully hands-free, start-to-finish capture.
Frequently asked questions
Only if you choose to. With detection on, Kalima shows the Meeting Assist panel that you can accept or dismiss. Recording starts on its own only if you also turn on Auto-start high-confidence calls, and even then only for clearly-detected meetings. Recording and translation use your normal plan usage either way.
Check that Enable meeting detection and Show meeting assist are both on in Desktop Settings → Meeting detection, that the call's app isn't excluded (for example the Teams toggle), and that Kalima is running, it stays in the system tray when you close the window. For browser-based calls, use a supported browser. You can also turn on Local diagnostics to help support look into it.
Auto-start fires only on high-confidence detections; medium-confidence calls show the assist panel instead. Turn on Auto-start high-confidence calls in Desktop Settings → Meeting detection, and for medium-confidence calls just click Start in the assist panel.
Detected meetings capture your computer's meeting audio mixed with your microphone, so both sides of the call are transcribed. See Capturing Audio & Screen for details on how this works per operating system.
Yes. Turn on Record in background (available once auto-start is on) so the main window hides after a detected recording starts. You can bring Kalima back any time from the system tray.