Recording consultations
Ask first. Every time, everywhere.
Before you record a consultation, tell your vet you would like to record it and record only if they agree. This is not a formality and it is not only good manners: in much of the United States it is what the law requires.
Why it matters legally
Under US federal law only one party to a conversation needs to consent — which would be you. But around a dozen states require EVERY party to agree, including California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington. In several of them recording someone without their consent is a criminal offence as well as grounds for a civil claim, and the person who pressed record is the one exposed. Because the rules turn on where the conversation happens rather than where you live, and because a video consultation can span two states at once, this app asks you to seek permission everywhere rather than guess.
Outside the United States
Canada requires the consent of only one party to a conversation under the Criminal Code, and the United Kingdom and European Union permit personal recording — but recording an identifiable person and then sending it to a third party for processing engages data protection law, and your vet has rights over their own voice. Ask regardless.
If your vet says no
Photograph the discharge sheet instead. The app treats the written sheet as the more reliable source anyway and reads it first, so declining to be recorded costs you very little. Please respect a refusal — many clinicians have good reasons, and a recording made over an objection is the situation this notice exists to prevent.
What is captured
Everything audible while recording is running, including your vet's voice, your own, anyone else in the room, and anything unrelated said nearby. Recording stops automatically after thirty minutes. A red dot and a running timer are shown for as long as it is active, so anyone glancing at the phone can see it.
What happens to the recording
It is uploaded to private storage that only you and the household members you have invited can reach, and sent to OpenAI in the United States to be transcribed. The audio is deleted as soon as it has been transcribed, and in no case kept beyond seven days. The transcript is kept with the visit so you can re-read what was said; you can delete the visit at any time, and deleting your account removes all of it.
Your vet can ask for it to be deleted
A recording contains your vet's personal data as well as your pet's information. If your vet asks you to delete a recording or its transcript, please do — you can do so in the app — or contact [email protected] and we will help.
You are responsible for the recording you make
This app provides the tool and this notice. Whether you have permission to record a particular conversation, in the place where it happens, is your responsibility. Do not use this feature to record anyone covertly.