How to record a Google Meet call on a Mac

Which Google accounts can record in Meet

Google's help page lists these plans. A Workspace admin also has to turn recording on for your account.

• Business Standard, Business Plus and Essentials
• Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus and Enterprise Essentials
• Education Plus (staff licence) and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade
• Workspace Individual
• Google One with 2 TB of storage or more

Not on the list: free Gmail accounts and Business Starter. Education Fundamentals and Standard accounts cannot record meetings they organise.

Who in the meeting can press Record

• The host, if their plan allows recording. If the host can't record, nobody in the meeting can, even people whose own plan allows it.
• People in the host's organisation, when Host management is off. With Host management on, only the host and co-hosts can.
• A guest from outside the organisation only if the host makes them a co-host.
• Not someone who joined only to present a screen, and not in breakout rooms.

How to use Meet's own recording

1. Join on a computer. Google says you can only record on a computer or an Android device, so not from the iPhone or iPad app.
2. Open the activities panel. In the meeting, click Activities, then Recording.
3. Start recording. Click Start recording. Everyone in the call is told it is being recorded.
4. Find the file. Stop the recording or end the call. The organiser and the person who started it get an email with the link once Google has processed it.

Recordings stop by themselves after eight hours, or when everyone leaves. Supported plans can also turn on Meet's Transcripts, which saves a Google Doc to the organiser's Drive; a Transcripts icon shows for everyone while it runs.

Ways to record Meet on a Mac, compared

Recording Meet on a Mac without Meet's Record button

The Mac's own screen recorder (⇧⌘5) and QuickTime record the picture and your microphone. On macOS 27 or later, ⇧⌘5 has an Include System Audio option that adds the call's sound. On older versions, and in QuickTime, the sound coming out of the Mac isn't recorded, so the other people's voices are missing. Cued records the whole call through the Mac: screen, the call's audio and your microphone, with a live transcript, then writes the summary and a follow-up email. It works with any Google account, and the recording stays on your Mac instead of going to Drive. It is a one-time purchase, not a subscription.

Cued needs a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 15 or later, and is designed for MacBooks with a notch.

Record button missing or greyed out?

• Your plan doesn't include recording, or your admin has switched it off. Ask the admin to check Meet recording in the Google Admin console.
• The meeting's organiser can't record. Then nobody can, whatever your own plan allows.
• Google Drive is switched off for you, or you are not allowed to create Drive files.
• You are in a breakout room, or joined only to present. Join the video meeting first, then present.
• You are on a phone or tablet. Use Meet on a computer.
• Recording fails on a Mac: Google says to click Allow when Chrome asks for screen access, or add Chrome under Screen & System Audio Recording in System Settings → Privacy & Security.

Where are Google Meet recordings saved?

In the organiser's Google Drive, not the Drive of the person who pressed Record. Google's help pages describe a Google Meet folder with a sub-folder per meeting, and older recordings sit in a Meet Recordings folder in My Drive. The link is also emailed to the organiser and to whoever started the recording, and added to the Calendar event. Recordings aren't ready the moment the call ends: Drive shows Still processing until they are, though you can download the file and play it straight away.

Do other people know you are recording?

With Meet's own recording, yes: everyone in the call is told when recording starts and stops, including people outside the organisation and on phones. Meet's Transcripts feature shows an icon to everyone too.

Cued records through your Mac, not through the call app, and no bot joins, so nobody in the call is notified automatically. Telling people is your job.

In the US, most states let you record a call you are part of (one-party consent), but 11 states, including California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Washington, require everyone's consent. When people join from different states, follow the stricter rule. The simplest habit is to ask at the start, so the yes is on the recording. This isn't legal advice.

Questions

Sources

• Record a video meeting, Google Meet Help
• Troubleshoot recording issues in meetings, Google Meet Help
• Use Transcripts with Google Meet, Google Meet Help
• How to record the screen on Mac, Apple Support
• Reporter's Recording Guide, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

Related guides

• How to record a Zoom meeting on a Mac
• How to record a Microsoft Teams meeting on a Mac
• AI note taker without a bot: how it works and which apps do it
• Meeting recorder for Mac: how to record Zoom, Google Meet and Teams calls