The Neon app has rapidly climbed the Apple App Store charts, reaching No. 2 in the U.S. Social Networking category, by offering to pay users for recording their phone calls—and then selling that audio data to AI companies.

Neon promises users up to $30 per day by paying 30¢ per minute for calls, plus referral bonuses. However, the app’s terms of service reveal that the collected audio is sold for purposes such as training AI models and developing machine learning tools—raising serious privacy and security concerns.

How Neon Works and What It Promises

• Users earn money per minute for calls made through the app.
• Calls with other Neon users pay the most, while calls to others also earn rewards.
• The company claims it only records one side of the call unless both parties use Neon.
• Neon promises to anonymize data by removing names, numbers, and emails before selling it.

Despite these assurances, privacy experts warn that once voice data leaves your control, it can be used for anything from AI voice cloning to fraudulent impersonation.

Legal Loopholes and Privacy Risks

Legal experts say Neon’s “one-sided recording” approach appears designed to avoid wiretap laws in many states, where consent from both parties is typically required.

However, the app’s broad licensing terms allow Neon to sell, reproduce, modify, and distribute user recordings with minimal restrictions. This raises questions about how anonymized the data truly is and how third-party AI companies might use it.

“Once your voice is out there, it could be cloned for scams or impersonation,” warns Peter Jackson, a cybersecurity attorney.

Users Trading Privacy for Profit?

The app’s skyrocketing popularity suggests some users are willing to exchange privacy for small payouts.

With AI tools now mainstream—from virtual meeting assistants to always-on smart devices—experts believe privacy fatigue may be setting in.

Unfortunately, users may unknowingly expose sensitive information, and since call recipients have no control over being recorded, the risk extends beyond the app’s users themselves.

Final Thoughts

Neon’s rise highlights a growing tension between AI innovation, user convenience, and data privacy. While the app may be legal, its lack of transparency and broad data rights clauses mean users could be sacrificing far more than they realize—all for a few dollars.