Pique Desktop FAQs
Everything you need to know about Pique.
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General
What's the difference between Pique on desktop and on mobile?
The desktop app is built for working at your computer — it listens to both sides of a meeting directly from your Mac (your microphone plus the audio coming out of Zoom, Meet, Teams, etc.) so there's no meeting bot. Mobile is best for in-person conversations, recording on the go, and reviewing notes after the fact.
Which Macs does the desktop app support?
macOS 14.2 Sonoma or later, on both Apple Silicon and Intel.
Will my coworkers see "Pique" in the meeting?
No. Pique never joins as an attendee. Everything runs locally on your Mac, so other participants only see you.
Meet Pico
Who is Pico?
Pico is Pique's mascot — a small capybara — and also the AI woven through the app. Pico does the heavy lifting behind every "automatic" thing in Pique: writing your AI Notes after each meeting, laying out the mind map, extracting action items, drafting follow-up emails, generating pre-reads before your meetings, and powering the chat. Anytime Pique surfaces something it figured out for you, that's Pico.
Getting Started
Where do I start?
The fastest way in is the Pique Desktop walkthrough — a visual, step-by-step tour from install to your first AI-structured note. Open it any time you want a refresher.
How do I sign in?
Sign in with your Google account during onboarding. The first launch walks you through granting microphone and system audio permission and connecting Google Calendar.
Does the desktop account sync with mobile?
Yes — sign in with the same Google account on both, and your notes and meeting history sync through your cloud workspace.
Permissions
What permissions does Pique ask for, and how do I re-enable one I denied?
On first run Pique asks for Microphone, System Audio Recording, Calendar, and Notifications. If you clicked Deny by mistake, open System Settings → Privacy & Security and toggle Pique under the relevant category, or use the in-app "Open System Settings" shortcut on the permissions screen — Pique re-checks on the next recording.
Why does Pique need system audio access?
That's how Pique hears the other participants — directly from your Mac's audio output, instead of joining the call as a bot.
Recording
How do I start a recording?
A few ways:
- Click an upcoming meeting on your Dashboard — Pique opens the note and starts recording for you.
- Open the Pique icon in your menu bar and choose "Start Recording."
- Open a new note from the New Note menu item and press the light green record button inside it (see below).
- Let Pique start recordings for you automatically (see the next two questions).
What does recording look like inside a note?
Every meeting note has a small light green record button in a floating dock at the bottom — click it to start or stop recording. While you're recording, a live transcript panel opens above the dock showing each line as it's transcribed, with speaker names and avatars when Pique can match them to attendees. You can search the transcript, copy chunks, expand the panel for a wider view, or collapse it out of the way.
Can Pique start recording automatically?
Yes, two ways. Auto-record my meetings starts a recording when an accepted calendar event begins. Auto-detect meetings watches for Zoom, Teams, or Google Meet launching and offers a one-click "Record this meeting?" prompt — useful for ad-hoc calls that aren't on your calendar. Both toggles live under Settings → Notifications.
Can I pause, resume, and recover from interruptions?
Yes. The transcript panel has pause/resume/stop controls. If your Mac sleeps or the network drops, Pique reconnects automatically when it comes back; if reconnection keeps failing it pauses the recording and tells you why so you can decide whether to retry.
Does Pique save or store my audio?
No. Pique never saves audio — not on your Mac and not in the cloud. Audio is streamed in real time for transcription and discarded immediately. Only the transcript text is kept.
Notes
Do my notes auto-save?
Yes. Every keystroke saves automatically — there's no save button. If you're in a cloud workspace, edits also sync to your iPhone within moments. Pressing ⌘S out of habit just shows a small "Save" confirmation.
How does Pique create my AI notes and mind maps?
Two ways:
- Automatically — when your recording ends, Pique restructures your transcript into AI Notes with decisions, action items, key topics, plus a mind map of the meeting's main concepts.
- Manually — at the bottom of every note, in the same dock as the record button, there's a "Create Notes" button. Click it any time to generate AI Notes from whatever's in the note. Useful for typed notes, imported transcripts, or if you want to retrigger on a meeting that ended without auto-generation.
Once notes are generated, that same control becomes a toggle to flip between your original text and the AI version, plus a refresh button to regenerate the AI side any time. Tune how detailed they are under Settings → Preferences → Detail Level.
Where do my action items live?
Two places, kept in sync:
- Inside each meeting note — an Action Items tab next to the transcript and AI Notes shows what Pico extracted from that specific meeting.
- On the Dashboard — a panel rolls up your open items across every meeting so you can work through them without hopping between notes.
Each item has a status (To Do / In Progress / Done), a priority, and an optional due date.
Calendar
How do I connect a calendar and choose which calendars Pique watches?
Connect Google Calendar during onboarding or from Settings → Calendar. Under "Calendar Selection," check the calendars you want Pique to follow, and use "Events to sync" to limit it to virtual meetings only if you want to skip in-person events and focus blocks.
Pre-Reads
What's a pre-read on desktop?
Your home page lists your upcoming meetings. Click any one and Pique opens a side-by-side pre-read for that meeting in a large panel — it pulls from your past notes with the same attendees and shows a recap of your last conversation, open threads still in flight, action items, and a profile for each attendee. From the panel you can filter by attendee or jump straight into the call.
Why does an event have no pre-read?
Either it's your first meeting with everyone in the group (no history to draw from), or a related earlier meeting hasn't finished yet — pre-reads backfill automatically once that transcript lands.
Follow-Up Emails
Can Pique help me send follow-up emails?
Yes. Any meeting note with attendees gets a Follow-Up Email tab in its right sidebar. Pico drafts a personalized email that pulls real moments from that meeting's transcript — decisions, quotes, action items — and writes it in your voice. You can pick a specific attendee or write a group email.
How does sending work?
One click opens the draft directly in Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, or iCloud Mail with the recipients and subject pre-filled. Pique never sends on your behalf — you review and send from your own inbox. Once you do, Pique marks the follow-up as sent so you don't draft it again.
Chat with Pico
How do I chat with Pico?
Two places on desktop: the Pico panel on your Dashboard for questions across your whole workspace, and a Chat tab inside any meeting note for questions scoped to that meeting. Ask anything grounded in your data — "What did we decide last week with Acme?", "Who hasn't followed up on their action items?", "Summarize my last three 1:1s with Sarah." Chat needs a cloud workspace, so make sure you're signed in.
Menu Bar Icon & Shortcuts
What's the Pique icon in my menu bar?
That's a small icon that lives in your Mac's menu bar (the strip across the top of the screen) so Pique is one click away even when its window is closed. Clicking it opens a short menu with Open Pique, Start Recording, Check for Updates…, and Quit. Closing the main window doesn't quit the app — Pique keeps running in the background so it can still detect meetings; quit fully from the menu bar or with ⌘Q.
What keyboard shortcuts are there?
⌘K— Quick Search⌘F— Find in current note⌘,— Open Settings⌘[/⌘]— Back / forward⌘Q— Quit
Updates
How do updates work?
Pique checks for updates on launch, when you bring the app back into focus, and on a recurring poll. When one's available, an "Update" button appears in the header — click it and the app downloads, installs, and restarts. You can also force a check from the Pique icon in your menu bar. If an update fails to install, the most common cause is the app running outside /Applications — drag Pique into Applications and relaunch.
Plans & Billing
What plans does Pique offer?
- Free — limited transcription minutes and lighter monthly limits on AI features.
- Pro ($7.99/month) — unlimited transcription, sync across desktop and mobile, and unlimited AI notes and Pico access.
Open Settings → Billing to see your current plan, usage, and upgrade.
How does payment work on desktop?
Through Stripe. Clicking "Get Pro" opens a Stripe Checkout page in your browser; once payment completes, the app refreshes your plan automatically. App Store In-App Purchase is iOS-only, but if you originally subscribed on iPhone your Pro status carries over to desktop — the Billing page just points you back to your iPhone to manage it.
Account & Support
How do I sign out or delete my data?
Settings → Account has Sign Out and a "Delete all data" option that signs you out, deletes your workspaces, and clears local databases. To delete the account on Pique's side too, email us.
How do I send feedback or get help?
Click Feedback at the bottom of the sidebar to message the team directly, or email hello@pique.so.
Still have questions?
We're here to help. Reach out and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.