How it works
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1
Click Start
Double Scribe listens to your microphone and your computer's audio output at the same time.
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2
Talk
Whisper transcribes speech locally as it happens, labelling each line Me or Them.
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3
Click Stop
Your transcript is saved as a plain text file on your computer. The audio itself is never kept.
Requirements
| OS | Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit |
|---|---|
| Hardware | Any CPU (an NVIDIA GPU is used automatically if present) |
| First launch | Downloads the Whisper speech model once, then works fully offline |
| Account | None required |
Privacy
Most transcription tools send your audio to a server. Double Scribe doesn't have one. Speech-to-text runs on your own machine using Whisper (the same model, running locally) with no network connection required. There's no account, no upload, and no copy of the audio left behind once the transcript is written.
Recording consent
Double Scribe transcribes whatever your mic and speakers pick up. It's on you to ask for consent before transcribing anyone else on the call, not the app's job.
When you need consent
It depends on where the people on your call are located:
- In the US, federal law only needs one party (you) to consent. But around a dozen states, including California, Illinois, Florida, Washington and Pennsylvania, need everyone on the call to consent, no matter where you're calling from.
- Outside the US, most places (UK, EU, Canada, Australia) also expect consent before recording a private chat.
- Zoom, Teams and Google Meet have their own rules about third-party recording tools too, separate from the law.
If people are calling in from different places, the strictest rule wins for the whole call. So if anyone might be in an all-consent state or country, treat the whole call that way.
For more detail, there's a state-by-state guide on Justia, though that's a third-party site Double Scribe isn't responsible for, so check with a lawyer if it really matters.
The bottom line
You're responsible for getting consent where the law requires it. Even when it's not required, always ask anyway.
Letting people know you're using it
Double Scribe doesn't join the call or show a bot or banner like cloud-based notetakers do, it just listens locally on your machine. So there's no automatic signal to others that you're recording. Saying it out loud is the only way: tell people every time, before you hit start, something like "just so it's on record, I'm transcribing this, is everyone okay with that?" Don't rely on having mentioned it once before and assuming that still covers you.
FAQ
What if the meeting is on a platform I don't control?
That's exactly the situation Double Scribe is for. It doesn't plug into Zoom, Teams, or any specific platform; it just listens to your microphone and whatever's coming through your computer's speakers, so it works no matter who's hosting or what software they're using.
Does any audio leave my computer?
No. Recording, transcription, and storage all happen locally using Whisper on your CPU or GPU. Double Scribe makes no network calls except to download the Whisper model once, the first time you run it.
What happens to the recording after I stop?
Audio is only ever held in memory while you're recording. Once you click Stop, only the text transcript is written to disk; the audio itself is discarded.
Is my transcript accessible to anyone else?
No. There's no cloud account, no server, and no sharing link. Each transcript is a plain
.txt file saved on your own computer, accessible only to whoever has access
to that machine.
Is Double Scribe free?
Yes. It's free to download and free to use, with no subscription and no usage limits.
Does it work on Mac or Linux?
Not yet. Double Scribe is Windows only for now.
Am I allowed to transcribe someone else on the call?
Double Scribe doesn't handle that for you. It's your responsibility to let the other people on the call know you're transcribing, and to follow whatever recording/consent laws apply where you are. See Recording consent above for more, including a state-by-state legal reference.