Meeting action items on the Mac, automatically – without a bot in the call
Key takeaways
- Voxdrop 2.3 adds a To-dos tab to every meeting: who does what by when, grouped by person, ready to check off.
- Deliberately conservative: only tasks someone clearly took on (“I'll…”) or handed out (“could you…”) make the list – at most eight per meeting.
- It works during the call, so the list is ready 0–0.5 seconds after you hang up (measured by replaying ten real meetings). Recording, transcript and to-dos stay on your Mac; no bot joins.
Most AI meeting tools give you a list of action items. The problem is rarely the missing list – it's the noise. Every “we should look into that” becomes a task, and a week later nobody trusts the list. The first version of Voxdrop's to-dos did exactly that: up to twelve items per meeting, many of them topics rather than tasks. When I tried it on my own calls, the verdict was “partly right, partly random”, and it took up to a minute and a half. The version that shipped in 2.3 works the other way round: fewer items, but ones you can rely on, and ready when you hang up.
How does Voxdrop find the to-dos in a meeting?
It doesn't ask a model to turn the whole call into tasks. It first looks for the places where someone commits to something or asks for something, using fixed phrases in German, English and French. Only those passages go to the language model, which answers with one line per passage: a task, or “none”.
- Commitments: “I'll send it”, “mache ich”, “je m'en occupe”.
- Requests: “could you…”, “kannst du…”.
- Deadlines: “by Friday”, “bis Freitag”.
- Context: each passage includes two lines before and one after, enough to know what “that” refers to.
- Filter: questions and things already done are dropped; at most eight to-dos per meeting.
Who owns a task is decided by a rule, not by the model. A commitment belongs to whoever said it. A request belongs to whoever answers it – or to the other side. If a name is said (“Jonas, can you…”), the name wins.
What does the To-dos tab look like?
Each meeting gets a third tab next to the summary and the transcript. To-dos are grouped by person – you, the other side (or the names you gave the speakers), people mentioned by name, and “General” – with a due date if one was said and the point in the call where it came up. You can check items off, move them with Assign to, copy one or all as a checklist, or remove them. Removed to-dos stay removed if you recreate the list. The meeting list shows how many are still open.
How fast is it?
Measured by replaying copies of ten real meetings through Voxdrop with Apple's on-device model (we only looked at counts and timings, never at the content):
| 10 real meetings, Apple’s model | First version (whole transcript) | Button on an older meeting | Live during the call |
|---|---|---|---|
| Until the to-dos are there | 20–90 s | 0.4–6.0 s (avg 2.2 s) | 0–0.5 s after hanging up |
| To-dos per meeting | up to 12 (the cap) | 0–8 | 0–7 (avg 3.4) |
| Failed model calls | 0 | 0 | 0 |
“Live” means: while you're still talking, Voxdrop works through the parts of the transcript that are already settled, taking turns with the live summary. When you hang up, only the most recent part is left.
How is this different from Granola, Otter or Fireflies?
| Voxdrop | Granola | Otter | Fireflies | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bot in the call | No, records on the Mac | No, records on the device | Yes by default (joins via calendar); desktop app without a bot | Yes by default (joins via calendar); desktop app without a bot |
| Where meetings are stored | On your Mac | In the cloud (AWS, US) | In Otter's cloud | In Fireflies' cloud |
| To-dos | Only clear commitments and requests, max. 8, owner by rule | Via chat and templates ("Recipes") | Yes, assigned to participants | Yes, with owners |
| Price | €9.99–14.99 once | Free tier (30-day history), Business $14/user/month | Free tier, Pro $16.99/month ($8.33 billed annually) | Free tier, Pro $18/month ($10 billed annually) |
(Disclosure: Voxdrop is our app.) The cloud services have real strengths – they work across devices and offer team workspaces. If you mainly want a meeting record on your Mac without sending audio anywhere, the local route is simpler. Voxdrop isn't the only local option either: Superwhisper added meetings in October 2026 (cloud processing by default, local models optional), and MacWhisper records meetings on the Mac for a one-time price.
Honest caveats
- It misses things on purpose. “We should…” and “someone needs to…” don't make the list. A missed task is the price of a list you can trust.
- Remote participants share one track. Voxdrop records your microphone and the call audio separately, so it knows you from “the others” – but not which of the others spoke. Their tasks land under “Others” unless a name was said.
- The assignment can still be wrong. One right-click fixes it.
- It needs a language model: Apple Intelligence on macOS 26 or later, or a local model via Ollama or LM Studio. Meeting recording needs macOS 14.4 or later.
- Ask before you record. In Germany and many other countries, recording a conversation needs the others' consent.
Where do the to-dos go next?
Into a follow-up email draft, as checkboxes into your Obsidian vault, to Claude or Cursor through the local MCP server (tool list_todos), or into a daily automation with the Shortcuts action “Open meeting to-dos”.
FAQ
Can Voxdrop create action items from my meetings automatically?
Yes, since version 2.3. Every recorded meeting gets a To-dos tab: who does what by when, grouped by person, ready to check off. It is filled during the call and is usually there within half a second after you hang up.
Does Voxdrop join my calls as a bot?
No. Voxdrop records on your Mac – your microphone and the call audio – in Teams, Zoom, FaceTime, Slack, Discord and Webex. No bot appears in the participant list.
Why does Voxdrop list fewer to-dos than other tools?
On purpose. Only tasks someone clearly took on ("I'll…") or handed out ("could you…") make the list, at most eight per meeting. Vague items like "we should look into that" are left out, so the list stays trustworthy.
Can I change who a to-do belongs to?
Yes. Right-click a to-do and choose Assign to. If you recreate the list later, your assignments and checkmarks are kept, and to-dos you removed do not come back.
Are my meetings processed in the cloud to find the to-dos?
No. Transcription and to-do extraction run on your Mac, with Apple's on-device model (macOS 26 or later) or a local model in Ollama or LM Studio on the same Mac.
Read next
- Meeting follow-up email: a draft you send yourself
- Meeting summaries with a local LLM: Ollama and LM Studio
- Local, offline voice-to-text for Mac
Get Voxdrop
Voxdrop is on-device voice-to-text for any Mac app — hit a hotkey, speak, and the text appears at your cursor. Local Whisper, €9.99 Early-Bird (first 500 buyers) or €14.99 Standard, one-time, no subscription. License key right after checkout, 14-day money-back.