Not Quite What Expected
This could be a great app, but at this point in January 2025, it currently isn’t what I expected. As you can see on the AppSumo product page this app is being marketed as a replacement for Otter, but I would say that that is certainly not the case.
Firstly, one of the selling points of this app is that it can provide real time feedback using AI based on the current conversation that Hedy is recording. However, think about this in action… while you are in a in-person meeting, are you really going to be playing with your phone at the same time? It does not quite work that way. It is very rude - at least in the United States - to be fiddling with your phone at the same time that you are supposed to be in a in-person meeting. So using the features of Hedy while in an in-person meeting are not quite feasible.
Secondly, let’s discuss online meetings. Only the Hedy mobile app works to record your meetings. The web app cannot record; the only purpose of the web app is to export the transcript, set up Zapier or ask the Hedy AI questions about the completed meeting.
So if you are in a zoom/teams/google meeting on your laptop and you are using your headphones, you can’t record with Hedy. You also can’t record a zoom/teams/google meeting taking place on your phone because the microphone is in use. Remember that the web app has no recording capabilities…
Finally, I've had two instances where the Hedy app simply stopped recording 10 minutes into a meeting with no provided reason. This was a bit devastating, as I was expecting the entire meeting to have been recorded. They were 60 minute meetings.
I am happy Hedy finally released the ability to play back the audio of the meeting, but this feature is slightly redundant considering my first two points above.
Otter automatically joins online meetings in third person, whether on a laptop or cell phone. I think if Hedy implemented this, this would take care of the second point I detailed in this review.
At this point I’ve tested the product in-depth for two weeks and these are my findings that I hope others will find useful.
julian_hedy
Jan 31, 2025Thanks for the honest feedback! We're already working on the desktop version of Hedy to allow capturing virtual meetings without using a phone; expect this to go live in March.
Regarding the recordings stopping during your meetings, that terrible to hear. We continue to work on stability and battery management improvements to avoid those instances from happening.
We hope you stay in the loop on Hedy's development and give it another try as we continually improve the app.