AI Notetakers: Plaud, Limitless & Others Explained
Pocket and wearable devices that record and summarise your conversations are having a moment. Here's what they do, what they cost long-term, and the privacy questions worth thinking through first.
What these devices actually are
Products like the Plaud Note (a credit-card-sized recorder that clips to your phone case) and the Limitless pendant (a small wearable you clip to a shirt or lanyard) are built to do one job: capture audio from meetings, calls, or conversations, then run it through an AI model to produce a transcript and a summary. Some, like Plaud, can also record phone calls directly by sitting against the back of your phone during a call. The pitch is simple — stop taking notes, let the device remember for you, and get a searchable, summarised record afterwards.
How they actually work
The hardware itself is just a microphone and some onboard storage or Bluetooth streaming to your phone. The real product is the software: recordings sync to an app, get transcribed, and are then processed by a large language model to pull out summaries, action items, and key points. That processing mostly happens in the cloud, not on the device, which is where a lot of the ongoing subscription cost — and privacy consideration — comes from.
The subscription is the real cost
The hardware for these devices is often the smaller expense. Most rely on a monthly or annual subscription for the transcription and AI summary features, and without it you're often left with raw audio and limited functionality. Before buying, check exactly what's included in any free tier (usually a monthly cap on transcription minutes) versus what pushes you into a paid plan, and whether that plan is billed in USD, which affects the actual NZD cost with currency conversion and card fees.
The privacy and consent problem
This is the part that gets glossed over in most marketing. Recording other people without their knowledge or consent raises real legal and ethical issues, and the rules vary by context — a work meeting is different to a casual coffee catchup, and different again if you're recording a phone call with someone in another country. In New Zealand, it's generally advisable to let people know they're being recorded, both as a matter of courtesy and to avoid disputes later. A device that's small and easy to forget is being worn doesn't remove that obligation — if anything it makes disclosure more important, not less.
- Tell people you're recording before a meeting or conversation starts, even briefly.
- Check where your data is stored — most of these platforms process and store audio on overseas servers.
- Understand the deletion policy — ask whether raw audio is kept after transcription or discarded.
- Be cautious recording sensitive conversations — HR discussions, medical appointments, or legal matters may have specific rules about recording.
Who genuinely benefits vs who's better off with a phone app
If you're in back-to-back meetings all day, doing interviews, or need reliable transcripts for research or journalism, a dedicated device solves a real friction point — it's always ready, doesn't drain your phone's battery from constant recording, and the hardware is built for exactly one job. But if you only occasionally need to remember what was said in a meeting, most people already have a solution sitting in their pocket: many phone note apps and even Voice Memos-style apps now offer on-device or app-based transcription, and several video call platforms already build in AI meeting summaries for free. Buying dedicated hardware only makes sense once you've hit the limits of what your phone and existing apps can already do.
Bottom line
These devices are useful for people whose work genuinely revolves around conversations and meetings, but they're not magic — you're paying an ongoing subscription for AI processing, and you carry a real responsibility around consent whenever another person is in the room.