FAQ
Does Boswell join my video calls?
Section titled “Does Boswell join my video calls?”No. Boswell captures audio directly from your Mac: your microphone and whatever is playing through your speakers. Other attendees see nothing new. There is no bot, no email invitation, no “is it okay if I record this” awkwardness. See The no-bot model for more detail.
Does my audio go to the cloud?
Section titled “Does my audio go to the cloud?”By default, no. Transcription runs locally using Apple’s on-device speech recognition, and Apple Intelligence handles summaries on-device. If you turn on an optional cloud feature — like connecting your own AI provider for summaries — that traffic goes directly from your Mac to the provider, never through Boswell’s servers.
See What stays on-device for the full data-flow breakdown.
Where do my notes live?
Section titled “Where do my notes live?”Your meetings and quick notes are stored on your Mac, inside Boswell (under ~/Library/Application Support/Boswell/) — never on a Boswell server. Turn on Markdown export and copies are also written as plain .md files to a folder you choose, so they open in any text editor or drop straight into an Obsidian vault.
What if Boswell goes away?
Section titled “What if Boswell goes away?”Your data stays on your Mac. Turn on Markdown export and your notes are plain .md files in a folder you choose — they’ll keep opening in any text editor, with or without Boswell.
Which Macs does Boswell run on?
Section titled “Which Macs does Boswell run on?”macOS 26.2 Tahoe and later, Apple Silicon only. Even an M1 MacBook Air handles 60-minute meetings in real time.
See System requirements for detail.
Can I run it on a work Mac with MDM?
Section titled “Can I run it on a work Mac with MDM?”Yes, with caveats. Boswell needs Microphone and system-audio recording permissions; some MDM profiles block one or both. Check with your IT admin if you’re not sure whether those permissions can be granted on your device.
What is the difference between Free and Pro?
Section titled “What is the difference between Free and Pro?”Free is permanent — no trial clock, no lock-out. It includes recording (system audio from Zoom, Teams, Meet), voice memos, system-wide dictation, live captions, auto-detect meetings (notification to start recording), and on-device transcription using Apple’s built-in speech recognition. You can read, edit, and keyword-search your transcripts, and you get the AI Enhanced Note — summary, key points, decisions, and action items — generated on-device.
Pro adds translation and the option to connect your own cloud AI provider for summaries. The Enhanced Note itself is included on every plan, generated on your Mac.
Current pricing is at meetboswell.com/#pricing — the docs deliberately don’t repeat dollar amounts that can change.
How does the free Pro trial work?
Section titled “How does the free Pro trial work?”When you download Boswell, you get one free month of Pro — no credit card required. The trial starts when you activate it inside the app. After the month, you either subscribe to keep Pro features or continue on the permanent Free tier. Your transcripts stay either way.
Is Boswell safe to use on a work Mac?
Section titled “Is Boswell safe to use on a work Mac?”Boswell is Developer-ID notarized and runs with the hardened runtime — it passes standard macOS Gatekeeper checks without any workarounds. All data stays on your Mac by default. See Notarization & security for how to verify this yourself, and check with your IT admin about the Microphone and system-audio recording permissions if your Mac is managed.