Recording law · Europe
Can I record a call in Germany?
Not without agreement. Recording the non-public spoken word of another person without consent is a criminal offence in Germany, even for a participant.
All-party consent Everyone in the conversation has to agree before it is recorded.
General information, not legal advice. Last reviewed October 2026. Laws change and facts differ; check before you rely on any line here, and ask a lawyer licensed where you record for anything that matters.
Does recording a call in Germany need one-party or all-party consent?
All-party consent. Everyone in the conversation has to agree before it is recorded.
- The offence covers making the recording, using it and giving it to others.
- Ask before recording starts and wait for agreement. Silence after a passing mention is a weak basis; a clear yes is better.
- For business use, GDPR applies as well: a lawful basis, a notice, a retention limit and security. Recording employees systematically can require works-council involvement.
- Transcription that runs on your own devices does not remove the need for consent, because the rule is about the recording.
The law
- Strafgesetzbuch (StGB) § 201, Verletzung der Vertraulichkeit des Wortes
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
The offence is punishable by a fine or imprisonment, and recordings made in breach are generally unusable.
When the others are somewhere else
The rule follows the person. If a participant is in Germany, ask them, wherever you are. Video meetings are treated like phone calls, and the strictest rule that applies to anyone on the call is the one to follow.
Do I have to tell people I'm recording a call in Germany?
Yes, and everyone has to agree. Say it at the start, before anything else, wait for agreement, and say it again when someone joins late.
“Quick note before we start: I’m recording and transcribing this meeting on my own machine for my notes. It isn’t shared with anyone unless I send it to you. Let me know if you’d rather I didn’t.”
How Recordist fits
- One-party consent covers only conversations you take part in. Recordist records whatever your microphone picks up and whatever plays through your computer's sound output, so it can also record a call or a room you aren't part of, and that needs the consent the law sets for it. No bot joins the call.
- By default it asks before it records a call. A detected call is recorded only after you click Record, unless you add that app to Record without asking for in Settings → Detection or allow agents to start recordings in Settings → Integrations; both are off by default. The confirm card shows a one-line reminder that consent is your responsibility, so keep the sentence above to hand.
- The notice is still yours to give. Software cannot give consent for the other people. In Germany, tell them and get their agreement first.