Use a computer instead

Send recordings from a computer with the Hearally collector, one step at a time. It takes about fifteen minutes.

Hearally is in public preview (beta)

During the preview Hearally is free and we do not collect payment details; you will be told well in advance before that changes. What works today: connecting your Plaud or a computer, and recordings being transcribed, with what is worth passing on shown as summaries in your dashboard. By email: allies, and what reaches them. Not part of the preview: text messages.

Most people do not need this

The usual way is to sign in to Plaud once from your dashboard: new recordings then come in by themselves, with no computer. Getting started shows how.

This guide is the other way: a small program called the Hearally collector runs on your computer. It watches one folder, and sends each new recording you save there to your Hearally account. You connect it to your account once, with a pairing code, and after that it checks every 15 minutes on its own. Use it if you would rather not sign in to Plaud from Hearally, or if you export recordings from Plaud yourself.

1. Check you have what you need

A Plaud recorder, with its app on your phone and a Plaud account. To hear phone calls, a Plaud Note or Note Pro; a NotePin records the room only. See which Plaud is right for you.
A Hearally account. Sign in or create one. It is free during the preview.
A Windows or Mac computer that is on when you want recordings sent. Linux works too.
About fifteen minutes.

2. Install Node.js

The collector runs on Node.js, a free program. Go to nodejs.org, download the version marked LTS, and click through the installer, accepting what it suggests.

Already have it? It needs to be version 22 or newer. You can check in step 5 by typing node --version.

3. Download the collector

It is one small file. Your browser saves it to your Downloads folder. Leave it there.

Download the collector

It is plain, readable text rather than an app, so anyone can check what it does. It is open source, under the MIT licence.

4. Get a pairing code

A pairing code connects this computer to your Hearally account, once.

Open your dashboard's Integrations page, signing in if asked. It opens in a new tab, so this guide stays here.
Under Connect a computer, the first time only, read the four short points and tick the box to agree. They include that you will only record conversations you have the legal right to record.
Click Create a pairing code, then Copy.

A code works once, for ten minutes. It works like a password, so do not share it. If it runs out, just make another: setup will ask for it again without starting over.

5. Open a command window

Windows

Open the Start menu, type PowerShell, and click Windows PowerShell.

Open it normally. Do not choose "Run as administrator": it is not needed, and the collector's schedule is best set up as you.

Mac

Open Terminal: in Finder, Applications, then Utilities. Or press Command and Space, type Terminal, and press Return.

A window opens where you can type. That is all you need it for: one command in the next step.

6. Run setup

Type this line exactly, then press Enter. It works whichever folder the window opened in.

Windows

node $HOME\Downloads\hearally-collector.mjs setup

Mac

node ~/Downloads/hearally-collector.mjs setup

Setup asks a few questions, one at a time. Type the answer and press Enter:

It asks	You type
Paste your pairing code	Paste the code from step 4: right-click in the window, or press Ctrl+V (Command+V on a Mac)
Which Plaud do you have?	1 Note, 2 Note Pro, 3 NotePin, 4 NotePin S. This only describes your Plaud; nothing connects to the recorder itself
What will you use it for?	Only for a Note or Note Pro: 1 phone calls, 2 conversations in the room, 3 both
Do you have a second Plaud as well?	Just press Enter for no. Type y only if you own another one
Press Enter to use this folder	Press Enter. It makes a folder called Hearally recordings in your home folder
Send new recordings automatically every 15 minutes?	Press Enter for yes

It then connects this computer to your account. You should see, at the end:

Connecting "YOUR-COMPUTER" to your Hearally account...
  Connected.
...
Set up. "YOUR-COMPUTER" is listed in your dashboard.

If it says "That code has expired or was already used", make a new code on the dashboard, copy it, and paste it into the same window. Your other answers are kept.

On the dashboard, click I have finished setup: your computer appears under How recordings reach Hearally. The button appears once you have created a pairing code.

7. Get recordings off your Plaud

Recordings start on the Plaud itself. The Plaud app on your phone copies them into your Plaud account.

Make a recording on your Plaud, if you have not already.
Open the Plaud app on your phone, with the Plaud nearby and switched on. It connects by Bluetooth and starts Transferring recordings by itself.
Tap Fast transfer if it offers it: it is much quicker.
Wait until the transfer finishes and your recordings are listed.

8. Save a recording's audio into your folder

On your computer:

Go to web.plaud.ai and sign in with the same Plaud account as your phone.
Click a recording's title to open it. (The ⋯ menu in the list only renames and moves files.)
At the top right, click Copy & export: the page-with-an-arrow icon just right of Share. Choose the audio, not the transcript or summary.
The audio opens in a player in a new tab. Click the ⋮ on the right of the player, then Download. A file ending in .ogg or .mp3 lands in your Downloads folder.
Move that file into your Hearally recordings folder: in File Explorer (or Finder), drag it from Downloads into Hearally recordings, in your home folder.

Hearally takes audio (OGG, MP3, M4A, WAV, Opus, FLAC), not transcripts. Long recordings are fine: a five-hour recording is about 70 MB and uploads in seconds on a normal connection.

9. Check it arrived

The collector checks the folder every 15 minutes. To send straight away instead, type the same kind of line as in step 6, with send at the end:

Windows

node $HOME\Downloads\hearally-collector.mjs send

Mac

node ~/Downloads/hearally-collector.mjs send

You should see the file's name, then sent 1, already sent 0, … failed 0. Wait 30 seconds after moving a file: one that has only just arrived is left until next time, in case it is still being copied.

Then look at your dashboard's Integrations page:

Under How recordings reach Hearally, your computer shows when it last sent something.
Under Recordings received, the recording you sent is listed.

For a fuller check at any time, use status in place of send. It confirms the computer is still connected and lists recent activity.

Recordings are transcribed about every half hour, and anything worth passing on appears under Summaries, usually within an hour. From now on, save new recordings into the folder the same way, and they are sent within 15 minutes while the computer is on.

If something goes wrong

“node is not recognized” or “command not found: node”: Node.js is not installed yet, or the window was already open when you installed it. Install it (step 2), close the window, and open a new one.
“Cannot find module”: Check you typed the line from step 6 exactly, including $HOME on Windows or ~ on a Mac. If it still fails, your browser may have saved the file under a slightly different name, such as hearally-collector (1).mjs: look in Downloads and use that name, in quotes.
The window says it is running as administrator: Setup warns about this and carries on, so it will still work. For the tidiest setup, close the window and open PowerShell from the Start menu without "Run as administrator".
“That is not a pairing code”: Part of the code was missed. Use the Copy button on the dashboard, then paste.
“That code has expired or was already used”: Codes last ten minutes and work once. Make a new one and paste it into the same window; setup keeps your other answers.
Plaud's export gave me a text file: That is the transcript, which Hearally does not use. Go back to Copy & export and choose the audio (step 8).
“This computer is no longer connected to your Hearally account”: It was disconnected in your dashboard. To connect it again, make a new pairing code and run setup.
skip … still_arriving: The file arrived less than 30 seconds ago. It is sent next time.
failed … HTTP 5xx or 429: A temporary problem on our side. Nothing is lost: the recording is tried again next time.
folder unavailable: ENOENT: The recordings folder was moved or deleted. Put it back, or run setup again.

More than one Plaud, or more than one computer

Answer y when setup asks about a second Plaud. Each gets its own folder inside Hearally recordings, such as Note Pro and NotePin, because a recording file does not say which device made it. Save each Plaud's recordings into its own folder.

For another computer, make a new pairing code for it. Each computer is listed separately in your dashboard.

Stopping

From your dashboard: choose Disconnect next to the computer. It stops sending at once, even if you no longer have the computer.

On the computer: to remove the collector completely, use the line from step 6 with uninstall at the end. It removes the schedule, the connection details and the collector's own copy. Your recordings are left where they are.

Developers can run the collector from source instead; see the collector README.

Before you record

Only record conversations you have the legal right to record. Some places, including several US states, require everyone taking part, on phone calls too, to agree to being recorded first. You are responsible for what you record and send.

Hearally passes along things that were mentioned out loud. It is not an emergency service and not a medical device. It may miss things. In an emergency, call 911.