Backtrack lets you record all those conversations, you forgot to click the record button for, by over-writing a 60 minute window of audio over and over throughout the day, locally on your Mac

Time traveling machine was fictional...however, with Backtrack, a reality!

Good tool, but it's not clear how it impacts using your mikes otherwise. * What happens when the selected input is used by another app? * What if another input (headphones) is used by another app, will the internal microphone keep recording? Also, please provide a feedback link.

We started building Backtrack on a flight home from San Francisco after a brutal VC meeting. We walked out of the office and all we could think was "Damn, wish we'd recorded that.". Thus, the idea for Backtrack was born. What if you could record conversations you forgot to hit the record button for? This happens a lot around the office when we are brainstorming ideas or whiteboarding. We went from idea to working app in 2 weeks, and we use Backtrack internally all the time now. 1. It's 100% private and local to your Mac. We don't even have analytics in the app. That's how private it is. 2. It works by always recording the last 60 minutes of audio your Mac hears. If you never tell it to save, it'll just keep deleting that running recording. 3. We borrowed a page from Gestimer with a cool pull down yo-yo style interface. Pull down to the time you need to backtrack to, and the app will let you name and save a file of the last x minutes of audio. 4. Yes we know about 2 party consent laws around recording. This app is for teams that already record a lot of calls or meetings. If you're going to use it for recording someone without their permission...don't do it. We hope you all find some utility in this. It's great for capturing those moments around the office that happen naturally, without the pressure of a mic in front of you. We also use it to catch each other up on calls that one of us maybe missed. Backtrack is an extension of our other audio product, https://yac.chat. If you dig using voice as a way to communicate with your team, check that out too.

@jmitch this is cool, how did you guys think about prioritizing this against improving YAC?

@mike_seekwell Well it started as a feature for Yac. We didn't want to muddy the codebase or distract the team by integrating it without validating it first. So as we get feedback on this, we'll see how it fits into the larger ecosystem of our products.

@owenfar1 Ha well actually it DID, but we removed it because it was preventing your Macbook from sleeping properly which drained the battery. So no, it only records when it's awake.

@owenfar1 Good idea. If we can detect that easily I don't see why that shouldn't be an option for the user!

@jmitch this is great. genius. please do also an ipad / iphone version! :)

Great idea! Is it any chance adding a feature where recordings only take place during work day (9to5)? A tick box or setting customized time for it? @jmitch

@gaurav_monga that makes total sense. I think that’s a super easy add.

Super excited about this product @jmitch @hmcknly @jordvnlwalker As a remote PM for a distributed team, and a remote founder with a small team, I have to take a lot of calls everyday, and while I don't record most of them, I really wanted the ability to just go back and listen to something, if need be. Backtrack makes it possible, and I couldn't be more satisfied knowing the audio recordings don't reach any server.

@jmitch @jordvnlwalker @parasharanmol Thanks, Anmol! You’re exactly right. It’s so easy to forget to record and in the 1 week since we started testing BT, I’ve saved 3 brainstorming sessions. May not seem like a big deal to most people but that meant that I could send to Justin or Jordan and loop them into the conversation and be included. Hope you find similar experiences with your team as you grow Castup!

@jmitch @jordvnlwalker @hmcknly Good luck with the product!

Backtrack

Record audio from the past

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