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First impressions

The interface is clean and minimalist, reminiscent of a polished notebook rather than a clunky transcription service. Granola AI positions itself as an AI-powered notepad for meetings, and from the first meeting, it’s clear this isn’t just another voice recorder: it’s more like a smart co-pilot for your conversations.

In practice, using it for a business meeting is surprisingly seamless. Before the call, it politely reminds you to get consent to record, then fades into the background like it’s not even there. During the meeting, you jot down a few keywords or thoughts, and the app quietly transcribes everything in real time without any intrusive bots announcing themselves. When the call wraps up, the magic really happens – your rough notes and the full conversation transcript merge into a structured summary that reads as if a professional assistant polished it up in seconds.

It straddles the line between a note-taking app and an AI secretary, effectively creating a new category of “AI notepad.” Standout features pop out immediately, like the way it auto-generates subheadings for key discussion topics and bullet points for decisions or action items. The initial impression is of a premium, effortless experience that feels tailor-made for anyone who lives in back-to-back meetings and craves a bit of order and clarity.

What we love

• Silent Scribe: No awkward bots join your calls; the app works quietly in the background, capturing every word like an invisible secretary. It’s completely hands-off during meetings, letting you forget it’s even there while it does the heavy lifting.

• Structured Summaries: Once a meeting ends, it transforms raw dialogue and your scribbles into a coherent outline. Think of it as having a professional editor tidy up your notes – key points, decisions, and tasks are neatly categorized with clear headings, even using your preferred template or style.

• Instant Action Items: The follow-up is practically done for you – from generating ready-to-send recap emails to listing tasks and questions raised, it’s like walking out of the room with a personalized to-do list already in hand. This not only saves time but also ensures nothing falls through the cracks after a busy meeting.

Overall rating

🤌🤌🤌🤌 Refined delight

This AI notepad doesn’t just record meetings – it fundamentally changes how you approach them. After several days of use, you might notice you’re less mentally drained despite a packed schedule of calls.

By offloading the grunt work of note-taking and remembering every detail, the app frees up mental bandwidth for bigger-picture thinking. It’s like having an extension of your brain dedicated solely to note organization and recall.

One deep insight here is how it makes you a more active listener: knowing that routine documentation is handled, you pay more attention to nuances and participant reactions in real time. The outcome is often sharper insights and better connections with colleagues and clients, as you’re fully present. The quality of the summaries and action lists is high enough that you rarely need to tweak them, yet it still feels personal because you guided it with your own notes or highlights. Of course, the technology isn’t telepathic – occasionally you’ll want to double-check a name or specific figure – but those instances are rare. Overall, it feels like gaining a mild superpower in your daily workflow, one that earns a confident nod of approval and easily ranks among my top tools for dramatically easing the cognitive load of my meetings.

Other apps we’re excited about: (and might cover in the future) 

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