Is Granola AI Safe? Training, Consent and the Lawsuit (2026)

Granola AI is secure by the usual business measures: it has a SOC 2 Type II report, encrypts your data, keeps no audio, and puts no bot in the call. It is not the most private choice. On the Free and Business plans Granola trains its own AI on de-identified data from your meetings unless you opt out, by default nothing tells the other people in the meeting that it's running, and Granola is defending a federal class action that alleges that design is wiretapping. If you want notes with nothing in the call and your meetings kept to yourself, Scribbl, which we make, takes them on Google Meet, Zoom and Microsoft Teams with nothing joining, keeps the video as well as the transcript, keeps recordings private by default, and never uses your meetings to train AI for anyone other than you.

The rest of this page answers the question in full, including "is Granola AI legal" and "is Granola AI trustworthy." Every Granola fact comes from Granola's own privacy policy, terms, security page, FAQ, help center and pricing page, and every lawsuit fact from the court docket and the complaint, checked on October 19, 2026 and rechecked on October 23, 2026. For plans and prices, see Granola pricing.

Is Granola AI safe?

For keeping your data away from outsiders, yes. Granola has what a security review usually asks for: a SOC 2 Type II report, encryption at rest and in transit, a Data Processing Agreement for GDPR, a Business Associate Agreement for HIPAA on Enterprise, and a design that keeps no audio once the transcript exists. Nothing joins your call, so your clients never see a bot.

What makes people ask whether Granola is safe is the other side of that design. Because nothing joins the call, the other people in the meeting have no way of knowing Granola is running unless you tell them or turn on a notice. Granola's own pages leave both to you. And on the Free and Business plans, Granola uses de-identified data from your meetings to train its own models unless you opt out. In federal court in San Francisco, a proposed class action alleges that this amounts to wiretapping. Granola hasn't answered or moved to dismiss, and no court has decided anything.

Granola security at a glance

Does Granola use your meetings to train AI?

Yes, unless you're on Enterprise or you opt out. Granola's privacy policy (effective September 8, 2026) says "We use de-identified, aggregated data, not Personal Data, for our AI model training," and that its AI system "processes audio recordings, transcripts, and related meeting content you provide." Its security page says plainly: "Granola trains on your anonymized data so we can keep making Granola better."

• The default. Granola's security FAQ says "By default on Free and Business plans, anonymised data may be used for Granola's own model improvements." Its Platform Terms (December 19, 2025) say the same in contract language: for Basic and Business customers, data may be used "unless the Customer affirmatively opts out"; for Enterprise, "only if the Customer affirmatively opts in."
• How to opt out. Settings, then Preferences, then Data & sharing, and turn off Use my data to improve models for everyone. On Business, each user does this separately; on Enterprise, an admin can do it for everyone (pricing). Granola's model training page says the toggle isn't available in the Android app yet.
• What the opt-out doesn't cover. Granola says "We cannot guarantee that anonymised data wasn't used before you changed the setting," and its privacy policy says that "Once training is complete, it is not technically possible to isolate or extract any specific data from the resulting model." De-identified data used in models "may be retained indefinitely."
• The license. The Platform Terms give Granola a perpetual, sublicensable, worldwide license to use customer data to generate de-identified data and to "improve, test, train, and operate" its products.
• Outside AI companies. Granola says it doesn't allow third parties such as OpenAI or Anthropic to use your data to train their models. Its security page names transcription providers "like Deepgram and Assembly" and AI providers "like OpenAI and Anthropic" that summarize your meeting, and says the full subprocessor list is in its trust center.
• The other people in your meetings. They can't opt out, because they don't have an account. That is the point the Granola lawsuit turns on.

How Granola captures a meeting, and what other people see

No bot. Granola doesn't join the call. Its transcription guide says it "runs only on your computer and uses your system audio and microphone," on Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android, with Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams and any other app whose audio plays through your computer. It says Granola "does not record or save audio or video at any point during the call," and that it "does not automatically transcribe meetings without you having clicked into a note." Granola's calendar integration sends a notification a minute before each meeting; clicking it opens the note and starts transcribing.

What other people see. Nothing, by default. Granola's FAQ says other participants "will not see any additional attendee." Granola offers two transparency features (in-chat entrance messaging, for individuals):

• A chat message posted when it starts transcribing: "Hey, I'm using www.granola.ai to transcribe and take notes." On Google Meet this needs Granola's browser extension.
• A watermark, a small badge on your video that stays on through the call.

Granola's pages say you "can enable" them. On Free and Business each user turns them on for themselves. On Enterprise, Granola's admin guide says admins can enforce the chat message for the whole team on macOS and Windows, and the watermark once at least one automated chat message is on; the pricing page lists the notice as "Admin-enforceable" on Enterprise only. Granola's pages don't say either is on to begin with. The complaint against Granola alleges both are off by default, and quotes Granola's guide: "Granola does not configure these settings on behalf of customers."

Whose job consent is. Granola's FAQ says "You are responsible for obtaining consent from participants before using Granola," and its User Terms (December 19, 2025) say it is "solely Customer's responsibility" to get the consents recording laws require. Its own transparency page recommends "a clear verbal heads-up at the start of every meeting." Whichever tool you use, tell everyone you're recording.

Sharing. Granola's sharing guide says it "does not auto-share your notes to attendees," and people you share with can't read the full transcript. Each note's link is set to Anyone with the link, Only my company or Private in Data & sharing; Enterprise admins can turn off public links for the whole workspace, retroactively. Notes you put in a team folder are visible to everyone in the workspace.

Deleting. Notes go to the trash and are permanently deleted after 30 days; a permanently deleted note can't be restored. Account deletion is in Settings, Profile, or by emailing hey@granola.so from the account (deleting your account). Transcripts and notes are otherwise kept until you delete them or set an auto-deletion period.

Is Granola AI legal?

Granola is an ordinary software product with published terms, and using it isn't illegal in itself. Whether a particular transcription is legal depends on the recording law where each person is. Some places, including California, Illinois and Florida, require every participant's consent; others require only one party's. See is it legal to record a meeting and do you have to tell people you're recording.

Two things make this question sharper for Granola than for a note taker with a visible bot. First, nothing announces it, so the burden of telling people is entirely on you, and Granola's terms say so. Second, the lawsuit alleges that capturing other people's words this way, without notice, violates the federal Wiretap Act and California's Invasion of Privacy Act. Those are allegations; no court has ruled on them. The safe practice doesn't depend on the outcome: tell everyone you're recording, every time.

Is Granola safe for confidential client meetings?

It can be, if you change three settings first. Granola's security protects your notes from outsiders. The risks on a confidential call come from its defaults:

• Training. On Free and Business, de-identified data from the call may train Granola's models until you turn it off.
• Notice. The client isn't told Granola is running unless you say so or turn on the chat message and watermark.
• Links. Each note's link setting, Anyone with the link, Only my company or Private, decides who can open it.

Recruiters face the same question with candidates. Granola's own guide for recruiters tells them to say at the start that they're using Granola to transcribe the conversation. With Scribbl, nothing joins the call, recordings are private by default and your meetings never train AI for anyone other than you, so there's nothing to switch off before a confidential call. Tell everyone you're recording either way.

Do it with Scribbl: nothing joins the call

If what you like about Granola is that no bot joins, and what worries you is the training default and the silence, this is where Scribbl is different. Nothing joins the call, your meetings stay yours, and you keep the video:

1. Add Scribbl. For Google Meet, add the Chrome extension (AI note taker for Google Meet). For Zoom and Microsoft Teams, install Scribbl Desktop for Mac (Apple silicon) or Windows (Zoom, Teams).
2. Join the meeting as usual. Nothing joins the call and nothing appears in the participant list. You don't need to be the host. Tell everyone you're recording, the way you would in any meeting.
3. Open the notes when it ends. You get the video recording, a transcript with speaker names, AI notes and action items. Recordings are private by default, and Scribbl doesn't use your meetings to train AI for anyone other than you, so there's no opt-out to find.

The free plan includes Google Meet, Zoom and Microsoft Teams, with 10 meetings a month. Start free.

The Granola lawsuit

Granola is a defendant in Chamberlain v. Granola, Inc., No. 3:26-cv-07926, a proposed class action filed on July 30, 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and assigned to Judge Edward M. Chen. The defendants are Granola, Inc. and Granola Labs Ltd.

What it claims. The original complaint opens with "This case concerns spyware." It alleges, and Granola has not yet answered, that:

• Granola "intentionally designed" its software "so that it need not be disclosed to those participating in virtual meetings," unlike note takers whose bot is visible and can be removed. It quotes Granola's marketing as saying other people in the room "won't know" it's there, a line Granola's page no longer shows.
• Granola captures other participants' words through the user's system audio and sends them to its transcription vendor in real time, which the complaint calls interception.
• By default Granola "uses the contents of those communications for its own commercial purposes, including training its AI systems," a setting only the Granola user can turn off, not the people recorded.
• The plaintiff, Tarra Chamberlain of Brevard County, Florida, says Granola was present in at least one Microsoft Teams or Zoom meeting she joined, and transcribed her without her consent.

It brings seven claims: intrusion upon seclusion, the federal Wiretap Act, California Penal Code sections 631 and 632, California's computer data access law, California's Unfair Competition Law, and unjust enrichment. It asks the court to certify a nationwide class of everyone in the United States whose communications Granola recorded, intercepted or used, plus a California subclass, which it says "likely consist of millions of individuals," and seeks statutory damages, including $5,000 per violation under California's privacy law.

Where it stands. Granola, Inc. was served on August 5, 2026, and the parties agreed to push its deadline to respond back more than once. On October 13, 2026, the court granted the plaintiff's motion to reset the early case deadlines, approved a stipulation letting her file an amended complaint, and set the initial case management conference for December 15, 2026 by Zoom. On October 19, 2026 the plaintiffs filed a First Amended Class Action Complaint against Granola, Inc. and Granola Labs Ltd., adding a second plaintiff, Deborah Hernandez. As of October 23, 2026, no answer, motion to dismiss or ruling appears on the docket, no class has been certified, and no court has ruled that Granola broke the law. Granola has made no public statement about the case on its site that we could find.

Who covered it. Law360 reported the filing on July 31, 2026, and Barnes & Thornburg published a client alert on August 12, 2026 noting that Granola "has not yet responded on the merits." Granola's privacy policy was re-issued on September 8, 2026, after the suit was filed. Otter and Fireflies face privacy class actions of their own; see the Otter AI lawsuit and the Fireflies AI lawsuit.

Settings to check before your first Granola call

1. AI training: in Settings, Preferences, Data & sharing, turn off Use my data to improve models for everyone.
2. Transparency: turn on the chat message and the watermark so the other people in the meeting can see Granola is running.
3. Link sharing: set the default to Private or Only my company for sensitive notes.
4. Retention: set a transcript auto-deletion period if you don't want transcripts kept indefinitely.
5. Consent: tell everyone you're recording, every time. Granola's terms make it your job.

Scribbl vs Granola: privacy side by side

Feature	Scribbl	Granola
Anything in the participant list?	No, on Google Meet, Zoom and Teams	No
Your meetings used to train AI	Not for anyone other than you	Yes, de-identified, by default on Free and Business
Recordings private by default	Yes	Notes are not auto-shared; link setting is yours to choose
The video of the meeting	Yes	No recording kept; transcript and notes only
Meeting history on the free plan	10 meetings a month	30 days
Privacy class action pending	None	Yes, federal and California wiretap claims

What that means next to Granola: Granola and Scribbl both leave the participant list alone. The difference is what happens to the meeting afterwards. Granola trains its own models on de-identified data from your meetings until you find the opt-out, keeps a transcript but no recording, and keeps Basic plan notes for 30 days. With Scribbl, nothing joins the call, you keep the video, a transcript with speaker names, AI notes and action items, recordings are private by default, and your meetings don't train AI for anyone other than you.

Who should pick Scribbl: people whose meetings are on Google Meet, Zoom or Teams, who want the video of each meeting, and who'd rather not read a privacy policy to find out what happens to their calls. The free plan includes Google Meet, Zoom and Microsoft Teams, with 10 meetings a month. Pro is $13 per user per month billed annually, or $20 monthly (pricing). Start free.

For more on Granola, see Scribbl vs Granola, Granola pricing, Granola alternatives and does Granola work with Zoom, Teams, Outlook and Windows. For the same check on other note takers, see is Otter AI safe, is Fireflies AI safe, is Read AI safe, is tl;dv safe and is Fathom safe.

FAQ

Is Granola AI safe?

By the usual business measures, yes. Granola says it has a SOC 2 Type II report, encrypts data at rest and in transit, stores it on Amazon Web Services in the United States, keeps no audio once a transcript is made, and puts no bot in the call. It is not the most private choice. On the Free and Business plans Granola trains its own AI on de-identified data from your meetings unless you opt out, by default nothing tells the other people in the meeting that it's running, and Granola is defending a federal class action that alleges that design is wiretapping. No court has ruled on it.

Is Granola AI legal?

Using Granola is legal in the sense that it's an ordinary product with published terms, but whether a given recording is legal depends on where everyone is and whether they agreed. Granola's terms put that on you: its FAQ says you are responsible for obtaining consent from participants before using Granola, and its terms say it's solely the customer's responsibility to get the consents recording laws require. A class action filed in July 2026 alleges that Granola's silent capture violates federal and California wiretap laws; those are allegations, and no court has ruled. Tell everyone you're recording.

Is Granola AI trustworthy?

Granola is a real company with a public privacy policy, terms, security page and SOC 2 Type II report: Granola, Inc. in Delaware and Granola Labs Ltd in England. TechCrunch reported on March 25, 2026 that it raised $125 million at a $1.5 billion valuation. What to weigh against that: its pages say it trains its own models on de-identified data from your meetings by default on Free and Business, it leaves telling the other participants to you, and it's defending a privacy class action.

Does Granola use my meetings to train AI?

Yes, by default on the Free and Business plans. Granola's privacy policy, effective September 8, 2026, says it uses de-identified, aggregated data for its own AI model training, and its security FAQ says anonymised data may be used for model improvements by default on Free and Business. You can opt out under Settings, Preferences, Data & sharing, but Granola says it cannot guarantee that anonymised data wasn't used before you changed the setting. Enterprise accounts have training off by default. Granola says it doesn't let OpenAI or Anthropic train on your data.

Does Granola join meetings or record audio?

No bot joins. Granola runs on your Mac, Windows PC or phone and captures your microphone and your computer's system audio, so nothing appears in the participant list. Granola says it does not record or save audio or video at any point, only the transcript and notes, and that it only transcribes a meeting when you open a note for it.

Can other people tell when Granola is running?

Not unless you tell them or turn something on. Granola's security FAQ says other participants will not see any additional attendee. Granola offers a chat message, Hey, I'm using www.granola.ai to transcribe and take notes, and a watermark on your video, but its pages describe them as features you can enable, and the complaint against Granola alleges both are off by default. Granola says you're responsible for getting consent, so tell everyone you're recording.

Does Granola share notes with attendees by default?

No. Granola's sharing guide says it does not auto-share your notes to attendees, and people you share with can't read the full transcript. You choose a link setting per note: Anyone with the link, Only my company, or Private. On Enterprise, admins can turn off public links for the whole workspace.

Is Granola being sued?

Yes. Chamberlain v. Granola, Inc., No. 3:26-cv-07926, filed July 30, 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, is a proposed class action that alleges Granola intercepts and transcribes meeting participants' conversations without their knowledge or consent and uses them to train its AI by default. It brings claims under the federal Wiretap Act, California's Invasion of Privacy Act and other laws. On October 19, 2026 the plaintiffs filed a First Amended Class Action Complaint that adds a second plaintiff, and the court set the first case management conference for December 15, 2026. As of October 23, 2026, Granola hadn't answered or moved to dismiss, and no court has ruled that Granola broke the law.

Is Granola HIPAA compliant?

Granola says it is, for Enterprise customers only, with a signed Business Associate Agreement. Its privacy policy says the BAA covers only the Granola desktop and laptop applications, not the phone apps, and its FAQ says HIPAA support isn't available on Free, Personal or Business plans.

Is Granola safe for confidential client meetings?

It can be, if you change three settings first. Granola's security protects your notes from outsiders, but on Free and Business de-identified data from the call may train Granola's models by default, the client isn't told Granola is running unless you say so or turn on its notice, and each note's link setting decides who can open it. Turn off model training, turn on the chat message and watermark, set links to Private, and tell the client you're transcribing. With Scribbl, nothing joins the call, recordings are private by default and your meetings never train AI for anyone other than you, so there's nothing to switch off first.

Does Granola require the other person to consent to recording?

Granola doesn't ask them. Nothing in the call asks the other people to agree, and Granola's FAQ says you are responsible for obtaining consent from participants before using Granola. Whether the law requires everyone's consent depends on where each person is; California, Illinois and Florida are among the places that require it from every participant. Tell everyone you're recording. On Enterprise, an admin can make Granola's chat message mandatory for the whole workspace.

Does Granola have SOC 2 and a DPA?

Yes. Granola says it holds SOC 2 Type II, and you request the report in its trust center at trust.granola.ai. Its standard DPA, which incorporates the EU and UK Standard Contractual Clauses, is published in its help center, and Granola says custom DPAs are not available. ISO 27001 is not yet available, and Granola offers no EU or UK data residency.

Can Granola admins enforce consent notifications and the watermark for everyone?

On Enterprise, yes. Granola's admin guide says workspace admins can enforce the automated chat message for the whole team on macOS and Windows, and can set up the workspace watermark once at least one chat message option is on. On the Basic and Business plans, each user turns these on for themselves.

Which AI providers does Granola send meeting content to?

Granola's security page names transcription providers like Deepgram and Assembly, and AI providers like OpenAI and Anthropic that summarize your meeting, and says the full subprocessor list is in its trust center. Granola says it doesn't let OpenAI or Anthropic train on your data.

Will people see anything join the call if I use Scribbl?

No. Scribbl, which we make, takes notes in Google Meet, Zoom and Microsoft Teams with nothing joining the call, so no bot sits in the participant list. Unlike Granola, you also get the video recording of every meeting, with a transcript with speaker names, AI notes and action items. Recordings are private by default, and Scribbl doesn't use your meetings to train AI for anyone other than you. The free plan includes Google Meet, Zoom and Microsoft Teams, with 10 meetings a month. Start free at extension.app.scribbl.co/signup.

Sources

Every fact above was checked on these pages on October 19, 2026. The lawsuit, the DPA, the AI providers, the training toggle and the admin notice settings were rechecked on October 23, 2026.

• Granola legal pages: privacy policy (effective September 8, 2026), User Terms of Service (December 19, 2025), Platform Terms (December 19, 2025)
• Granola security pages: Security, privacy, and how it all works, trust center, Data Processing Addendum (July 17, 2026), Model training, Security, Privacy & Data FAQs, Granola is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant (July 7, 2025), pricing
• Granola help center: How transcription works, Google Calendar integration, Automatic in-chat entrance messaging, Transparency solutions for individuals, Transparency solutions for Enterprise admins, Transparency, Sharing notes, Sharing controls, AI note taking for recruiters, Deleting notes, Deleting your account
• Court records: Chamberlain v. Granola, Inc., No. 3:26-cv-07926 (N.D. Cal.), via CourtListener (last entry shown: the First Amended Class Action Complaint, October 19, 2026) and PacerMonitor (the October 13, 2026 order and the added plaintiff), including the complaint (July 30, 2026) and the joint stipulation extending the response deadline (August 20, 2026)
• News and commentary: Law360, Suit Says 'Hidden' AI Notetaker Trains Model On Meetings (July 31, 2026); Barnes & Thornburg, What the Granola Class Action Means for Companies Building and Deploying Conversation Capture Tools (August 12, 2026); TechCrunch, Granola raises $125M, hits $1.5B valuation (March 25, 2026)
• Scribbl: pricing