Granola: AI meeting notes without a bot

• An “AI notepad for back-to-back meetings”: notes, actions, and memory without a meeting bot.
• Desktop apps for macOS and Windows, mobile apps for iPhone and Android. The web app at notes.granola.ai is for viewing and editing only and can’t capture meetings.
• Works with Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Slack huddles, and in-person meetings.

What works

• Nothing joins the call. Granola runs only on your computer and uses your system audio and microphone, so other participants don’t see an extra attendee.
• It works with any meeting app, because it listens to the computer’s own audio.
• Capture starts only after a deliberate action: clicking a notification, opening the meeting’s note, or clicking New Note.
• The transcript shows where each line came from: green bubbles are your microphone and grey bubbles are other people on the call.

Takeaway

Being invisible makes the product feel smooth, but it means the user has to handle consent. Design the consent controls as carefully as the capture.

What works

• The main surface is a blank notepad, not a transcript: write down as much or as little as you like.
• Enhanced notes are built from the transcript, your raw notes, and the calendar event, and your notes guide what the AI focuses on.
• You stay in control: edit the enhanced notes directly, or edit your raw notes and re-enhance.
• In shared notes, viewers can hover over a point to see context from the transcript.

Takeaway

Let what the user types steer the AI, instead of replacing the user with the AI.

What works

• Templates shape the enhanced notes for a type of meeting (1:1s, interviews, sales calls). Type / in the note during a call, or switch templates afterward, which regenerates the notes.
• The default templates you see depend on the user type you picked at install.
• Recipes are saved prompt templates for chat. Type / in the chat bar to see them in three groups: Discover, My recipes, and Workspace. Each is set to work on either a single meeting or multiple meetings.
• Recipes can be shared as a link (Private, Workspace, or Anyone with link) without exposing your notes.

Takeaway

Turn good prompts into named, shareable things, and expose them through one consistent shortcut.

What works

• Chat’s scope depends on where you open it: one meeting, all meetings from home, a folder, or a person or company record (desktop).
• The docs frame chat around before, during, and after a meeting, for example catching up on what you missed while the call is still going.
• File uploads add context from outside your meetings (not on iOS).
• The homepage pitches perfect meeting memory: “What did I promise to do in my meetings this week?”

Takeaway

Let the place a user opens chat set what it searches, then show that scope clearly.

What works

• Granola does not auto-share your notes to attendees. Sharing is always a deliberate step.
• Roles default sensibly: Collaborator for someone on your company domain, Viewer for outsiders.
• Shared notes don’t include the full transcript for privacy reasons. Viewers still get Chat about that meeting.
• Notes can go out to Slack, Notion, HubSpot, Salesforce, Attio, Affinity, Zapier, or an email draft, or be copied as markdown.

Takeaway

Private by default, with a role chosen based on the recipient, is a strong default for any AI that produces content about other people.

What works

• Calendar sync finds upcoming meetings, and one click starts capture. Granola also preps a Brief before external meetings.
• The user type you pick at install decides which templates you see first.
• First value depends on a real meeting. There’s nothing to see until you hold one, so the calendar and notifications are how users get there.

We could not verify the first-run screens hands-on. This section is based on the public docs only.

Takeaway

When value depends on a real-world event, the calendar is your onboarding.

What works

• No stored audio: audio is temporarily cached during the meeting for transcription only and then deleted.
• Notes are private by default with three sharing levels (Private, Only your company, Anyone with link). Admins cannot view your private notes.
• Consent is the user’s responsibility, but Granola provides tools for it: an optional watermark on your camera and an automated message in the meeting chat that everyone can see. You can also pause transcription.
• The Basic plan lets you opt out of model training.
• Not FERPA compliant, which the security FAQ states openly.

Takeaway

If your AI is invisible, make the disclosure easy and visible to everyone.