Audio Recording

Audio Recording is currently available in more than a dozen countries throughout Africa, Asia, North America, and South America.

Where available, riders and drivers can initiate a recording through the in-app Safety Toolkit using their own smartphone. The other party in the vehicle will not be notified at the time of recording, though notice has been given to all users that this capability is available, and riders will see a message in their app informing them that audio may be recorded on their trip.

Don't see Audio Recording in your Safety Toolkit? Make sure you have the latest version of the app.

Uber is committed to building technologies that help make your Uber experience safer. The Audio Recording feature is intended to help encourage safe and comfortable interactions while on a trip, determine what happened, and identify the best response after a safety-related incident.

To maintain the privacy of parties in the vehicle, the recorded content is encrypted, and neither riders nor drivers can listen to it. After a serious incident, Uber will consider providing the audio recording to the reporting party upon request on a case-by-case basis.

To learn more about our approach to privacy, please see our Privacy Notice.

You can always cancel the trip if you feel uncomfortable or don’t want to be recorded. Riders will see a message in their app informing them that audio may be recorded on their trip. The app also sends notification messages to drivers in many states.

We take user privacy very seriously and limit any review of an audio recording to a dedicated Safety team at Uber. If we receive a recording that is not relevant to a safety incident, we will delete it.

No. If you don’t submit an incident report with the recording attached, Uber has no access to the recording.

No. The phone will take over the microphone, and the recording will automatically stop. You’ll have to start recording again on your own after the call.

No, Uber is not listening as the recording is happening. Uber also cannot listen to the recording unless the user includes it with an incident report.

Other parties in the vehicle will not be notified at the time a recording begins, but riders will be notified of the possibility of recording when they’re matched with a driver.

In states that require all-party consent for recording (which includes CA, CT, DE, FL, HI, IL, MA, MD, MI, MT, NH, NV, PA, OR, and WA), drivers will also be notified of the possibility of recording when they’re matched with the rider.

In accordance with our law enforcement guidelines and third-party data request policies, and as may be required under applicable laws, Uber may provide the audio recording to third parties with appropriate legal process or in emergency situations.

Recordings are encrypted using AES encryption Galois/Counter Mode (GCM) on the consumer’s device. Only Uber has the key to decrypt the file after it has been submitted to our Safety Support team by a user. Importantly, it is the user's choice when to record audio and when to share it with Uber.

The majority of US states do not require you to obtain consent to record, but there are additional requirements in some states, including CA, CT, DE, FL, HI, IL, MA, MD, MI, MT, NH, NV, PA, OR, and WA. Please review your state’s laws to ensure that you’re complying with requirements around consent.

You can also review this privacy best practices guide, developed by the Future of Privacy Forum and Uber, to learn more about recording laws in the US and what they require you to do. Please keep in mind that if you drive between different states, the law may change based on where you are in the moment. If you’re using Uber’s Audio Recording feature in a state that requires all parties to consent, both the rider and the driver will receive in-app notice of the possibility of recording before the trip begins.

This will vary based on your mobile phone, but in general 5-7 minutes of recording takes 1 MB of space on your device.

If you do need to submit a safety report with a recording attached, we encourage you to be connected to wifi first. Otherwise, your normal data rates will apply.

Share at the moment: a pop-up window will appear at the end of the trip, and you can share with Uber on the spot.

Share later: in the app menu, go to your trip history, tap on the trip in question, find the recording in your trip details, and share it with Uber.

Please note: you can only share audio with Uber after a trip ends.

A member of Uber’s Safety team will review the report and listen to the contents. Appropriate action will be taken in accordance with our policies.

No, the content is only stored on the device. If you delete it, Uber has no way to recover it.

You can start and stop recording at any time through the Safety Toolkit by tapping the blue shield in the app.

For riders, recording will automatically stop shortly after the trip ends. For drivers, recording will stop when you go offline.

If you are using an iPhone and are connected to CarPlay via a USB cable, playing music may interfere with your sound quality. For the best recording experience, consider not playing music while using the feature.