Is it illegal to record someone without their consent?

It depends where you are. In most US states — 36 of them — you may record a conversation you are taking part in without telling anyone else. In 9 states everyone must consent first, and recording without it is a crime. 6 states have rules that change with the situation. Say you are recording, out loud, at the start, and ask each participant to confirm they are okay with it. This is the safest default when people or jurisdictions are unclear; it is not legal advice, and local rules can require more.

Which states are one-party consent states?

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming. In these states only one person in the conversation needs to agree to the recording, and that person can be you.

Which states are two-party or all-party consent states?

California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Washington. "Two-party" is a misnomer: every participant must consent, not just two. Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont depend on the circumstances.

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Reference

Who has to agree before you record a conversation

In 36 US states you can record a conversation you are part of without telling anyone. In 9 states everyone has to agree first, and recording without that is a crime. 6 states depend on the circumstances. If you only remember one thing: Say you are recording, out loud, at the start, and ask each participant to confirm they are okay with it. This is the safest default when people or jurisdictions are unclear; it is not legal advice, and local rules can require more.

This is reference information, not legal advice. It is a plain-language summary of publicly available statutes, reviewed 2026-08-09 but not yet by a lawyer. Laws change and courts reinterpret them. For anything that matters, ask a lawyer in the relevant jurisdiction.

All-party consent — everyone must agree (9)

Often called “two-party consent”, which is misleading: it means every participant, not two of them.

It depends on the situation (6)

These are the ones most often reported incorrectly. Several published guides flatten them into one column and get them wrong.

ConnecticutOne-party for criminal purposes, but the civil statute requires all-party consent for recording telephone conversations. The safe course is to treat it as all-party.
DelawareThe wiretap statute reads one-party, while the privacy statute has been read as all-party. Courts have not fully resolved the tension; treat as all-party.
MichiganOften listed as all-party, but Michigan courts have held a participant may record their own conversation. Frequently mislabelled in published guides.
NevadaOne-party for in-person conversations but all-party for telephone calls, per the Nevada Supreme Court. Commonly reported incorrectly as simply all-party.
OregonOne-party for telephone calls, but all participants must be notified for in-person conversations.
VermontVermont has no statute directly on point; its Supreme Court has held that recording inside a home may violate privacy rights.

One-party consent — your agreement is enough (36)

You may record a conversation you are taking part in. Recording one you are not part of remains illegal everywhere.

What this means for meeting notes

Most note-taking tools put the whole burden on you: a line in the terms of service saying you are responsible for getting consent, and at best a notice that disappears after a few seconds. Two of the largest are currently being sued over recording people who never agreed to it.

We take the opposite approach. The recording indicator stays visible for the whole meeting and cannot be dismissed, the app asks you to confirm everyone has been told before capture starts, and the consent evidence is stored with the meeting — so months later you can still answer what was attested, when, and under which rule. An attestation is not proof that each participant agreed, and the interface labels it accordingly.