Recording laws: know before you record
Private beta document · last updated July 14, 2026. General information, not legal advice.
Vearo records only on your device — but the law cares about consent, not where the audio lives. This page is the practical version of what the Terms of Use require: using Vearo lawfully is your responsibility. Vearo provides the tool and bears no responsibility for how it is used.
The baseline, everywhere
Record only conversations you are part of. Secretly recording other people's conversations — ones you're not in — is illegal in every US state and under federal law. Nothing below changes that.
Most of the US: one-party consent
US federal law and most states follow one-party consent: if you are a participant in a conversation, you may record it, and your own consent is enough. In those states, recording your own conversations without announcing it is generally lawful — with the cross-state caveat below.
The all-party consent states
In these states, everyone in the conversation must consent before you record. If you live in one — or are talking with someone who might be in one — get consent first:
- California · Delaware · Florida · Illinois · Maryland · Massachusetts · New Hampshire · Pennsylvania · Washington
- Montana — requires notifying everyone being recorded
- Connecticut and Oregon — split the rule: all-party for one kind of conversation (phone in Connecticut, in-person in Oregon) but not the other; simplest to treat both as all-party
- Michigan, Nevada, and Vermont — courts and statutes are ambiguous; the safe reading is all-party
Calls that cross state lines
When you're in a one-party state and the other person is in an all-party state, courts have applied the stricter state's law — California's supreme court did exactly that. If you don't know where the other person is, treat the call as all-party.
Canada
One-party consent for conversations you take part in, nationwide. Quebec adds stricter rules in business and employment settings, and using recordings commercially brings federal privacy law (PIPEDA) into play.
United Kingdom
Recording your own conversations for personal use is lawful. Sharing recordings, or recording for anything beyond personal use, brings data-protection law (UK GDPR / Data Protection Act) into play.
Europe: several countries treat this as criminal
Germany requires everyone's consent — recording another person's spoken words without it is a criminal offence (§201 StGB, up to three years). France is similarly strict. Rules vary across the rest of the EU/EEA; treat all-party consent as your default in Europe and ask first.
Australia: it depends on your state
New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, and the ACT require everyone's consent for private conversations. Victoria, Queensland, and the Northern Territory allow recording conversations you take part in — but federal and state law overlap, and the stricter rule prevails. Announcing it is the safe habit everywhere in Australia.
Traveling internationally?
Rules change at the border: a recording that's lawful at home can be a criminal offence where you land. Before recording abroad, check the destination country — or simply ask everyone, the safest habit anywhere. In the app, tell Vearo you travel and it will keep this in front of you.
Vearo's standard: ask everyone first
Just tell people: "I keep a voice journal for myself — mind if it's on?" Asking is the safest habit in any state or country, even where the law asks less — though no single sentence can make every recording lawful. In our experience, people respect the honesty.
Where you stand with Vearo
You are solely responsible for recording lawfully where you are, as the Terms of Use spell out. Laws change and have edge cases this page can't cover — when it matters, check your state's current law or ask a lawyer.