Recording consent: what to know before you capture

Fluent captures conversations without a bot joining anything — which means the disclosure obligation is yours, not software's. Here's how recording consent works in the US.

The two regimes

One-party consent — the federal baseline and the law in most states. If you're part of the conversation, you may record it. The other person doesn't legally have to know.

All-party consent — about a dozen states, including California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Washington, require everyone in the conversation to agree to recording. Some apply it to any conversation; others only where there's a reasonable expectation of privacy.

The practical rules most professionals follow:

1. Where the conversation happens governs. Multi-state call? Follow the strictest law in the mix — if anyone's in an all-party state, get everyone's consent.
2. "Reasonable expectation of privacy" is the hinge. A public keynote is not a private dinner. Courts care about context, not just state lines.
3. Workplace policies can be stricter than law. Many employers prohibit recording regardless of consent law — check yours before wearing a pendant to the office.
4. Laws change. This is the framework, not legal advice — verify current law where you are.

How people actually disclose

The pendant users who do this well don't make it weird. The moves that work:

• Name it early, plainly. "Heads up — I wear a pendant that records so I don't take notes. Okay?" Most people say fine and forget it in ninety seconds.
• Put it in writing for repeat relationships. Recruiters put a line in the interview confirmation email. Coaches put it in the engagement letter. Written disclosure survives memory.
• Offer the off switch. "I can take it off" costs you nothing and buys real trust — the offer is usually all anyone wanted.
• Don't record what you wouldn't want played back. If a conversation starts somewhere sensitive, pause capture. The recording you don't have can't hurt anyone.

The recording notice

When you start a recording with the record button in the app, Fluent shows a full-screen card: Recording with Fluent, "for meeting notes, so nobody has to type". Hold the phone up so the room can read it, then:

• Done closes the card and the recording keeps going. The card doesn't come back when you pause and resume.
• Send a heads-up opens the iOS share sheet with a ready message: "Heads-up: I'll record our meeting with Fluent for notes. Tell me if you'd rather I didn't." You can change the wording in the app you send it from.
• Discard recording asks once, "Discard this recording?", with Keep recording and Discard. Discarding deletes the recording. Nothing is uploaded or saved.

The card is on by default. Turn it off in Settings, under Recording, with Show the recording notice when I start. It covers recordings you start with the record button in the app, not pendant recordings or ones started another way. It helps you ask; it isn't legal advice, and it doesn't make a recording lawful. The law where you are decides that.

What Fluent does with it

Your recordings are encrypted in transit and at rest, processed under your account, and never used to train models. The data side is covered in where your data lives; the consent side is on you.

Related

• Where your data lives and how to delete it
• Fluent for recruiters — consent in hiring workflows
• Security