Troubleshooting
Fixes for the problems people hit most: audio, permissions, models, sync, and sign-in.
No Audio Was Captured
Almost always a permissions problem, and there are two separate permissions involved: the microphone captures you, and system audio captures everyone else. Losing one still gives you a recording — just a one-sided one.
Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone and confirm Prismical is enabled.
System audio is a separate grant. Prismical asks for it during setup — if you declined, re-run it from Settings → Preferences.
System audio needs macOS 14.2 or later. On earlier versions Prismical records your microphone only, and you'll see "System audio unavailable — recording microphone only". The app itself runs on macOS 12+, so it's possible to have a working app that can't capture the other side of a call.
Open Settings → Privacy & security → Microphone and confirm Prismical is allowed.
Windows needs no separate permission for system audio — if you can hear it, it can be captured.
Your browser asks for microphone access the first time you record. If you dismissed or blocked it, use the padlock in the address bar to re-enable it, then reload.
The web app records your microphone only. Browsers don't allow capturing the audio playing on your computer, so the other side of a call won't be in the recording. Use the desktop app for that — see System audio & meeting capture.
Open Settings → Prismical and confirm Microphone is enabled. Prismical asks the first time you record, not during onboarding.
Open Settings → Apps → Prismical → Permissions and confirm Microphone is allowed.
Also allow notifications. Android needs to show an ongoing notification to keep recording while Prismical is in the background — deny it and long recordings can be cut short.
Still nothing? Check that the right microphone is selected in Settings → Transcription, then restart the app after any permission change — macOS and Windows only hand the new permission to a process on relaunch.
Recording Runs but Nothing Is Transcribed
The recording looks live — waveform moving, timer counting — but the transcript stays empty and the web app warns "No audio is reaching your microphone."
This is different from a blocked site permission: your operating system is blocking the browser itself from the microphone, and browsers don't treat that as an error — they just capture silence. It can appear out of nowhere after a browser update, even if recording worked fine before.
Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone and enable your browser (Chrome, Edge, Arc, …). Then quit the browser fully (⌘Q) and reopen it — the permission only takes effect on relaunch.
If the browser is already enabled there (or missing from the list), reset its permission from Terminal, then relaunch the browser and record again — macOS will prompt fresh:
tccutil reset Microphone com.google.ChromeA quick way to confirm it's the browser and not Prismical: try any online mic-test site in the same browser. If that shows no input either, it's the system permission.
Open Settings → Privacy & security → Microphone and make sure both Microphone access and Let desktop apps access your microphone are on. Then restart the browser.
Only One Side of the Call Was Transcribed
You got your microphone but not system audio. See the macOS 14.2 note above, or use the desktop app if you were on web or mobile. System audio & meeting capture covers what each platform can capture.
"Cloud Transcription Limit Reached"
You've used your 300 monthly minutes of cloud transcription on the Free plan. Your notes are unaffected and nothing is deleted.
Three ways forward: upgrade to Premium, bring your own provider key (those minutes are billed by your provider, not counted here), or wait for the monthly reset. See Plans & limits.
Poor Transcription Quality
- Get the microphone closer. This matters more than anything else on this list. A laptop mic across a conference table is the usual cause of a bad transcript.
- On a video call, use the desktop app on macOS. Capturing the other people as system audio gives a far cleaner signal than your microphone picking them up off your speakers. See System audio.
- Cut the room noise you can. Fans, cafés, and a second conversation nearby all cost you accuracy.
- Names, jargon, and acronyms are the hardest thing for any transcriber. Rather than fighting the transcript, fix the spelling in your note — that's the version people read, and Enhance carries your wording through.
Model or Provider Errors
- Check your API key in Settings → AI Models.
- Confirm the key still has credit with the provider — a provider-side quota failure surfaces in Prismical as a transcription error.
- Open the provider under Connected and look at its model list. That list is fetched live with your key, so it's where a bad key gives you a real error message rather than a generic one. See AI models & BYOK.
- Switch the default back to Auto to confirm whether your key is the problem.
- Check your internet connection — transcription and the AI features both need one.
Recording Stopped Early on My Phone
On Android, make sure notifications are allowed — the ongoing notification is what keeps the recording alive in the background.
Also check you're not hitting the 30-minute continuous recording limit on the Free plan. That's per recording, not per day, so you can immediately start another. Premium raises it to 2 hours. See Plans & limits.
If the app was killed mid-recording, reopen it — audio captured before the crash is recovered and finishes transcribing.
My Notes Aren't Showing Up on Another Device
- Confirm you're signed in to the same account on both.
- Sync needs a connection. Offline edits are queued and pushed on reconnect — see Sync & offline.
- On mobile, pull down on the notes list to force a sync. Settings → Account shows when it last succeeded.
- Don't sign out on mobile with unsynced changes. Prismical warns you first.
The App Won't Launch
- Check your OS is supported: macOS 12+ or Windows 10+.
- Reinstall from the latest release.
- On macOS, run it from Applications — launching straight from the mounted DMG breaks updates.
- Check whether antivirus or endpoint software is blocking it.
Getting Help
- Discord — fastest for questions
- GitHub Issues — bugs and feature requests
- help@prismical.ai — we read every email
On desktop, Settings → Advanced has your log file and machine ID. Attaching both makes a bug report far easier to act on.