What Chui records on, what each device can hear, and why nothing joins the call.
No bot ever joins the call. Chui records from the device in front of you — the microphone it already has, and on a Mac or a Windows PC the sound the machine is playing as well. Nobody on the other side sees a participant called Chui, because there isn't one. There is nothing to invite, nothing to admit from a waiting room, and no meeting link to hand over.
That is also the limit: Chui can only record a meeting somebody is at, with Chui running. It cannot be sent to a meeting on its own, and it cannot record a call that already happened — though a call the phone recorded itself can be brought in afterwards, and a call placed through Chui becomes a meeting by itself (both in Audio from somewhere else).
Each meeting in the list shows how it was recorded (since build 212): a microphone for in the room (the Apple Watch counts as in the room), a handset for a call through Chui, a laptop for the Mac or Windows app, a file for an import. A recording that came back as a short note, with only one voice in it, is marked with a lightbulb (since build 235; What happens after you stop).
iPhone. For meetings in person. It keeps recording with the screen locked and the phone in a pocket. Chui for iPhone is on the App Store.
There is no «Record all day» switch any more, and a phone does not cut a recording into meetings by itself. Builds 233 to 237 had the switch in Settings, under «Recording»; build 238 took it away, and nothing in Settings replaces it. On a phone today one press of «New recording» makes one meeting, quiet stretches included, until you press «Stop». After fifteen minutes in which nobody spoke Chui asks «Still in the meeting?», and with no answer and thirty more silent minutes it stops and summarises. Every recording also stops at the limit in Settings → Recording: 12 hours unless you chose less.
On a phone, «New recording» makes one recording that runs until you press «Stop» (since build 240). In builds 238 and 239 a recording on an iPhone, and on Android 10 and newer, split itself into separate meetings at each long silence, which could cut one conversation into several meetings. A recording already running that way when build 240 arrives carries on to its end, and nothing it has already saved is lost.
You can record on a phone before you have an account (since build 225). A phone nobody has signed in on opens on Record: the meeting stays on the phone, and when you sign in it goes up and becomes an ordinary meeting, named like «Meeting, today 14:05» until Chui names it.
A link from another app can start a recording on a phone, on a Mac or at chui.io (since build 248), with the meeting's name already filled in if the link gives one. If a recording is already running, the link takes you to it instead of starting a second one; signed out, the recording starts as soon as you sign in. A link that starts a recording is the link in full.
Android phone. The same as the iPhone — in person, and it keeps recording with the screen locked. Chui for Android is on Google Play. Pressing «Stop» and locking the phone straight away is safe: Chui keeps running until the meeting has finished uploading (since build 228).
Apple Watch. Records on its own, from the wrist, with the phone left in a pocket, and hands the recording to the phone afterwards. It comes with the iPhone app and installs from the Watch app on the phone.
Mac. For online meetings — Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, anything the laptop plays sound through. It hears both halves separately: your microphone and what everyone else says arrive as two channels of one file, so "who said this" is a channel and not a guess. It is a download from chui.io/download, macOS 15 or newer, Apple Silicon. When a call starts it can offer to record it with one click. AirPods in a call are recorded as your microphone (since build 228). Quitting from the Dock, logging out or shutting down during a recording does not end it — Chui stays open and keeps recording (since build 206) — and an update installs only when you quit Chui or press «Relaunch» (since build 218).
Windows PC. The same job as the Mac — online meetings, your microphone and everyone else as two channels — and a download from chui.io/download, Windows 10 or newer, 64-bit, signed as Generative Chaos LLC. It is newer than the Mac. A whole 65-minute meeting has been recorded on it by pressing Chui's own Record button, on build 235: all of it arrived, and both voices were in the transcript. That was a cloud Windows PC with a virtual sound cable rather than a real PC with speakers and a headset, so if a recording there goes wrong, write to support@chui.io. An update installs by itself only when nothing is recording and the Chui window is closed (since build 197), and opening Chui a second time no longer starts a second copy (since build 199).
A browser tab, at chui.io/app. (chui.io itself is the website since build 197; Chui is at chui.io/app.) Records with the microphone of whatever machine you are on. It cannot survive a locked screen or a closed tab, and it says so rather than pretending — if the meeting is long, or the screen will lock, use the phone or the computer app.
Two permissions, the first time it records, and there is no third: Microphone (your own voice) and System Audio Recording (everyone else's). Chui never asks to record the screen. Refuse the second one and Chui still records — it just hears only you, and it says so on screen while it does. Any permission not yet given is named on a card at the top of «Meetings», which leads to a list in Settings with a button that opens the exact place in the system settings — on a Mac and on Windows (since build 226).
The screen shows that it is recording, how long for, and that sound is arriving (with VoiceOver, the level bars say how loud the microphone is, 0 to 100). If Chui is set to announce the recording out loud, it counts down first: «Chui is about to say this out loud», and «Not this time» skips it for this meeting (since build 206). When this month's free meetings are used up, pressing «Record» may first ask which of your accounts to record in (since build 228; What an account costs says when).
On a Mac or a Windows PC, dictation — Chui typing what you say into another app — works during a recording without disturbing it (since build 228). On an iPhone, Chui's keyboard dictates into other apps during a recording too, using the meeting's own microphone, and the recording loses no sound (since build 249). A «hey Chui» conversation does not start during a recording, and one under way ends when a recording starts (Asking Chui about your meetings). Notes typed during the meeting are raw material, not the notes — see What happens after you stop.
A recording survives being interrupted. If a phone call comes in, Chui stops, says so, and carries on when the call ends — on an iPhone within a fraction of a second of the phone giving the microphone back (since build 226); everything before the interruption is already safe. If on an iPhone it does not carry on by itself, the «Open Chui to keep recording» notification shows even during a Focus, such as Work or Do Not Disturb, that lets time-sensitive notifications through, and «Chui is recording again» comes through the same way when it does carry on (since build 249). On Android, if the phone's own audio system fails during a recording, Chui starts recording again at once (since build 239). On a Windows PC that goes to sleep during a recording, Chui carries on recording as soon as it wakes and «Stop» finishes straight away; the time it was asleep shows as a gap in the meeting (since build 246). Since build 247 that time no longer counts as missing sound, so the meeting is not marked cut short because of it, and a meeting recorded overnight shows the right time of day. A recording that was cut short is marked as such afterwards rather than being presented as the whole meeting.
An ordinary phone call Chui cannot record — the phone does not allow it. Let the phone record the call and bring that recording in, or place the call through Chui where your account has a Chui number: Audio from somewhere else.
Very long recordings — most of a day, or a Windows recording left running for days — are put together, transcribed and get names on their voices (builds 198, 200 and 226). Since build 247 an all-day recording is worked through from its real beginning.
Chui asks «Still in the meeting?» when a recording looks over, so a recording somebody forgot does not run for days. On a Mac or a Windows PC it asks right away when the online call ends (since build 226). It also asks after fifteen minutes in which nobody spoke, and at four hours and then every two. The question is a card above the record bar, a notification on the recording device, and — the first time — a notification on the person's other devices. «Keep recording» quiets it for an hour.
If nobody answers and the room stays silent for thirty more minutes, Chui stops and summarises. If there is sound — a television, a video — it keeps recording and asks again every half hour: it never stops on noise.
A forgotten recording can be stopped from another device. The notification on the person's other devices says which one is recording («on your computer», «on your phone»); tapping it opens the meeting, which shows how long it has run, when it last heard sound and when the device was last in touch, with «Stop and summarise» and «Keep recording». A Stop there is the ordinary stop — everything recorded is kept and summarised — and lands when the recording device next checks in with Chui, usually within about 90 seconds; a device that has gone quiet is said to be quiet, never stopped. «Keep recording» from afar quiets the question for an hour, as on the device itself. An assistant can do the same: prepare_stop_recording() then stop_recording(), and keep_recording().
And every recording stops at a limit: 12 hours unless the person chose less — 2, 4, 8 or 12 hours, in Settings → Recording, or by asking (set_recording_limit(); get_account says the current one). There is no «no limit» choice any more (since build 237); a recording that had it now stops at 12 hours. A notice comes ten minutes before; answering «Keep recording» then moves the limit on by the same amount again. The limit holds on an iPhone with the screen locked too (since build 218), and on an Android phone with Chui in the background. Every stop this causes is an ordinary stop: everything recorded is kept and summarised, nothing is thrown away.
Yes — on a Mac or a Windows PC, the devices that can hear the other side. Install Chui for Mac (and allow System Audio Recording) or Chui for Windows, and press record (or accept the offer Chui makes when it notices the call start). Nothing joins the call. On a phone or in a browser tab Chui hears only the microphone, so it records a speakerphone in the room but not a headset.