In 38 states plus D.C., no. If you're a party to the call, you can legally record it without saying a word. In roughly a dozen states, everyone on the call has to know and agree first. Four of those states have a wrinkle worth knowing. The law on the books and the court rulings interpreting it don't fully line up.
This is a plain-English legal guide, not legal advice. Laws change, and your situation might turn on a fact this page can't see. We built the table below from primary sources: state statutes, court opinions, and the two most-cited attorney reference charts. We checked each entry against two independent sources and dated everything, so you can tell if it's gone stale. Then we wrote the part every other guide skips: what to actually say, out loud, before you hit record.
The basic rule, and why "12 states" isn't quite right
Every US state falls into one of two buckets. One-party consent means the recording is legal as long as one person on the call agrees to it. That includes you, if you're a participant. That's the federal default too. 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d) permits recording "where such person is a party to the communication," and 38 states plus D.C. don't add a stricter rule on top.
All-party consent means every person on the call has to know and agree. Most guides put this at a flat 12 states. That number is defensible, but it hides real disagreement at the edges. Four states are genuine gray zones:
- Michigan's statute reads all-party. But a 1982 appeals court decision, never overturned by the state's highest court, held the law only covers recording other people's conversations. A participant recording their own call is likely legal. Attorneys disagree on how settled this is.
- Nevada's phone-recording statute reads one-party, but the state supreme court has construed it as all-party for phone calls anyway. In-person recording in Nevada is one-party.
- Delaware has two statutes that point in different directions. One requires all-party consent; the other doesn't. Courts have allowed participant recording under the more permissive one.
- Connecticut's criminal law is one-party. But a separate civil statute requires all-party consent for phone calls specifically. You can satisfy it with written consent, a recorded verbal "okay," or an automatic tone at the start of the call.
The safe published number: 38 states plus D.C. are clearly one-party. About a dozen states either clearly require all-party consent or are unsettled enough that you should treat them that way.
The state-by-state table (with the nuance most guides drop)
| State | Rule | The nuance |
|---|---|---|
| California | All-party | Covers "confidential communications" and, separately, all cell/cordless calls. Civil damages start at $5,000 per violation. |
| Florida | All-party | Applies wherever there's a reasonable expectation of privacy; a repeat or aggravated violation is a felony. |
| Illinois | All-party | Only for surreptitious recording of a private conversation — open recording that everyone knows about isn't covered. |
| Maryland | All-party | Felony exposure up to 5 years; courts have limited it to settings with a real expectation of privacy. |
| Massachusetts | All-party (strictest) | The only state where a participant's hidden recording is a crime even with no privacy expectation at all. |
| Montana | All-party | Satisfied by a warning everyone hears — you don't need each person to say "yes" out loud. |
| New Hampshire | All-party | Covers phone and in-person; consent can be implied if the circumstances show the person knew. |
| Oregon | Split | Phone and electronic calls are one-party. In-person conversations require everyone be specifically told first — upheld by the full Ninth Circuit in January 2025, and the Supreme Court declined to review it in October 2025. |
| Pennsylvania | All-party | Felony exposure up to 7 years; consent counts if the other party knew or reasonably should have known. |
| Washington | All-party | Consent counts if a recorded announcement is made to everyone at the start of the call. |
| Connecticut | All-party (civil only) | Criminal law is one-party; a separate civil statute requires all-party consent for phone calls specifically. |
| Delaware | Edge case | One statute reads all-party, another doesn't; courts have allowed participant recording under the more permissive one. Treat as all-party to be safe. |
| Michigan | Edge case | Statute text reads all-party; the leading appeals decision suggests participants can record their own conversations. Unsettled. |
| Nevada | Edge case | Statute reads one-party; the state supreme court has read it as all-party for phone calls specifically. In-person stays one-party. |
| Vermont | No statute | No recording law and no controlling case on phone calls; a state-constitution ruling bars secret recording inside a home. |
Table current as of July 2026. Sources: state statutes and the RCFP and Digital Media Law Project reference guides, cross-checked against original court opinions; full citations in Sources below.
Calling across state lines
If you're in a one-party state and the person you're calling is in an all-party state, which law applies? Courts don't agree on a single answer. But the most-cited case makes the stricter reading a real risk, not a hypothetical one. In Kearney v. Salomon Smith Barney, the California Supreme Court applied California's all-party rule to a call center in Georgia, a one-party state. The calls involved California customers, and that was enough. Lawyers give a simple rule: follow the strictest law that might apply, or get everyone's consent. It costs one sentence and ends the question.
Does your phone already handle this?
Partly, and only for specific tools.
- iPhone's built-in call recording (Phone app, iOS 18.1 and later): both sides hear that the call is being recorded. You can't turn this notice off. It's built into the feature.
- Zoom: recording notifies everyone in the meeting by default. Dial-in callers hear an audio prompt. Only large enterprise accounts can turn it off, and only for their own staff.
- A separate voice recorder, or an AI notetaker bot: neither announces itself. A bot shows up as a named participant in the call, which is visible. But that's not the same as an audible notice, and it's not the same as someone's actual agreement. Several notetaker companies now face lawsuits over exactly this gap: recording without getting real consent from everyone on the call. In our review of 663 App Store reviews of these apps, permission to record barely comes up at all — a sign of how invisible this question still is to the people using the tools.
The pattern: built-in phone and meeting tools increasingly consent-check for you. Anything else on the table is on you to announce.
What to actually say (scripts by scenario)
Every guide in this space stops at "get consent." Here's the actual sentence, for four common calls.
Coaching or consulting call, with a client you'll talk to again:
"I'd like to record this so I can actually listen instead of scribbling notes — is that okay with you?"
Sales or discovery call, first conversation with a prospect:
"Mind if I record this? It's just so I don't miss anything you tell me, and I can send you an accurate recap after."
Real estate buyer or seller call:
"I record my client calls so I don't lose track of what matters to you across the search — I'll always ask before I do."
In-person meeting (the Oregon rule, and good practice everywhere):
"Before we start, I want to mention I'm recording this so I can focus on the conversation instead of typing — everyone good with that?"
All four do the same three things. They name the reason, so it doesn't sound suspicious. They ask a real question. And they take five seconds. If someone hesitates, that's information. Don't record, and don't argue about the law with them.
Once you have consent, the recording only helps if you do something with it. Here's a simple four-field system for what to write down after a call. It beats a full transcript for actually remembering the person.
What it costs to get this wrong
The federal wiretap statute sets the floor everywhere. Criminal exposure runs up to 5 years in prison. Civil damages start at $100 a day or $10,000, whichever is higher, plus the other side's attorney's fees. States with their own all-party laws add more. Several classify a violation as a felony, and California's civil penalty alone starts at $5,000 per call.
There's a second cost that doesn't show up in a statute: your job. Recording your own client calls can be perfectly legal under state law and still get you fired. Employers can ban it by policy, regardless of what the law allows. If you're at a regulated firm, check first. FINRA's "Taping Rule" makes call recording a firm-level duty at certain firms. Reps generally shouldn't record outside the firm's own system.
What to do with this
- Find your state and the state of anyone you regularly call in the table above. If either one is all-party (or one of the four edge cases), default to asking.
- Pick the script that matches your situation and say a version of it before you hit record, every time. Not just the first time with a new contact.
- If it's a regulated job (financial services, healthcare, or anywhere with an NDA or recording policy), check your employer's policy first. It can be stricter than your state's law.
- If someone hesitates, stop. No conversation is worth the legal exposure or the trust cost of recording over an objection.
Sources
- 18 U.S.C. § 2511, § 2520 — federal wiretap statute and civil penalties, law.cornell.edu
- Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, state-by-state recording guide, rcfp.org/reporters-recording-guide/
- Digital Media Law Project, "Recording Phone Calls and Conversations," dmlp.org
- Kearney v. Salomon Smith Barney, Inc., 39 Cal.4th 95 (Cal. 2006) — interstate all-party ruling, courtlistener.com
- Project Veritas v. Schmidt, 9th Cir. en banc, Jan. 7, 2025; cert. denied Oct. 6, 2025 — Oregon in-person notice requirement, cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov
- Apple, "Record and transcribe a call on iPhone," support.apple.com/guide/iphone/ · Apple Newsroom, Oct. 28, 2024
- Zoom, meeting-recording consent notices, support.zoom.com (KB0059819, KB0068228)
- FINRA Rule 3170 ("Taping Rule"), finra.org/rules-guidance/rulebooks/finra-rules/3170
- NPR, on the Otter.ai consolidated class actions, 2025-08-15 — npr.org/2025/08/15/g-s1-83087/ · Jackson Lewis, Workplace Privacy Report — workplaceprivacyreport.com
This is general information, not legal advice. Laws and court rulings change — check your state's current statute or ask a lawyer about your specific situation. As of July 2026.
Published July 15, 2026. Last verified July 15, 2026. This article is part of our research library. We publish what we learn building James, whether or not it sells an app.
Frequently asked questions
Do you have to tell someone you're recording a phone call?
Depends on the state. In 38 states plus D.C., no — if you're a party to the call, you can record it without saying anything. In roughly a dozen states, every person on the call has to know and agree. If you're calling across state lines, the safer legal position is to follow the stricter state's rule, since at least one state supreme court has applied its own all-party law to an out-of-state caller.
What states require both parties to consent to a recording?
California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon (for in-person conversations), Pennsylvania, and Washington are the clearest all-party states. Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, and Nevada are genuine edge cases — their statute text and their courts don't fully agree, so treat them as all-party to be safe.
Can you record a phone call without telling the other person?
In a one-party state, yes, as long as you're actually on the call. Recording a call you're not part of is a federal crime everywhere, regardless of state.
Does the iPhone announce when you're recording a call?
Yes, for calls recorded through the Phone app's built-in feature: both sides hear that the call is being recorded and transcribed, and you can't turn that notice off. A separate voice-memo recorder held up to a speakerphone doesn't announce anything on its own.
What happens if you record a call illegally?
Under the federal wiretap statute, criminal exposure runs up to 5 years in prison, and civil damages start at the greater of $100 a day or $10,000, plus attorney's fees. States with their own all-party laws add their own penalties on top, and several treat a violation as a felony.