How to record a lecture on your Mac, and study from it

Open Voice Memos and click Record. It's already on your Mac, it can show a transcript while you record, and the file is yours to keep. For the transcript inside your notes instead, Apple Notes records audio into a note and, on a Mac with M1 or later, writes down what's said as it goes.

What neither does is turn the class into something to study from. That's the gap Koi's In person mode fills: it records the room through your microphone, keeps the sound to play back, and when the class ends, with your yes, writes a summary, the key points, flashcards and what you were told to do.

We make Koi, so read the Koi part with that in mind. Apple's details come from its own user guides, and the other apps' from their sites, checked October 16, 2026.

Recording a class isn't only between you and your laptop. Many schools and lecturers have rules on it, and some limit sending recordings or transcripts to outside AI services. Look at the course's policy or the syllabus, or just ask the lecturer at the start of term. If you record a class because of an accommodation, that arrangement usually says what's allowed.

Classmates count too. A seminar where everyone talks is closer to a meeting than a lecture, and recording people's voices may need their agreement where you are. Recording laws differ from place to place, and this isn't legal advice.

Apple's guides describe no notice when Voice Memos or Notes records, and Koi doesn't announce itself, so the telling is yours.

From Apple's Voice Memos guide:

1. Open Voice Memos and click the Record button at the bottom left.
2. Click Pause when the lecturer stops for a break, and Resume to carry on in the same recording.
3. Click Done to save it. It's named after your location if you allow that, or New Recording.
4. To read along, click the Transcription button. The words appear as they're said, with the current word highlighted.

Afterwards, the transcript is searchable from the list of recordings, and selecting a word in it moves the playback there. To keep the words, select them, Control-click and choose Copy. With Apple Intelligence, Writing Tools can summarize a transcript. Apple notes that transcription isn't available in every country or region, and some Macs don't support it.

Notes suits you if you take notes there anyway. From Apple's Notes guide:

1. Open a note for the class.
2. Click the attachment button in the toolbar and choose Record Audio.
3. Click Record. Use Pause and Resume for breaks.
4. Click the Transcription button to watch the live transcript.
5. When the class ends, click Pause, then Done.

Transcription needs a Mac with M1 or later, set to a supported language: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Japanese, Korean and Chinese are on Apple's list. Under the More button you can Find in Transcript, Add Transcript to Note or Copy Transcript, and with Apple Intelligence you can get a summary. One thing to know: deleting the recording deletes its transcript too.

Koi's Record has two modes. Online call is for Zoom, Meet and Teams. In person is for a meeting, a talk or a class in the room, and it's the one for lectures. It hears the room through your microphone alone, needs no Screen Recording permission, and films nothing.

1. Put your Mac where it hears the lecturer best, nearer the front if you can.
2. Tap Fn + ⌃ and pick In person. Or choose Record a Meeting in Person in the menu bar, or, on a call with Koi, say "record this lecture".
3. Let it run. Each stretch of what's said is transcribed on your Mac with Whisper as it pauses.
4. When the class ends, tap the keys again, or click stop on Koi's dock.

The class is written onto a document in Recents as it goes, a paragraph every few stretches, with the sound kept on the page so you can play back the part you missed. When you stop, the page asks “Summarize this recording?”. With a yes, the transcript's words, never the sound, go to Koi's AI, which runs online, and the notes come back fitted to a class: a summary, the key points, flashcards, and what the class was told to do. Without the yes, nothing from the recording leaves your Mac.

Then study from the same page. The flashcards are a table of fronts and backs with a Study pill over it: it shows the cards one at a time, Space turns one over, and Again, Hard, Good or Easy decide when it comes back, spaced out the way Anki does it. Or say “let's study these cards” on a call with Koi, and it opens the study window.

Got the slides too? Import a PDF, Word file or PowerPoint deck from the Documents panel, and “Make study notes” in its menu turns it into a summary, key points, flashcards and a multiple-choice quiz. Our guide to making flashcards from a PDF on a Mac goes further, and Koi's documents covers the editor they live in.

Koi needs macOS 14 or later and a microphone. Its server is asked before a recording starts, to check your plan, so you need a connection to begin. Recordings are unlimited on every plan: Pro is $20 a month after a 3-day free trial that needs a card, and Lifetime is $59 for the first 25 buyers, rising to $199. See the pricing page.

• It won't name speakers. An in-person page is what was heard, in paragraphs, so a question from the back reads like the rest.
• It hears what your one microphone hears. From the back of a big hall, expect gaps, as with any laptop recorder.
• It's Mac only. There's no iPhone app, so your Mac has to be in the room.
• It doesn't transcribe recordings you already have. For an old audio file, Voice Memos or an app like MacWhisper is the tool.
• The study notes need your yes and go through Koi's AI online. Only the transcript stays on your Mac by itself.

A few others students use, with details from their own sites:

• Otter records in person from its desktop app as well as calls. Its free Basic plan gives 300 minutes a month but caps each conversation at 30 minutes, which is shorter than most lectures, per its pricing page. Transcription is in Otter's cloud.
• Plaud sells pocket recorders, from $159 for the Note to $189 for the Note Pro, with a free Starter plan of 300 minutes a month and paid plans above it. Handy if you'd rather not open a laptop.
• MacWhisper transcribes audio files on your Mac, so it suits a lecture you already recorded on your phone. It has a free version and a one-time Pro, and since version 15.2 needs macOS 15. See how Koi compares with MacWhisper.

• Sit close. Distance matters more than any setting.
• Plug in if you can. A two-hour class is a long time on battery.
• Turn notifications off, or mute the Mac. A microphone in the room hears your Mac's own chimes too.
• Record one test minute in the first class and play it back before you rely on it.
• Name the recording after the course and date straight away, so week nine isn't New Recording 23.

• Just want the sound, and a transcript to skim? Voice Memos.
• Already keep your class notes in Notes, on an M1 Mac or later? Record into the note.
• Recording on your phone, transcribing later? Your phone's recorder, then MacWhisper on the Mac.
• Want the class turned into a summary, key points and flashcards you'll actually study? Koi's In person mode, with your school's OK.

Recording a meeting rather than a class? See how to record an in-person meeting on a Mac, or every way to record a meeting on a Mac.