WhispAssist v0.7.0

Privacy-first, Windows-native meeting assistant — everything on-device, nothing leaves unless you say so.

This release is about control over install and startup — for a single user and for admins rolling WhispAssist out across a fleet. You can now launch WhispAssist at login, choose a per-user (no-admin) or all-users install, preset every default with a deployment file, and re-scan your hardware without restarting. No feature here changes the privacy posture: everything optional stays off-by-default and local-first.

One universal installer (MSI and NSIS) covers every machine: Vulkan for all GPUs (NVIDIA/AMD/Intel), the Intel NPU (OpenVINO), a DirectML fallback, and CPU.

✨ New

A new Settings ▸ Recording ▸ Launch WhispAssist at login toggle starts WhispAssist when you sign in to Windows. It's off by default, needs no admin (a per-user startup entry), and does not begin recording on its own.

Choose a per-user or all-users install

The NSIS setup (WhispAssist_0.7.0_x64-setup.exe) now lets you install for just yourself (no admin rights required) or for all users. The MSI remains the per-machine, all-users installer.

Customize deployments with a file (`wa-defaults.ini`)

Admins can preset WhispAssist's defaults for every machine using native Windows tooling (Group Policy, SCCM, Intune, msiexec) — no management console. Drop a wa-defaults.ini next to the installer or in %PROGRAMDATA%\WhispAssist\, and each machine's first launch seeds its settings from it: record- by-default, preferred backend, a model to auto-download, retention, storage location, AI provider, and more. You can also set a custom install location with standard msiexec INSTALLDIR=… / NSIS /D= flags. Secrets are never read from this file — API keys and tokens stay in the OS credential store. Full key reference and silent-install examples in docs/enterprise-deployment.md.

Refresh hardware

A Refresh button in Settings ▸ Hardware re-detects your GPU/NPU on the spot — handy after installing a driver or plugging in an eGPU — no restart needed.

📦 Install

Requirements: Windows 10 or 11 (x64). WhispAssist needs WebView2 (preinstalled on Windows 11; the installer fetches it on Windows 10). Importing from a file/URL additionally needs ffmpeg (and yt-dlp for URLs) on your PATH — install those separately.

Download WhispAssist_0.7.0_x64_en-US.msi (or the NSIS WhispAssist_0.7.0_x64-setup.exe).
Run it and accept the UAC prompt. If SmartScreen appears, choose More info → Run anyway.
Launch WhispAssist from the Start menu.

On first run WA picks the best transcription backend (NPU → NVIDIA → AMD → Intel → CPU). It runs without admin rights, does not add itself to startup unless you opt in, and keeps all data under %LOCALAPPDATA%\WhispAssist.

Deploying to many machines? See docs/enterprise-deployment.md.

🔐 Checksums (SHA-256)

730676580dbef5c4bb2c155f46a73a5791722139ab144a3fc0286e3a4449c432  WhispAssist_0.7.0_x64_en-US.msi
6a34c16eb6f876fc92c7a79d37414b4fdd2c09f4f40873008149db36cd0a30aa  WhispAssist_0.7.0_x64-setup.exe

Verify after download:

Get-FileHash .\WhispAssist_0.7.0_x64_en-US.msi -Algorithm SHA256

Privacy, unchanged

Everything optional is off by default. With nothing configured, WhispAssist makes no content egress at all. Recording is opt-in; sync/AI credentials live only in the OS credential store; the MCP server is loopback-only and adds no egress; the deployment file never carries secrets. The reachable-host allowlist is derived from your settings and enforced in the core.

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