How do you stop Otter.ai joining your meetings?

To stop Otter.ai joining your meetings, change the auto-join setting to Meetings I manually select. Otter says that turning off auto-join means Notetaker will no longer automatically join your synced calendar events ¹. If the bot belongs to someone else, you cannot change their settings, but as host you can remove it. This page covers both cases and why the bot sometimes comes back. The full background is in our guide to Otter.ai.

Whose Otter it is decides the fix

Otter Notetaker joins as a visible guest, and Otter says it cannot join a meeting anonymously or without appearing to other participants ². The name in the participant list shows which person's account sent it.

If it is your own account

These steps follow Otter's help center for the web app at otter.ai, as of October 2026.

1. Sign in at otter.ai and open the Meetings tab.
2. Click AI Notetaker settings and select Meetings I manually select ¹.
3. Open the Calendar on the home page and check upcoming events. Switch off any event that still shows auto-join.
4. Set auto-share to Don't Share if you do not want the recording sent to guests.
5. To remove Otter entirely, disconnect your calendar, and delete the account under Account Settings if you want your recordings gone.

Why it keeps coming back

Four reasons explain almost every "Otter keeps joining" report:

• Hand-set events keep their setting. Otter says events you switched on or off manually keep that choice when you change the default ³.
• Cancelling does not disconnect the calendar. Basic still includes the meeting bot ⁴, so a forgotten connection keeps sending it after you stop paying.
• The widest option is easy to pick. Otter offers 5 auto-join choices, and the broadest sends the bot to every event with a valid video link ⁵.
• It is not your account. Another invitee may have connected their own calendar.

If it is someone else's Otter

You cannot change another person's settings, but you can act in the meeting. Otter says that when a participant objects after Notetaker has joined, the meeting host can remove it at any time ⁶. Removing the bot stops the recording from that point. It does not delete what was already captured in the owner's account, so ask them to delete it.

To prevent repeats, tell the person whose name is on the bot that you do not want it in your meetings. Notes can also reach guests who never joined: one Otter option emails the conversation to every guest on the calendar invite ⁷. A lawsuit against Otter alleges that such emails are used to get non-users to sign up ⁸. That is an allegation, not a finding, and the details are in is Otter.ai safe and private?.

If your company runs the meeting platform, admins can set meeting policies, such as keeping unauthenticated guests in a waiting room, which stops a guest-style bot from entering unadmitted. The settings differ by platform; see the guide to Zoom, Teams and Google Meet transcription.

It depends on what you want to keep

• Keep Otter, but only when you choose. Manual auto-join is enough. You can still add the bot to a meeting by hand.
• Keep Otter, without a visible bot. The desktop app can record without Notetaker joining, but then notifying people is your job, as the question on whether Otter.ai notifies participants explains.
• Get rid of it. Disconnect the calendar, remove it from your platform's connected apps, and delete the account.

What to do now

1. Set auto-join to manual and review the calendar.
2. Remove the bot from any meeting where it is unwelcome, using host controls.
3. Check what was recorded and delete it, since the free plan still stores conversations; the question on is Otter.ai free shows what a free account keeps.
4. If you need notes without a bot, read meeting transcription without a bot.