Your first call with Subtl
Nothing about this depends on the call application. Open Zoom, Meet, Teams, Telegram, FaceTime or a phone call relayed through the Mac, and start a session in Subtl the same way each time.
Before you press Start
Three things on the start screen are worth ten seconds each.
- 01Languages: what the other side speaks and what you want to read. Leave the first on auto-detect if you are not sure; you can change it mid-call.
- 02Audio: the output device the call will play through, and the sound test next to it.
- 03Recognition: cloud or on this Mac. Auto picks for you and says why.
What happens when you start
Two windows appear over your screen: the transcript and, if the prompter is switched on, the prompter. They float above every application, including full-screen call windows.
The first words show up about half a second after they are spoken, and are corrected as the sentence completes. Each line is finished at a sentence end, translated once, and then stays put.
What the other side sees
Nothing. No bot joins the participant list, no recording notice is sent, and nothing is added to the call window. Subtl reads the audio your Mac is already playing.
If you share your screen, the two windows are excluded from the shared image. A camera pointed at your monitor is not — we would rather say that plainly than let you find out later.
Ending the session
Press Stop, or ⌥⌘S to hide the windows without stopping. When the session ends and recording was on, the call goes into History: transcript, summary and the task list drawn from it.
Minutes are counted while a session is listening, rounded up to the whole minute. A paused session does not count.
Read next
- Windows and shortcutsHow to move and resize the transcript and prompter windows, switch each function on or off mid-call from the menu bar, and the keyboard shortcuts worth knowing.
- Meeting contextSet up a preset for a meeting: your role, the goal, the counterpart, the tone, a glossary of terms, and documents the answers should quote.