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Install & setup
How to install Inkling
Five steps: download, drag to Applications, get past macOS's first-launch caution, let two AI models download, and grant two permissions. Ten minutes, most of it waiting on the models.
1. Download the app
Use the download link on your purchase receipt. It gets you a small file called Inkling.dmg, a Mac disk image, which lands in your Downloads folder. The same link works again later, on this Mac or a new one; your receipt is your key.
2. Put it in Applications
- 1Double-click
Inkling.dmg. A window opens with the Inkling icon and your Applications folder side by side. - 2Drag the Inkling icon onto Applications and let go.
- 3Close that window and eject the disk image (click the eject arrow next to Inkling in the Finder sidebar). You can delete the .dmg from Downloads too; the app is installed now.
Screenshot coming soon
The open DMG window: Inkling icon being dragged onto the Applications folder
3. First launch: use right-click, then Open
The first time you open Inkling, macOS may warn you that it cannot verify the app. That is Gatekeeper being cautious about an app from a small, new maker, not a problem with your download. The fix is one deliberate click:
- 1Open your Applications folder and find Inkling.
- 2Right-click it (or hold Control and click), then choose Open.
- 3In the dialog that appears, click Open again. macOS remembers the choice; every later launch is a normal double-click.
If macOS says the app “was blocked”
On newer macOS versions the dialog sometimes has no Open button at all. Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down to the line saying Inkling was blocked, and click Open Anyway. Then confirm. You only ever do this once.
Screenshot coming soon
The Gatekeeper dialog after right-click Open, with the Open button visible
4. Let the two models download
Inkling has no cloud to lean on, so its intelligence lives on your Mac. The first-run screens fetch two things: a transcription engine that turns audio into text, and a note-writing model that turns text into notes. Together they are about 3 GB, they download once, and interrupted downloads resume where they stopped. After this, recording, transcribing, and note-writing all work with no internet at all.
The full detail on the models, sizes, and lighter options for 8 GB Macs is in the install guide.
5. Grant the permissions
The last setup screen asks for two permissions Inkling genuinely needs, and one that is up to you. It never asks for anything else.
Microphone: required
Your side of the conversation. Click Enable and macOS asks directly.
System audio: required, oddly named
Everyone else on the call. macOS files this under a permission it labels Screen Recording, which sounds alarming and is simply how Apple groups audio capture. Inkling records audio only, never your screen. Grant it in System Settings → Privacy & Security, then quit and reopen Inkling; macOS only applies this one on a fresh launch.
Calendar: optional
Lets Inkling see what meeting is next and name recordings for you. It reads every calendar your Mac's Calendar app already has, including work accounts. Skip it and manual recording still works fine.
Screenshot coming soon
Inkling's permissions setup screen with Microphone and System audio enabled, Calendar pending
You're in. What next?
Setup drops you on Home, and there is nothing else to configure before your first recording. From here:
- Finding your way around covers Home, Up next, and search.
- Recording & transcripts covers your first recording and what to tell the people on the call.
- Connecting a bigger AI is entirely optional; the built-in model already works.
Something missing? hello@haveaninkling.com