Capturing calls on Mac
Aila Desktop lives in the macOS menu bar. This page covers recording a call, the recording modes, and fixing problems. For setup, see Aila for Mac.
Recording mode
Open Preferences from the menu bar icon and choose a Recording mode:
| Mode | What happens |
|---|---|
| Notify me (Recommended) | Aila alerts you when a call starts. Click once to record. Recording stops when the call ends. |
| Automatic | Recording starts and stops with your calls. No prompt. |
| Manual | Recording starts and stops only when you press the button. |
Tell everyone on the call it is being recorded, whatever mode you use.
Record a call
- Start or join your call in the Phone app, FaceTime, Zoom, Teams, or another call app.
- Click the Aila icon in the menu bar to open the panel. In Notify me mode, the panel shows Call detected.
- Click Record call. In Manual mode, click Start recording.
- While recording, the menu bar icon shows a timer. Use Pause to pause and Stop when the conversation ends. In Notify me mode, the recording stops when the call ends.
- Aila Desktop uploads the recording to your workspace. Open Calls in the Aila web app to review it.
Recent recordings in the panel lists your latest recordings. Right-click the menu bar icon for Open Aila, Recording Recovery…, Preferences…, and Quit Aila Desktop.
Troubleshooting
- Aila can't hear the whole call: open Preferences and run Check my sound. It listens for 8 seconds, and nothing from the check is uploaded. The Recording check shows which permission is missing.
- Recording is disabled: open macOS System Settings > Privacy & Security and confirm microphone, call audio, and screen recording access for Aila Desktop.
- An upload didn't finish: recordings are saved on your Mac and retried automatically, including after a restart. Choose Recording Recovery… from the menu bar icon to see which recordings are waiting to upload.
- Echo or the other side on your mic channel: play the call in headphones. Without headphones, the far side can bleed into your microphone. Aila falls back to speaker labels when it detects this.