To use the Pocket AI recorder, install the Pocket app, hold the side button for 5 seconds to wake it, and pair it when the light blinks blue. Then press the side button once to start recording and once to stop, and the recording syncs to the app as a transcript, a summary, and action items. This page is the setup half, from the box to that first finished summary. How I use the Pocket AI recorder day to day is the companion.
Try the recorder I use: Get Pocket . I use and pay for this.
What you need before you start
The box holds the Pocket, a braided USB-C cable, a Quick Start card with a labeled diagram of the button and light plus a QR code to Pocket’s setup videos, and a magnetic ring for phones without MagSafe.
You also need a phone with the Pocket app, iPhone or Android, and the email you bought Pocket with. Pro access is tied to that email, not to the device. If you later sign in with a different address, you will not see Pro on this Pocket.
If the light will not come on when you get to pairing, charge it for 10 minutes first and try again.
Step 1. Install the app and sign in
Install the Pocket app, then sign in. Continue with Google or Apple, or use email and a one-time code. Use the same email you used to buy it.
Pocket asks a few setup questions after sign-in. Answer them and keep going. Nothing in this step records audio yet.
Step 2. Wake Pocket and pair it
Pocket ships in sleep mode, so the first thing you do with a brand new recorder is hold a button for five seconds while nothing happens. That’s normal.
Hold the side button for 5 seconds. Blinking blue means it is ready to pair. Select your Pocket in the app. Solid blue means it is paired.
If the app can’t see it
Toggle Bluetooth on the phone, reopen the app, and keep Pocket close. If it still does not show up, restart Pocket with the same 5 second hold and select it again.
Step 3. Permissions, language, slider, voice print
The app asks for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Location, and Notifications.
Bluetooth is how Pocket pairs and how it syncs by default. Wi-Fi is what Sync Faster uses for long recordings. Location and Notifications are also requested during this setup screen. Allow them so pairing, sync, and prompts keep working after you leave the setup flow.
Pick your main language for transcripts and summaries. You can change it later. New recordings and re-summaries use whatever language is set then.
The slider
The slider is the other control besides the side button.
Down is Conversation mode. Use it for people in the room. The studio mics are the ones in play.
Up is Call mode. Use it for phone calls. The contact mic is the one in play, which is why Pocket needs to sit on the back of the phone.
Slide back down after a call. If you leave it up, the contact mic keeps listening to the surface it is on.
Voice print (optional)
Voice print is optional. If you want Pocket to recognize you later in a transcript, read the sample lines the app shows. Skip it if you want to record first and come back to it.
Step 4. Pick a summary style
Choose how Pocket should write the summary: Meeting, Discovery Call, Interview, Journaling, or Auto Detect.
You can change the style after the recording exists. Pocket re-summarizes when you do. For a first recording, Auto Detect is fine. Switch to Meeting when the next one is actually a meeting.
Step 5. Make your first recording
Press the side button once. The light turns solid amber while it records. Talk. Press the side button once more to stop.
That is the whole capture step. One press starts, one press stops. You do not need the phone in your hand while it records. The file sits on the device until you sync.
Say labels out loud
If something in the conversation matters, say the label out loud: “Decision”, “Action item”, “Risk”. Pocket pins those in the action list and the mind map, which is faster than hunting the same moment in a raw transcript later.
You can still add and edit actions in the app. The spoken labels are a way to mark the moment while you are still in it.
A phone call instead
For a phone call, slide up to Call mode and keep Pocket on the back of the phone, with MagSafe or with the included magnetic ring. The contact mic picks up the call. Stop the recording when you hang up, then slide back down to Conversation mode. Phone calls get their own page later. This paragraph is only so the first call is not a surprise.
A meeting on your laptop
Most of my work meetings are on a laptop, not in a room with the device. The Pocket desktop app, still in beta, records Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet on macOS and Windows 10 and later.
Step 6. Sync it and read what Pocket made
Open the app. Bluetooth is the default sync. That is enough for a short first recording.
For a long recording, use Sync Faster, which sends the file over Wi-Fi and Pocket’s docs call it up to 20x faster than Bluetooth. For a pile of files, use USB-C with Pocket Web Sync.
When the upload finishes, you get four things:
- a transcript
- a summary, in the style you picked
- action items
- a mind map
On an action that belongs on a calendar, use Add to Calendar. I still do that by hand for anything I actually have to hit. The generated list is a start, not the system of record.
What the status light means
| Light | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Blinking blue | Ready to pair |
| Solid blue | Paired |
| Solid amber | Recording |
| Solid white | Paused |
| Blinking green | Charging |
| Solid green | Charged |
| Blinking purple | Firmware update |
| No light | Off or asleep |
If you see no light on a device you just unboxed, it is asleep, not broken. Hold the side button for 5 seconds. If it still stays dark, charge it for 10 minutes.
How I use it after day one
Once setup is done, the habit is small. I keep one space per work context and one for personal matters, with folders under them for recurring threads. After a recording, I file it so later search has a place to land.
A lot of what I record is not a meeting. I tap the side button and talk for ninety seconds when an idea shows up at the wrong time. The transcript keeps the whole thought. The summary condenses it. That is the same capture step you just did, reused on purpose.
I treat the action list as a checklist to verify, not a record. Speaker attribution slips when people talk over each other, and a name from the calendar can show up spelled a different way in the transcript. I confirm the item, then I move the ones that matter onto the calendar.
Claude can search the same recordings through Pocket’s MCP server. That is a later page. Get one finished summary in the app first.
First-day problems and fixes
No light. Charge it for 10 minutes, then hold the side button for 5 seconds. Blinking blue is the light you want.
The app cannot see Pocket. Toggle Bluetooth, reopen the app, keep it close, and repeat the 5 second hold.
Stuck on solid blue. Force-close the app on every phone you are signed into, reset, and reopen. Solid blue means paired, so a second phone still holding the session will block a clean pair.
Sync Faster acting up. Toggle Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, then reopen the app. If the file is short, let Bluetooth finish the default sync and save Sync Faster for a long recording.
Once you have one transcript, one summary, and one action you can check off, setup is done. The rest is filing and the status light table above.