Is tl;dv Safe? Privacy, AI Training, the Bot, EU Hosting and Sharing (2026)

tl;dv is secure by the usual business measures, with a SOC 2 Type II report, European hosting and a clear no-training promise, but it is not the most private choice for your meetings: its bot joins calls as a participant, its auto-record setting can send it to every calendar meeting even when you don't attend, consent requests to invitees are off until you turn them on, and an Anyone with the link share makes a recording entirely public. If you want the notes with nothing in the call, Scribbl, which we make, takes them on Google Meet, Zoom and Microsoft Teams with nothing joining, recordings private by default, and your meetings never used to train AI for anyone other than you.

The rest of this page answers the question in full. Every tl;dv fact comes from tl;dv's own privacy policy, terms, security page, trust center, help center and pricing page, checked on October 19, 2026. We found no lawsuit against tl;dv. For plans and prices, see Scribbl vs tl;dv.

Is tl;dv safe?

For keeping your data away from outsiders, yes. tl;dv has what a security review usually asks for: a SOC 2 Type II report, a penetration test attestation and a data processing agreement in its trust center on request, encryption in transit and at rest, data centers in Germany and Finland, single sign-on, and a plain statement that no customer data trains its AI. It's a German company, Tldx Solutions GmbH of Aachen, and its terms are governed by German law.

What makes people ask whether tl;dv is safe is what its bot does and where the recordings go. tl;dv's auto-record setting can send its bot to every meeting on your calendar, "even if you don't attend," and tl;dv recommends exactly that. Nothing in its help center describes the bot announcing itself in the chat; the participant list is the notice. Consent requests to your invitees exist but are off until you turn them on. And a recording shared with Anyone with the link is, in tl;dv's words, "entirely public." None of that is hidden; it's just yours to manage.

tl;dv security at a glance

Does tl;dv use your meetings to train AI?

tl;dv says no. Its privacy policy (September 9, 2026) says it "does not use Customer Content, including meeting recordings, transcripts, notes, files" to "train, fine-tune, or improve foundation models, large language models, or other generative AI models," and that the same content "is not used by tldx Solutions GmbH or such providers to train or improve their general-purpose AI models." Its security page (May 25, 2026) says "No customer data is used to train the AI."

• Which AI company. The privacy policy says tl;dv "may use large language models provided by Anthropic via Google Cloud Vertex AI," and that "limited portions of meeting transcripts" are processed either in EU Google Cloud regions or in the United States, "depending on the AI hosting location that you select in your account's preferences."
• How it limits what Anthropic sees. The security page says tl;dv anonymizes any metadata it shares, chunks meetings "into small pieces," randomizes their order, and that Anthropic "will never be able to access more than a short sequence of your meeting at once" or know which pieces belong together.
• Transcription. The subprocessor list in the privacy policy names AssemblyAI and ElevenLabs for transcription. tl;dv's older preferences guide (January 12, 2026) describes an EU option "In France, with Mistral" and OpenAI's Whisper for transcription; neither company is in the September 2026 subprocessor list, so go by the policy.
• Your voice. tl;dv's policy makes no statement about voice identification or biometric data.

The tl;dv bot, auto-record and consent

The bot. tl;dv joins Google Meet, Zoom and Microsoft Teams calls as a participant named after your first name, "Grace's AI Notetaker" for a user named Grace Jones (updating your profile). Pro, Business and Enterprise plans can rename it and change its picture (customizing your bot). Only one tl;dv bot can be in a meeting at a time. tl;dv's desktop app for Mac and Windows can also record without the bot, audio only, and tl;dv warns that "recording notifications may not appear automatically" in that mode (recording without a bot, July 9, 2026).

Auto-record. Under Automations, Auto-record calendar events has three settings (auto-record, May 8, 2026):

• All meetings: "all of your internal and external meetings, even if you don't attend"
• Selected meetings: conditions you set
• No meetings

tl;dv's preferences guide says "We highly recommend keeping this enabled for all meetings." Its pages don't say which setting a new account starts on. If auto-record is off, the bot only joins when you add it. In the waiting room, it waits 10 minutes; if nobody else joins within 10 minutes of it entering, it doesn't record; recordings stop at 3 hours.

What other people see. The bot in the participant list. tl;dv's help center doesn't describe a chat message or audio announcement when it joins. Before the meeting, Consent Collection can replace the meeting link in your calendar invite with a consent link; "If a participant declines, recording is permanently disabled for that meeting," and the organizer isn't asked. You have to enable it in settings, give tl;dv calendar write permission, and it only applies to auto-recorded meetings (consent collection). tl;dv's preferences guide calls this "Auto-request recording consent (GDPR Add-on)."

Whose job consent is. tl;dv's terms (May 18, 2026) say "you are responsible for collecting consents from all participants in the meeting prior to starting the recording." Some places require everyone's permission; see do you have to tell people you're recording and is it legal to record a meeting. Whichever tool you use, tell everyone you're recording.

Who can see your tl;dv recordings?

You, anyone you share with, your team if you publish to it, and any other tl;dv user on the invite.

• Sharing by hand. Each recording has a share menu. Anyone with the link "makes a meeting entirely public, so it can be viewed without signing in," though tl;dv says such links aren't indexed by search engines; People with access restricts it (how to share meeting recordings).
• Auto-send. Auto-send email with meeting notes emails invitees the notes and a recording link when the meeting ends; an Only with me option exists. tl;dv's pages don't say whether auto-send is on for a new account (preferences).
• Auto-publish. Default recording privacy decides whether new recordings are visible to your team or organization. Its default isn't stated either.
• Co-owners. If another tl;dv user on the invite also had auto-record on, "both people who wanted to record will have the right to watch and own the video" (who owns a recording). With Auto-add to shared library on, colleagues become editors by default.
• tl;dv staff. The terms say recordings and transcripts "will not be accessed by tldx, unless upon specific request."

Do it with Scribbl: nothing joins the call

If the bot, the record-without-you setting and the link sharing are the parts of tl;dv that worry you, this is where Scribbl is different. Scribbl takes the notes with nothing in the call:

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, nothing appears in the participant list, and nothing turns up in meetings you didn't attend. 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, for every meeting, not only the first ten. Recordings are private by default: nobody sees a meeting unless you share it, 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.

Where tl;dv stores your data, and for how long

Where. tl;dv's privacy policy says "All our services are hosted in Europe (within the European Economic Area)," in Google Cloud and Wasabi data centers in Germany and Hetzner data centers in Germany and Finland, with the AI processing exception above. For transfers outside the EU it relies on the European Commission's standard contractual clauses. Its security page still shows an "EU US Privacy Shield" badge, a framework the European Union's top court struck down in July 2020; the policy itself doesn't mention it.

How long. The policy's retention table says recordings and transcriptions are kept for a "Free user: 3 months" and a "Paying user: until account deletion." tl;dv's help center adds that free plan deletions are "scheduled on the 1st of each month" with an email 4 weeks before, and that free recordings are archived after 3 days (how long do you keep my recordings, free plan limits). Email addresses of people on your invites who aren't tl;dv users are kept "for 5 years or upon deletion request," for consent requests.

Deleting. Deleting a recording is permanent: "We do not keep backups nor fallbacks" (delete recordings). Deleting your account from profile settings removes all data, and tl;dv says no logs are kept (how to stop tl;dv).

Plans. Free is $0; Pro is $18 per seat per month billed annually; Business $29; Enterprise custom, with SCIM, custom SSO, privately hosted AI, a super admin role and activity logs (pricing). The pricing page lists no HIPAA, BAA, retention controls or regional residency on any plan.

Settings to check before your first tl;dv call

1. Auto-record: under Automations, choose Selected meetings or No meetings unless you want the bot in every calendar meeting, including ones you skip.
2. Consent Collection: turn it on so invitees get a consent link before auto-recorded meetings.
3. Auto-send and auto-publish: check Auto-send email with meeting notes and Default recording privacy, since tl;dv doesn't publish their defaults.
4. Links: use People with access for sensitive recordings; an Anyone with the link share is public.
5. AI location: pick EU or US AI hosting in preferences.
6. Consent: tell everyone you're recording, every time.

Scribbl vs tl;dv: privacy side by side

What that means next to tl;dv: tl;dv's no-training promise and EU hosting are real strengths, and we found no case against it. The privacy work is in its settings: a bot that records meetings you don't attend if you take tl;dv's recommendation, consent requests you have to switch on, share links that can be public, and free plan recordings that disappear after 3 months. With Scribbl, nothing joins the call, 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 and full AI notes for every meeting, and whose clients or company would rather not see a bot in the call. 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 tl;dv, see Scribbl vs tl;dv, tl;dv alternatives, Otter vs tl;dv, Fireflies vs tl;dv and Fathom vs tl;dv. For the same check on other note takers, see is Otter AI safe, is Fireflies AI safe, is Granola AI safe, is Read AI safe and is Fathom safe.

FAQ

Is tl;dv safe?

By the usual business measures, yes. tl;dv, made by Tldx Solutions GmbH in Aachen, Germany, says it has a SOC 2 Type II report, is GDPR compliant, hosts and stores data in Europe, encrypts stored data with AES-256, and uses no customer data to train its AI. It is not the most private choice. Its bot joins calls as a participant, its auto-record setting can send it to every calendar meeting even when you don't attend, consent requests to invitees are off until you turn them on, and an Anyone with the link share makes a recording entirely public. tl;dv makes no HIPAA claim. We found no lawsuit against it.

Does tl;dv use my meetings to train AI?

tl;dv says no. Its privacy policy, published September 9, 2026, says it does not use customer content, including recordings, transcripts and notes, to train or improve foundation models or other generative AI, and that its AI providers may not either. Its security page says tl;dv anonymizes the metadata it shares with Anthropic and splits meetings into small, shuffled pieces so the provider never sees more than a short sequence at once.

Does tl;dv join meetings automatically?

It can. tl;dv's auto-record setting has three options: all meetings, which tl;dv describes as all of your internal and external meetings even if you don't attend; selected meetings, with conditions you set; or no meetings. tl;dv's preferences guide says it highly recommends keeping it enabled for all meetings. Its pages don't say which option a new account starts on, so check Automations, Auto-record calendar events before your first call.

Can other people tell when tl;dv is recording?

They can see the bot. It joins as a participant named after you, such as Grace's AI Notetaker, and Pro and higher plans can rename it. tl;dv's help center doesn't describe a chat message or announcement when it joins. Its Consent Collection feature replaces the meeting link in your calendar with a consent link, and if anyone declines, recording is permanently disabled for that meeting; you have to turn it on. tl;dv's terms make you responsible for collecting consent from all participants before recording, so tell everyone you're recording.

Does tl;dv share recordings with attendees by default?

Sharing is manual unless you turn on automatic sharing. tl;dv's preferences include Auto-send email with meeting notes, which sends invitees the notes and a recording link when the meeting ends, and Default recording privacy, which decides whether your team or organization can see new recordings. Its pages don't state the defaults. An Anyone with the link share makes a meeting entirely public, viewable without signing in, though not indexed by search engines. If another tl;dv user on the invite also had auto-record on, you both own the recording.

Where does tl;dv store my data?

In Europe. tl;dv's privacy policy says all its services are hosted within the European Economic Area, naming Google Cloud, Wasabi and Hetzner data centers in Germany and Finland. The exception is AI processing: limited parts of transcripts go to Anthropic through Google Cloud Vertex AI in either the EU or the United States, depending on the AI hosting location you choose in your account. tl;dv says it doesn't offer regional residency elsewhere.

Is tl;dv HIPAA compliant?

tl;dv makes no HIPAA claim. Its security page, trust center and pricing page list SOC 2 Type II and GDPR, and nothing about HIPAA or a Business Associate Agreement. If your meetings include patient information, ask tl;dv in writing before using it.

Is tl;dv being sued?

We found no lawsuit, class action or regulatory action naming tl;dv or Tldx Solutions GmbH as of October 19, 2026, in English or German searches. Otter, Fireflies and Granola face privacy class actions over their note takers; those are allegations, and none has been decided.

How long does tl;dv keep my recordings?

On the free plan, tl;dv's privacy policy and help center say recordings are stored for 3 months, then scheduled for deletion in batches on the 1st of each month, with an email 4 weeks before. On paid plans they're kept until you delete them or your account. tl;dv says deleted recordings can't be recovered and it keeps no backups of them.

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 and nothing turns up in meetings you didn't attend. You still 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. 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.

• tl;dv legal pages: privacy policy (September 9, 2026), terms (May 18, 2026), pricing
• tl;dv security pages: security commitment (May 25, 2026), trust center
• tl;dv help center, the bot and consent: updating your profile (April 3, 2025), customizing your bot's name and picture (September 23, 2025), auto-record (May 8, 2026), understanding and setting your preferences (January 12, 2026), tl;dv didn't join my meeting (April 3, 2025), consent collection, recording without a bot (July 9, 2026)
• tl;dv help center, sharing and deleting: how to share meeting recordings (April 3, 2025), who recorded and who owns a recording (August 5, 2025), how can I delete my recordings (April 3, 2025), how to stop tl;dv (April 3, 2025), how long do you keep my recordings (April 3, 2025), limits of the free plan (November 24, 2025)
• Lawsuit check: web and docket searches for tl;dv and Tldx Solutions GmbH, in English and German (no results, October 19, 2026)
• Scribbl: pricing