Is Otter.ai safe to use?
Otter.ai encrypts your data and says conversations stay private unless you share them, but it has real caveats: its default OtterPilot joins meetings as a visible bot, it can auto-join calls when a host connects their calendar, it trains its own models on de-identified user data, and it faces a 2025 class-action lawsuit over recording without consent. Reline has no bot at all and is private by default.
Otter.ai encrypts your data and says conversations stay private unless you share them, but it has real caveats: its default OtterPilot joins meetings as a visible bot, it can auto-join calls when a host connects their calendar, it trains its own models on de-identified user data, and it faces a 2025 class-action lawsuit over recording without consent. Reline has no bot at all and is private by default.
The details
- The biggest concern is consent: if a host connects Otter to their calendar, an Otter Notetaker can auto-join meetings without participants explicitly agreeing — and a 2025 U.S. class-action lawsuit alleges Otter recorded private conversations without proper consent.
- Otter encrypts data in transit and at rest and offers HIPAA coverage only under an Enterprise Business Associate Agreement; per its own policy, it also trains its models on de-identified user data.
- Reline takes a different posture: it never sends a bot, captures audio locally on your own device, is private by default (no one sees a note without an explicit grant), and your audio and transcripts are never used to train third-party models.
- If you’re evaluating Otter for sensitive or client calls, the safer pattern is bot-free local capture with clear consent — that’s exactly how Reline is designed.
Last updated June 2026
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