Microsoft Teams live translator that also drafts your reply
Teams calls are often the ones where an IT department decides what you may install. Subtl sidesteps that: it is not a Teams application, it does not connect to your tenant, and it requests nothing from your Microsoft account. It reads the audio your machine plays, the way a pair of headphones does.
That also means it behaves identically in the new Teams desktop client, in Teams on the web, and in a Teams meeting you join as an external guest.
A screenshot of the overlay inside this application is still being prepared. Until it is here, this page is not submitted for indexing.
Setting it up with Microsoft Teams
- 01
Check your audio device before the call
Teams sometimes routes audio through a virtual device. Subtl captures the default system output, so pick the same output device in Teams that macOS is using.
- 02
Load the meeting context
For an internal review, attach the document under discussion. For a supplier call, attach the contract or the price list — the numbers you would otherwise have to find while talking.
- 03
Start Subtl, then join the meeting
Starting first means the first sentence is already covered. The overlay stays on top of the Teams window and does not take keyboard focus.
What works
- The new Teams client and the classic client on macOS, plus Teams in a browser.
- External guest meetings and calls where your tenant blocks third-party Teams apps — nothing is installed into Teams.
- Teams live captions running in parallel; the two systems do not see each other.
- Sharing your screen or a window: the overlay is excluded by the content-protection flag.
What it does not do
- Teams' own transcription and Copilot summaries are separate products; Subtl neither reads nor disables them.
- If your organisation records meetings, that recording is governed by their policy — Subtl changes nothing about it.
- Use headphones. Subtl reads the speaker channel and your microphone separately, and without headphones your microphone picks up the other person through the speakers, which blurs the two channels.
Questions about Microsoft Teams
Will my IT department see Subtl in the Teams admin center?
No, because Subtl is not registered as a Teams app and never authenticates against your tenant. It is a desktop application on your machine, which your organisation's device policy may still cover — check that policy before you install it.
Does it work when Teams runs in a browser?
Yes. Audio capture happens below the application, so the browser and the desktop client behave the same.
Can it translate a Teams call where people switch between two languages?
Yes. Language detection runs per utterance, so a call that moves between, say, German and English keeps producing correct translations without you switching anything.
Does it work in a Teams Live Event or a town hall?
Yes, as an attendee. You are listening to audio like any participant, and the overlay behaves the same.
Is a Windows version available?
It is being built now. The macOS version is what you can download today; Windows is marked as coming on our download section, and we would rather ship it late than ship a version that drops audio.