The decisive difference is architecture. Arcs records, transcribes, summarizes, finds Threads and builds presentations on device. Otter’s privacy policy says it receives meeting audio, uploaded material and meeting information and uses cloud and AI service providers to deliver the service.
Choose Arcs if…
- You cannot upload an NDA meeting, private client discussion or personal debrief.
- You need the finished summary and presentation in Flight Mode.
- You work primarily from an iPhone and want a single-player thinking tool.
Choose Otter if…
- Your team wants shared transcripts, comments and action items.
- You want an assistant to participate in supported online meetings.
- Cloud integrations and collaboration matter more than keeping the full workflow local.
What Otter says about data
Otter’s current policy lists audio recordings, automatic meeting screenshots and uploaded content as meeting information it may receive. It also lists cloud, data-labeling and AI service providers involved in providing and improving the service. That does not make Otter inherently insecure; it makes it a cloud service with a different trust boundary from Arcs.
Source: Otter Privacy Policy, effective 16 June 2026.
What Arcs does differently
Arcs has no data servers. The source, transcript, structured summary, Threads, Next questions and Build output are produced on your Apple hardware. Optional sync uses your private CloudKit container tied to your Apple ID.