Ingenious app, but is it allowed?

This app for Mac has a really brilliant idea. You could describe it as a kind of “audio dashcam” for the Apple computer. But is such a comfortable bug, which always listens to everything, actually allowed?

The one that was only updated a few days ago Mac app “Backtrack” has a simple task that she does with flying colors. She is constantly drawing in the background, namely everything the Mac’s microphone can hear – Alternatively, another input source can be selected. But the real highlight is in the detail.

Backtrack: Like an audio dashcam for the MacBook

Because depending on the presetting, only the last 15, 30 or 45 minutes or the previous 2, 3, 4 or 5 hours are held. After this time interval the recordings are automatically deleted and the recording starts again in the background. Within the current recording interval, we can then easily save the last minutes or hours if necessary. Simply select the desired time intuitively with a mouse gesture and the audio file will actually be stored on the desk and saved. So it works similarly to the well-known dashcams, only that here no video, but audio is recorded continuously and made available when required.

This is practical, for example, at meetingsif you have to go out briefly and want to hear what you have missed later. The same applies to lectures, of course – students will love the app, we’re sure of that.

For the Mac system, a major update is due in autumn with macOS 12, in the video Apple reveals what we can look forward to:

Is such a thing allowed?

But is such a “bug” even legal? Basically, if you want to record conversations or presentations, you need the consent of all parties involved. This may still work in a small meeting, but in a full lecture hall the approach will probably fail due to practical implementation. Ergo: Quite a few users of Backtrack are likely to move in the legal gray area or temporarily leave the area of ​​legality. The app does not make this illegal by any means, because ultimately the user bears the responsibility.

Backtrack is available in the Mac App Store and costs 2.29 euros. The application is just 9.1 MB in size and can be found directly in the menu bar after installation. In the last update, the useful app finally got full support for Macs with an M1 chip. At least macOS 10.11 (OS X El Capitan) or newer is required for the installation.