Getting started with Realtimer Free

1. Install and first launch

• Download Realtimer from your account, open the .dmg and drag Realtimer to Applications. It needs macOS 14.4 or later, on Apple Silicon or Intel.
• The only required step: on first launch a short setup connects your free speech-to-text and AI keys and checks each one. Step-by-step instructions are in your account. You can open the setup again from the Realtimer menu → Set up keys…
• macOS asks for two permissions — allow both: Microphone (your voice, “You”) and System Audio Recording (the other side, “Them”). Realtimer never asks to record your screen on Free.
• Sound: leave Settings → Sound on Auto. Headphones work best; on speakers Realtimer drops the echo. More in Headphones, AirPods and speakers.

2. Add your files optional

On Free you have one knowledge base, General, with unlimited files. Add them with Settings → Knowledge base → Add files…, or put them in the folder Documents/Realtimer/KN_General. Realtimer reads them on your Mac.

• Documents: PDF, Word, text, Markdown and images (text is recognized). Brochures, price sheets, product sheets, terms, FAQs.
• Price lists and plan tables: CSV. One row per item (an apartment, a plan, a product), the column names in the first row, and one column with the item’s id — e.g. unit, ref, sku or plan. When the id comes up in the call (“7A”, “B-204”, “Business Plus”), Realtimer shows that exact row at once and checks every number in the answer against it. Excel files: save them as CSV first.
• Typical answers and objections: a text or Markdown file. One section per topic, with the words customers actually use — in every language you hear (“expensive / too much / caro”) — and a short, checked answer.
• Keep one version of each file: remove old price lists, so nothing outdated is used.

Example of a price list (CSV):

unit,floor,bedrooms,area_m2,price_eur,status,handover
7A,5,2,84.5,312000,available,03/2027
7B,5,2,81,298000,reserved,03/2027

3. Pick a call brief optional

The brief tells the AI who you are and what the call is for. It goes with every answer, together with the rule to never invent prices, dates or facts that aren’t in your files. Settings → Call brief:

• Sales — B2B and Sales — B2B SaaS — discovery and demo calls: needs, objections, a next step with a date.
• Real estate — Intro call — a first call with a new buyer: budget, area, timeline, a viewing.
• Real estate — Selection — helping a buyer choose: only units from your price tables.
• Custom — your own: the client’s name, their situation, the goal of this call. Press View… on any built-in brief and Copy to Custom to start from it.

Also check Settings → Language: the language the call is in, or Multilingual.

4. During the call

• Press ▶ when the call starts. The button shows the call time; press it again to stop.
• Fast ⌃⌘↵ — a short answer in about a second. AI ⌥⌘↵ — a fuller one from your chosen model. Both use your files when General has any; the source is shown under the answer.
• If an answer contains a number that isn’t in your table, you’ll see Check: under it with the right row.
• Auto answer (Settings, off by default) answers the other side’s questions on its own — at most once every 6 seconds, with the fast model. Use it with care: the answer appears before you’ve checked it and can be wrong, so always read it before you say anything.
• ⌃⌘C puts the window right under your camera, so reading doesn’t break eye contact. The ⌃ button collapses the window to the timer; any shortcut opens it again.
• The window is hidden from screen sharing and recordings, and no bot joins the call.

5. After the call optional

• Summary & notes after Stop (Settings → Meeting notes): a short summary on screen, with key points, decisions and next steps saved to Documents/Realtimer.
• Save transcripts (Settings → Transcripts): the full text of each call, in the same folder.
• Both are off until you turn them on.

What stays on your Mac

• Your files, the knowledge base, your keys, transcripts and notes stay on your Mac. Audio is never stored.
• For an answer, only the recent lines of the conversation, your brief and the few pieces of your files that fit the question go to the AI service whose key you added — never whole files.
• Recording rules differ by country: tell the other side when the law or your company asks you to.

What Pro adds

No keys to manage (AI and transcription included), a project folder next to General for each development or client, unlimited call briefs, screenshots, speaker names, talk ratio, a consent note for participants, call history in your account and the choice of region. See Realtimer Pro vs Free.

Something not working? Look up the message in error codes or report a bug.