See your next meeting and free time in the macOS menu bar
Last updated: October 30, 2026
Available on: Mac
Wispr Flow shows your current meeting, next meeting or free time beside its menu bar icon, so you can check your schedule without opening your calendar.
Note: The title, meeting sections and the show/hide control require an enabled meeting recorder, Notetaker access for your account, and organization permission for Google Calendar or Outlook. If any requirement isn't met, these items are absent. If HIPAA cloud-sync restrictions apply to your account and you have a signed BAA, the recorder is disabled.
Which meetings count
The title and meeting list use connected-calendar meetings that haven't ended and start before the end of tomorrow in your local time. They exclude declined or canceled meetings, all-day events, events longer than 6 hours, and blocks with no attendees, including focus blocks and personal holds. Excluded events cannot shorten or suppress the displayed free time.
Meetings lasting exactly 6 hours, invitations without an RSVP, and in-person meetings without conference links remain eligible. Events with invalid times, zero duration or an end before their start are ignored when choosing the title.
If Flow can't read your saved calendar data, the title and meeting rows are blank while the rest of the menu keeps working; no error row appears.
What the title shows
A meeting starting within 10 minutes takes priority over every case below, even during another meeting's first half — for example, “Standup • in 10 min”.
Situation | What you see |
No meeting running; next starts in an hour or less | Its name and countdown, such as “Standup • in 1 hr”. |
No meeting running; next starts more than an hour away | “Free until” its start time, if free-time titles apply to you. |
Before the current meeting's exact midpoint | Its name and time remaining, such as “Planning • 31m left”. |
At the midpoint and afterward | The next meeting for an overlap of any length or a gap under one minute; otherwise free time, if free-time titles apply to you. |
No eligible current or upcoming meetings | Only the icon — no title, free-time label or meeting sections. |
When free-time titles appear
Free-time titles are shown if your calendar is meeting-heavy. If it isn't, you see only the icon when no meeting is running, and a meeting in progress keeps showing its countdown past the midpoint instead of switching to free time. Upcoming-meeting countdowns, back-to-back meeting titles and the meeting list are the same either way.
Free-time labels
“Free from 1:30 - 2pm” shows a gap before the next meeting on the same local day; across noon, it reads like “Free from 11:30am - 12:30pm”. Gaps begin only after all in-progress meetings end. Clock times use lowercase am/pm and omit “:00”.
“Free until” adds the weekday only when the next meeting is more than 24 hours away, such as “Free until Tue 10:30am”. Crossing midnight alone leaves a clock time, such as “Free until 8am”.
“Free after” appears from the midpoint when no further meeting follows on the local day all in-progress meetings end. It adds the weekday if free time starts on a later local day, such as “Free after Tue 1am”.
Simultaneous and overlapping meetings
Only meetings starting at exactly the same time are counted together, such as “2 meetings • 50m left”. Ended meetings are excluded; the longest remaining meeting determines the time left and midpoint. For staggered overlaps, Flow uses the latest-started meeting already in progress and shows time remaining, subject to the timing rules above.
Countdowns and updates
Countdowns read “now” under a minute, “in 43 min”, “in 1 hr” on the exact hour, or “in 1h 20m”. Time remaining reads “53m left”, “1 hr left” or “1h 30m left”. Values round down, and remaining time never shows less than “1m”.
The title updates when your Mac's clock minute changes, including during dictation, and refreshes immediately after a calendar sync brings in events. Changing your Mac's time zone updates meeting times without restarting Flow. Removing saved calendar data, such as disconnecting your calendar or signing out, clears the title.
Meeting list and joining
The menu bar allows about 30 characters and shortens meeting names with “…” without shortening the countdown. Menu row titles are limited to 40 characters, with the time range underneath, such as “1 - 2pm”. Hover a row to read its full title.
Every in-progress meeting stays listed separately under Now, even after the title switches. Today, then Tomorrow, fill the remaining slots up to three meetings total; in-progress meetings alone can exceed three. Only sections with meetings appear, and their headings aren't clickable. The title uses all eligible meetings, so it can refer to one outside the displayed list.
A single Join meeting row appears at the top when an in-progress meeting has a conference link; it targets the first such meeting, not an upcoming meeting.
Note: Selecting a meeting starts recording in Notetaker using its calendar title. Only supported meeting links open in your browser; for in-person meetings or unsupported links, the recorder still opens without a browser.
Click the Wispr Flow icon or title to open the meeting menu.
Select any meeting row or Join meeting.
Select See all upcoming meetings to open Notetaker in the hub.
Hide or show the title
The display is on by default. Changes apply immediately and only on this Mac.
Click the Wispr Flow icon in your menu bar.
Scroll to the bottom of the menu, just above Quit Wispr Flow.
Select Hide next meeting from menu bar, or Show next meeting in menu bar to restore it.
Hiding the title keeps the icon, meeting sections and any available Join meeting action. You can also change Show your next meeting in the menu bar in Settings → Notetaker → Meeting detection.