The Plaud is a small dictaphone powered by AI, which I spoke about a few months ago ( review of the Plaud Note Pro and the NotePin). It’s a device I can’t do without in my job as a journalist, whether for interviews, conferences, or even trade shows, like right now at CES. And indeed, the manufacturer is back at this global event to showcase its new products, with a very concrete promise: to stop losing the intelligence that circulates in conversations. Not just video meetings, but also the “real world”: an exchange in a hallway, a client meeting, a site visit, a class, a briefing, a medical consultation… For 2026, the brand announces two new products designed as a single ecosystem: the Plaud NotePin S (next generation wearable) and Plaud Desktop (a desktop app to capture online meetings, without a bot invading the list of participants).
Plaud NotePin S: the AI wearable that really becomes “instantaneous”
If you have ever used a recorder (or an app on your smartphone) in a real situation, you know the awkward moment: the discussion starts, you look for the right button, you doubt whether it’s recording… and of course, the important sentence comes out right at that moment. Plaud has clearly targeted this friction point with the NotePin S: the big novelty is a real physical recording button. A long press, and it starts. No need to unlock the phone, no need to open an app, no “gray area”.
On the capture side, Plaud emphasizes usage “in real conditions”: double microphone and a stated range of up to about 3 meters, with the idea of remaining usable in noisy environments like trade shows, cafes, classrooms, or hospital hallways.
The NotePin S also keeps the jewel/discreet tool aspect: capsule format, around 17g, and three colors (black, purple, silver). And especially, several ways to wear it right from the box: as a pin, a bracelet, a strap, or a clip. The goal is clear: if it’s uncomfortable to wear, it ends up on a shelf.
“Press to highlight”: the small gesture that guides the AI
The most interesting feature, in my opinion, is the “press to highlight” (or tap to highlight). During the recording, a simple short press marks a key moment. Then, the AI uses this “anchor” to emphasize the right spot in the report: decision, number, quote, point of tension, commitment not to forget…
And that’s where Plaud plays quite cleverly: many tools can summarize, but summarizing “what you really wanted to remember” is another story. With the highlight, you’re not correcting afterward; you’re piloting during the discussion (and that, when you’re back-to-back in meetings, is frankly pleasant).
Typical example given by Plaud: a field salesperson in a meeting, who needs to stay focused on the relationship while capturing the constraints (budget, timing, purchasing rules, hidden decision-maker). A tap at the right moment, and the summary then comes back with actionable sections, sometimes even structured according to sales formats like BANT.
Plaud Desktop: capturing online meetings… without bots
Second announcement, and it targets a well-known irritant: “meeting bots” that join a video conference, trigger an automatic message, or get blocked by IT (not to mention the “surprise guest” effect when the meeting includes a client). Plaud Desktop aims to do the same thing, but natively, on the computer side: the app detects a meeting on Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams (and others), and offers to launch a secure audio capture with one click, without intrusive bots or extensions that slow down the browser.
During the meeting, we find the “multimodal” logic: you can highlight audio moments, add text context, or integrate images/captures (useful when a decision depends on a slide or a table displayed on screen). And right after, the idea is to retrieve a classic but effective trio: raw audio, transcription, then a structured synthesis like a brief (decisions, actions, risks, quotes).
Interesting bonus: Plaud wants to unify all that. Your “IRL” captures via NotePin/Note and your online meetings via Desktop end up in the same memory, accessible on Plaud Desktop, Plaud App, and Plaud Web.
Plaud Intelligence: transcription, summaries, templates… and search in your conversations
Behind the scenes, Plaud groups everything under “Plaud Intelligence”. Several interesting points stand out.
The transcription first: announced support for 112 languages, with recognition of accents, identification of speakers, and a commitment to industry-specific vocabulary (to avoid mangled acronyms in medical, tech, legal contexts, etc.).
Next, the summaries: Plaud highlights “multidimensional summaries” with templates and announces a library of over 10,000 user-created models, with the ability to customize, regenerate, and even choose the AI model used (for example, we see Gemini, GPT, Claude, and even a “GPT-5” selection on the interface).
Finally, the “Ask Plaud” feature: the idea is to ask a question (“what did we decide about pricing?”, “what were the open points from the last project meeting?”) and get an answer grounded in your own conversations, with references to the relevant passages. It’s less “another summary” and more “a search engine for your memory”.
Security and compliance: Plaud clearly targets professionals
Plaud emphasizes an “enterprise-grade” positioning: encrypted data, user control over retention and deletion, and a list of highlighted compliances (ISO 27001, ISO 27701, SOC 2, GDPR, EN18031, HIPAA).
This is a point to watch in real usage, obviously, but the message is clear: Plaud wants to be the tool that can be used in sensitive contexts, not just a neat gadget for summarizing a call.
Price, availability, subscriptions: what to remember
Plaud NotePin S is announced at €179 and available now.
Plaud Desktop is presented as included in the Plaud ecosystem, with no additional cost for subscribed customers. The mentioned subscription plans remain tiered (Starter, Pro, Unlimited), with, for example, 300 minutes per month for Starter (thus included in the purchase of the Plaud).
Why these announcements matter
What Plaud is trying to establish with this duo is continuity. A unique tool to capture a client conversation in a meeting room, then pick it up in a video call, and find everything in the same searchable memory. And the small twist “press to highlight” has real potential because it reintroduces the human element into the loop at the right moment (during the conversation, not in the evening while tinkering with a summary).
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