Local meeting transcription on a Mac
You can transcribe meetings on-device on a Mac today, so the audio never leaves your machine. It has gotten good, but it isn't a clean win over the cloud on every call yet. Here's the honest state of it, and how Peachy lets you choose per meeting while the file always lands in a folder you own.
What local meeting transcription means
Local, or on-device, transcription runs the speech-to-text on your own Mac instead of sending the audio to a server. The appeal is simple: the audio never leaves your machine, so there's no cloud copy to think about. Apple Silicon made this practical, and on-device models have improved fast.
The tradeoff is that the strongest cloud models still have an edge on the hardest audio, so "local" and "most accurate" aren't always the same choice. An honest tool lets you pick per meeting rather than pretending one setting wins every time.
The honest state of on-device transcription
On-device transcription works well for most meetings. In our own A/B it landed in the same ballpark as the cloud transcript, and it was better at attributing who said what. Where the cloud still pulls ahead is busy, multi-person calls with cross-talk, which is why we keep cloud as the default for accuracy.
We'd rather say this plainly than oversell it. If a call is a focused one-on-one, on-device is a great fit. If it's a noisy group call and the exact wording matters, the cloud is the safer pick. On-device stays opt-in, and the app still labels it Experimental while we finish proving it out.
How Peachy does local transcription: Local Mode
Peachy has an opt-in Local Mode that transcribes on your Mac, so a meeting's audio never leaves the device. It's free and unlimited. You switch it on in settings, per meeting, so you can keep a sensitive call fully on-device and let an ordinary one use the cloud.
Two honest notes. Cloud transcription is the default, because it's still clearer on busy calls. And the app labels Local Mode Experimental while we finish proving it in the wild, so we won't tell you it's finished before the app does. What is settled: it runs on your Mac, and the audio stays there.
Either way, the file is yours
Here's the part that doesn't depend on which engine you pick. However a meeting gets transcribed, Peachy writes it as a plain, speaker-labeled Markdown file in a folder you own. No Peachy cloud holds it. So the durable guarantee isn't "the transcription is always local," it's "the record is always yours," and Local Mode adds "the audio stays on your Mac too" when you want it.
Local transcription, plus your own AI
Because every meeting is a Markdown file in your folder, your own Claude can read across them in place over MCP, with no upload. You get the privacy posture you came for on the transcription side, and the meetings are still usable by the AI you already run. The file is the thing both of those depend on.
Cloud vs Local Mode in Peachy
| Cloud (default) | Local Mode (opt-in) | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the audio goes | To a provider briefly, not retained | Stays on your Mac |
| Accuracy | Top, especially on busy calls | Same ballpark, better speaker labels |
| Best for | Noisy, multi-person calls | Focused calls, or sensitive audio |
| Cost | Uses a credit | Free and unlimited |
| Status | Default, recommended | Opt-in, labeled Experimental |
| The file | Markdown in your folder | Markdown in your folder |
Frequently asked questions
- Can I transcribe meetings locally on a Mac?
- Yes. Peachy has an opt-in Local Mode that runs on-device, so the audio never leaves your Mac, and it's free and unlimited. Cloud is the default for top accuracy, and you switch Local Mode on per meeting.
- Is Peachy's local transcription as accurate as the cloud?
- In our own A/B it was in the same ballpark, with better speaker attribution. The cloud is still clearer on busy multi-person calls, so it stays the default. Local Mode is labeled Experimental in the app while we finish proving it.
- Does the audio ever leave my Mac in Local Mode?
- No. In Local Mode the transcription runs on your device and the audio stays there. The default cloud path sends the audio to a provider briefly to transcribe it, and the provider doesn't retain it.
- Is local transcription free?
- Yes. On-device transcription in Local Mode is free and unlimited. Cloud transcription uses credits, at one per meeting up to 90 minutes.
- Where do the transcripts end up?
- Whichever engine you choose, each meeting is a speaker-labeled Markdown file in a folder you own, with no Peachy cloud. Your own AI can read them from there.
Keep your meetings on your Mac
Peachy captures every meeting as a file you own, with an opt-in Local Mode that keeps the audio on your device. Free to download, yours to keep.