Automatic meeting detection on Mac and Windows

The hardest part of using Hedy is remembering to start it. Calls tend to begin the moment someone says “can you hear me”, and by the time you think of Hedy you have already lost the introductions.

On Mac and Windows, Hedy watches for that moment on your behalf. When a supported meeting app starts using your microphone, Hedy offers to start a session, and accepting captures the call from that point on. This is separate from the calendar connection (Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar), which works from your schedule rather than from what is actually happening on your computer.

Detection is on by default. If you would rather Hedy stayed quiet, you can switch it off or narrow it to specific apps.

Which apps Hedy watches

• Zoom
• Microsoft Teams
• Webex
• FaceTime, on Mac only

FaceTime does not exist on Windows, so it does not appear in the list there. Other meeting apps are not detected yet. If a call happens somewhere else, start the session yourself as usual.

Turning detection on or off

1. Open Settings and go to the Automation & Data tab
2. Find the Meeting app detection section
3. Switch Auto-detect video calls on or off

Switching it off stops the prompts everywhere and leaves the rest of Hedy untouched. You can turn it back on at any time.

Choosing which apps to watch

With detection on, each supported app has its own switch underneath. Turning one off means Hedy ignores calls in that app but still offers to start a session for the others.

This is useful when one app is work and another is personal. Someone who takes client calls in Zoom and family calls in FaceTime can leave Zoom on and switch FaceTime off.

What detection can and cannot see

Detection runs entirely on your computer. Hedy watches which application is currently using your microphone, and nothing else.

Hedy does not listen to your calls to detect them. It sees that Zoom is holding the microphone, not what anyone is saying. No audio is captured until you accept the prompt and a session starts.

Because the signal is microphone use rather than an app being open, having Zoom running in the background does not trigger anything. The prompt appears when a call actually starts.

How this differs from calendar reminders

Both features can offer to start a session, and both live under Automation & Data, so it is easy to mix them up.

• Auto-detect scheduled meetings works from your calendar. It reminds you shortly before an event begins, whether or not you ever join the call.
• Auto-detect video calls works from your microphone. It reacts to a call actually starting, including impromptu ones that were never on your calendar.

They complement each other, and you can run both. See Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar for the scheduled side.

If Hedy does not offer to start a session

• You are already in a session. Hedy stays quiet while a session is running, since you have clearly already thought of it.
• You are signed out. Prompts only appear once you are signed in and have finished onboarding.
• The app is switched off in the list. Check the per-app switches under Meeting app detection.
• The call is in an unsupported app. Only the apps listed above are detected. For other calling apps, see Starting sessions from other apps below.
• Hedy has no microphone permission. Detection depends on seeing microphone use, so grant permission first. See Mac microphone and screen recording permissions.

Declining a prompt does not switch anything off. Hedy will offer again on your next call.

Starting sessions from other apps

If your calls happen somewhere Hedy does not watch, such as a softphone or a phone system, another app on the same device can start and end sessions by opening a Hedy link:

• hedyapp://quickstart starts a new session with the session type currently selected on your dashboard
• hedyapp://stop ends the session that is running

Starting sessions this way is off by default, because it lets another program start a session on your device. To allow it:

1. Open Settings and go to the Automation & Data tab
2. Find the Start sessions from other apps section
3. Switch on Allow other apps to start sessions

The stop link always works, whether that setting is on or not. A phone system, for example, can open hedyapp://quickstart when a call comes in and hedyapp://stop when it ends. Any script or automation tool that can open a link can use them.

This works on Mac, Windows, iPhone, and Android.

When the call ends

Detection also works at the other end of the call. When a watched app stops using your microphone during a session, Hedy asks whether the meeting is over and offers to end the session. It never ends a session on its own. See Meeting over? prompts and auto-pause.

Availability

Meeting detection works on Mac and Windows. On iPhone, iPad, and Android, start sessions yourself or use calendar reminders from Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar instead.