How Fireflies joins and records your meetings - FAQs – Fireflies.ai

This guide answers the most frequently asked questions about Fireflies' meeting recording processes.

Join meetings
Record meetings
Fireflies bot
Meeting compliance
Calendar
Speakers

Join meetings

1. How can I invite Fireflies to a meeting?

You can invite the Fireflies bot (fred@fireflies.ai) to join a meeting in the following ways:

Manual invite	Invite fred@fireflies.ai from your calendar app
Auto-join settings	Enable the auto-join meeting toggle from the dashboard
Add to live meeting	Use the Add to Live meeting option from the dashboard

2. How Fireflies joins your meetings?

When it's time for a meeting, Fireflies has been invited to:

Fireflies will ask the meeting host for permission to join.

Click Admit and the Fireflies.ai Notetaker bot will appear in the participant list.
Remember to set your meeting auto-join settings so Fireflies automatically joins only the meetings you want.

3. Can Fireflies join an ongoing meeting?

Yes, you can add Fireflies to a live meeting that has already started.

From the dashboard, click Add to live meeting.

Enter the Meeting name, Meeting link, select the meeting language, and click Start Capturing.

4. What happens if a meeting runs longer than scheduled?

Fireflies will stay in a meeting for up to 4 hours by default, depending on your subscription plan.
If your meeting exceeds the limit, use the Add to live meeting option from the dashboard to re-add Fireflies.

5. How long does it take for Fireflies to join a scheduled meeting?

For scheduled meetings, Fireflies typically joins 2-3 minutes before the start time.

6. How long will Fireflies wait if a meeting starts late?

If a meeting starts late or Fireflies is kept in the waiting room, it will wait up to 20-30 minutes before exiting.

Record meetings

1. Does Fireflies record video during meetings?

Yes. Fireflies supports video recording.
To enable video recording, turn on the Record Meeting Video toggle from Settings.

Video recording is a paid feature available only to Business tier users & above.

Related: How to capture meeting videos

2. Will Fireflies record a meeting if I don't attend?

Yes, as long as Fireflies (fred@fireflies.ai) is invited and allowed to join the meeting, it will record the meeting even if you are unable to attend.

Note: Ensure your auto-join settings allow Fireflies to access all calendar meetings, so that you do not have to miss the details of even the meetings you skip.

3. Can I record meetings without the Fireflies bot joining?

Yes. You can use the Fireflies Chrome extension to record and transcribe Google Meet meetings without the bot joining the call.

Note: Currently, the Chrome extension currently only supports recording audio, not video capture.

4. Can I record offline or physical meetings with Fireflies?

Yes, you can use the Fireflies mobile app (available on iOS and Android) to record and transcribe in-person meetings like lectures, interviews, or conversations.

5. Can I record and transcribe meetings for free?

Yes. Fireflies offers unlimited transcriptions for:

Meetings recorded using the Fireflies Chrome extension.
Offline recordings made with Fireflies Mobile app.
Free tier users who have turned the toggle ON for Enable Unlimited Free Transcription, allowing Fireflies to auto-join all meetings and send its email recap to everyone on the invite.

Fireflies bot

1. How can I remove Fireflies from a meeting?

Like any other participant, you can remove the "Fireflies.ai Notetaker" from the meeting anytime.
Open the participant list, locate Fireflies, and click More>Remove.

This will stop recording from that point onwards, but Fireflies will still process the transcription for the recorded portion.

2. How do I prevent Fireflies from joining certain meetings?

You have two options to prevent Fireflies from joining meetings:

1. Disable auto-join settings

This prevents Fireflies from automatically joining any meetings. You'll need to manually invite Fireflies to meetings you want to be recorded.

Related: How to disable auto-join settings

2. Set meeting exclusion rules

Instead of disabling auto-join completely, you can enter specific meeting titles you want Fireflies to skip under the "Bar Rules" section in Settings.

Fireflies will then avoid those meetings while still auto-joining others.

Related: How to set meeting rules

3. Can I hide the Fireflies bot during meetings?

No, it's not possible to hide the Fireflies bot's presence in your meetings.
As an alternative, you can use the Fireflies Chrome extension to record and transcribe Google Meet meetings without the bot joining the call.

4. Can I customize the Fireflies bot's name?

Yes, you can request a custom name for the Fireflies bot that appears in your meetings. This is available as a paid add-on for:
- $5/month for up to 5 users to have the same custom bot name.
- $5/month/per user if more than 5 users need unique custom bot names.

Meeting compliance

1. How do I notify participants that a meeting will be recorded?

If you intend to record a meeting with Fireflies, you must inform all participants that the meeting will be recorded.
Different regions have varying laws around recording, so be sure to check and comply with relevant regulations.
To simplify this, you can enable the Meeting Compliance feature in your Fireflies Settings.

This will automatically notify all participants that the meeting is being recorded by Fireflies.

2. Can I still record if a participant opts out?

If an invited participant opts out of being recorded, the Fireflies bot will NOT join that meeting.
You can still manually add Fireflies during the live meeting or send a new invite, but to prevent potential liabilities, we recommend you avoid forcing recording on those who have opted out.

Calendar

1. Does Fireflies support the Zoho calendar?

No. Currently, Fireflies only integrates with Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar.

2. Can one Fireflies account use multiple calendars?

No, as per the Terms of Service, you can only connect one Google or Outlook calendar to your Fireflies account.
Using one account across multiple calendars is not permitted and may even result in your account being blocked.
If you use multiple calendars, consider manually inviting the Fireflies bot to meetings to capture the meetings.

Speakers

1. Can Fireflies identify speakers from uploaded audio?

No. Fireflies only identifies voices and marks them as "Speaker 1", "Speaker 2", etc., for uploaded audio/video files.
You can manually change these labels and reprocess the meeting to enhance the accuracy of your meeting summary.
Automatic speaker name labeling requires Fireflies to join a video conferencing meeting where users join from their accounts, or the meeting must be recorded using the Fireflies Google Chrome extension.

We hope this guide covered the FAQ’s on how Fireflies joins and records your meetings. If you have any other questions about using Fireflies, please contact us here.