For employees, IT and procurement

Getting MuteDeck approved at work.

Want MuteDeck on your work computer? Someone will probably ask what it does, what it can see, and who pays for it. This page answers those questions, and gives you an email to send.

Get the approval email Skip to the security details →
One-time purchase per computer No meeting audio or video access Works offline Signed installers
01 For you

Ask your employer to cover MuteDeck.

Most companies have a budget for tools that make work easier. The hard part is usually writing the request, so here's one you can copy and adjust.

Fill in the parts in brackets. The checkout total depends on your currency and local tax, so grab the exact number from the pricing page before you send it.

The workflow line matters most, so write down what changes for you. "I'm always in control of my mic and camera, so I come across as prepared in client calls" lands better than "it's a productivity tool".

Try it first

If your company allows it, the 7-day trial needs no account and no card. A week of real use makes the request easier to write.

Approval email 
Subject: Purchase request: MuteDeck for my work computer

Hi [name],

Could we cover one MuteDeck license for my work computer?

I spend a lot of my day in [Zoom / Teams / Google Meet / other] for [client calls, workshops, team meetings]. MuteDeck would let me [describe your workflow, for example: mute and turn off my camera from a Stream Deck key or hotkey without hunting for the meeting window].

Some details:
- It's a one-time purchase per computer, not a subscription.
- My checkout total is [amount and currency, including tax].
- The first year of updates is included. There is an optional yearly update plan for later major releases; I'm only asking for the base license.
- There's a 14-day refund policy if it doesn't work out.

Security, privacy and IT details: https://mutedeck.com/for-work
Pricing and licensing: https://mutedeck.com/pricing

I'll follow our normal IT approval and expense process before installing anything. Could you let me know if this is eligible?

Thanks,
[your name]
02 For whoever approves it

What MuteDeck is, in one minute.

MuteDeck is a desktop app for Windows 10+ and macOS 13+. It gives people one set of controls for mute, camera, screen sharing and leaving a call, across Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Webex, Slack and others. Those controls can live on a Stream Deck, a global hotkey, or the MuteDeck window.

  • What it does

    Presses the meeting app's buttons

    It finds the mute and camera buttons in the meeting app and presses them for you. It also reads their state, so the key shows whether you're really muted.

  • What it doesn't do

    Listen, watch or record

    No microphone or camera capture, no recording, no transcription, no meeting content. It doesn't need a Zoom, Teams or Google account either.

  • How it's sold

    One license per computer

    Pay once, keep it. No seats to manage and no renewal to forget. Licenses move between computers when hardware is replaced.

03 How it works

What MuteDeck does on the computer.

MuteDeck uses the same operating system interfaces that screen readers use: Accessibility on macOS and UI Automation on Windows. That lets it see the meeting app's buttons and press them, without hooking into the meeting itself.

Browser meetings like Google Meet report their state through the MuteDeck browser extension. Custom actions, which users set up themselves, send keyboard shortcuts.

Everything stays on the computer. Settings live in the user's registry hive or preferences file, and the weekly meeting-time overview is a local database that stores only the date, hour, app and duration of each call.

macOS permissions

  • Accessibility · to read and press the meeting app's buttons.
  • Automation · to send keyboard shortcuts for custom actions.
  • Not requested · microphone, camera, screen recording, input monitoring.

Windows

  • Installer · asks for elevation once, to install into Program Files.
  • The app · runs as the signed-in user, never elevated.

Installers and updates

  • Signed · Windows binaries are code signed; the macOS app is signed with a Developer ID, uses the hardened runtime and is notarized by Apple.
  • Updates · installed automatically by default, but never during a meeting. Turn that off and MuteDeck asks before updating.
  • Offline · meeting control needs no connection. The license checks in weekly.
04 The local API and plugins

Who gets to talk to MuteDeck.

Stream Deck, Loupedeck, Touch Portal, the browser extension and other tools control MuteDeck through a local API. That's a reasonable thing for IT to look at closely, because anything that can call the API can mute you or read your meeting status.

The API runs on three ports: 3491 (HTTP), 3492 (WebSocket) and 3493 (WebSocket over TLS). It's built for meeting state and meeting controls, the things a Stream Deck key needs to show and press.

  • Approval

    New plugins ask first

    When a current plugin connects for the first time, MuteDeck shows a prompt with its name and where the connection comes from. Nothing is allowed until the user clicks approve. Denied requests are remembered for ten minutes.

  • Tokens

    Stored as hashes only

    Approved plugins and manually created API tokens get a random 256-bit token. MuteDeck keeps only a SHA-256 hash of it, so the token can't be read back from the computer. Revoke any of them in Settings → Plugins & API.

  • Brute force

    Guessing gets you blocked

    Five failed authentication attempts in a minute block that network address for five minutes. Pairing requests are rate limited too.

  • Discovery

    Quiet on the network

    MuteDeck doesn't advertise itself on the local network by default. With the settings below, you can keep the API limited to the computer itself.

Locking it down further

Some older plugins were built before authentication existed. To keep them working, MuteDeck currently allows them by default, from any address. You can change that in Settings → Plugins & API → Plugins without authentication:

  • Allow from this computer only · older plugins on the same machine keep working; nothing else on the network gets in without an approved token. A good default for most work laptops.
  • Block · only approved plugins and API tokens work. Check that the plugins you use support approval first.

By default, MuteDeck accepts plugin and API connections from other devices on the network, so home automation setups can reach it. To keep everything on the computer itself, turn off Settings → Plugins & API → Allow plugins and API access from other devices.

05 Privacy

Everything that leaves the computer.

Here's the full list, including the parts that are on by default. If your firewall uses an allowlist, these are the hosts to add. None of it contains audio, video, chat messages, meeting titles or participant names.

License activation and check

mutedeck.com

On activation, then weekly

License key, MuteDeck version, OS name and version, CPU architecture, a machine identifier and the computer's hostname.

Control: Required for a licensed copy.

Update checks and downloads

mutedeck.com, releases.r2.mutedeck.com

Every 12 hours

Current version and OS version.

Control: Automatic install can be turned off; MuteDeck then asks first.

Anonymous usage statistics

mutedeck.com

Once a day

Which actions were used and from where (hotkey, plugin), OS info, a machine identifier, and a copy of app preferences. No license keys, no tokens, no meeting content.

Control: Settings → General.

Crash reports

sentry.lostdomain.org (self-hosted)

Only after a crash

Crash diagnostics and app context. Home folder paths, emails and quoted strings are redacted from the log lines.

Control: Settings → General → Send crash reports.

Integrations you set up

Wherever you point them

Only when configured

Meeting status to your webhook URL, Busylight, Discord, and similar.

Control: Off unless you enable them. Settings → Integrations.

MuteDeck is run from the Netherlands under the GDPR, and personal data isn't sold or shared beyond the payment processor. The details are in the privacy policy.

06 Buying and expensing

The paperwork part.

Payments go through Paddle, which acts as the reseller. That means a proper invoice with tax handled for your country, from a company finance teams already know.

Whether you pay and expense it, or your company buys it directly, the result is the same: a license key by email and an account to manage it.

Pricing

One-time purchase per computer. Updates for the first year are included, and compatibility fixes are always free. A yearly update plan for later major releases is optional.

Invoice

Paddle emails a receipt after checkout. Add your company details at checkout if your expense process needs them on the invoice.

Payment

Credit card, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, iDEAL, and wire transfer (ACH, SEPA, BACS).

Several computers

Pick the quantity at checkout and pay once. For a larger team or a purchase order, get in touch.

Moving computers

Deactivate in the app or from your account, then activate on the new computer.

Refunds

14 days, no questions asked.

Legal documents: license agreement, terms, refund policy.

? Common questions

Does MuteDeck record or listen to meetings?

No. MuteDeck has no code that captures your microphone or camera, and it never asks macOS for microphone or camera access. It reads the meeting app's buttons and window titles so it knows whether you're muted, and that's it.

Does MuteDeck need admin rights?

Only to install. On Windows the installer asks for elevation to write to Program Files, and MuteDeck itself runs as the normal user. On macOS it installs to /Applications and needs the Accessibility and Automation permissions.

Does it work without an internet connection?

Yes. Detecting and controlling meetings is fully local. The license checks in weekly.

Can I install it with MDM or a silent installer?

There is no MSI, PKG or MDM profile yet. The installers are signed (and notarized on macOS) and built with the Qt Installer Framework, which supports unattended installs from the command line. If you're rolling it out to a team, get in touch and I'll help you script it.

Can our company buy several licenses at once?

Yes. Pick the number of computers on the pricing page and check out once. For larger teams or a purchase order, contact me.

What happens to the license if I change jobs or computers?

A license is tied to one computer at a time, not to a person. Deactivate it in the app (or from your account if the old machine is gone) and activate it on the new one.

Who is behind MuteDeck?

MuteDeck is built and supported by one developer, Martijn Smit, from the Netherlands. Support questions reach me directly, and personal data is handled under the GDPR as described in the privacy policy.

Still have questions?

Your IT team can ask me directly.

Security questionnaires, deployment questions or a purchase order: send them over. It's a one-person shop, so you'll get an answer from the person who wrote the code.

Contact me View pricing →