# Recording, consent, and data privacy

> You choose whether calls are recorded. With the recording-consent notice on, the AI opens every call by saying the call may be recorded; you can also set call content to delete itself after 30, 90 or 365 days. The AI answers honestly if asked whether it's a bot, and data you send onward is signed.

Canonical: https://ahoya.ai/docs/recording-consent-and-privacy
Updated: 2026-09-22

## Recording is your choice

The recording-consent notice in the assistant editor's Advanced tab controls two things together: whether the call audio is recorded, and whether the AI says so. Switch it off and neither happens — no recording is kept, and nothing is announced.

**Note:** Transcripts are separate and always kept — they're what the summary, the intent tags and the booking details are read from. Use the retention window below to age them out.

## What the caller hears

With the notice on, the AI opens with a short line — “Just so you know, this call may be recorded” — before its greeting, in whatever language the assistant speaks. Recording and consent laws vary by state and country; leave it on unless you know one-party consent applies where you and your callers are.

## Delete call content on a schedule

Set a retention window in the same Advanced tab: 30, 90 or 365 days, or keep everything indefinitely. Once a call passes the window, its transcript, summary and recording are deleted automatically.

**Note:** The call itself stays — time, duration, outcome and the booking are kept, so your history, your bookings inbox and your billing are unaffected.

## Honest AI identification

The receptionist never claims to be human. If a caller asks whether they're speaking to a bot, a recording, or a person, the AI answers honestly in one short sentence and keeps helping.

## Signed data when it leaves Ahoya

When you forward calls and bookings to your own systems via a webhook, each delivery is signed with a secret you set, so your endpoint can verify it genuinely came from Ahoya before trusting it.

## Frequently asked questions

### Can I turn recording off?

Yes — switch the recording-consent notice off in the assistant editor's Advanced tab. Calls are then not recorded and the AI doesn't announce anything. Transcripts are still kept, so set a retention window if you want those to expire too.

### If I set a retention window, is the data gone everywhere?

Deletion covers Ahoya's database. The telephony provider that carries the call also processes it and keeps its own copy under its own retention policy, which our deletion does not reach. If that matters for your practice, tell us — we'd rather say so plainly than imply more than we do.

### Is Ahoya HIPAA compliant?

No, and we don't sign BAAs. Dental, optometry and veterinary practices generally use Ahoya without issue; if you handle protected health information under HIPAA, talk to us before going live rather than assuming.

### How do I know a webhook really came from Ahoya?

Each webhook delivery carries a signature computed from the shared secret you configured. Verify it on your endpoint with a timing-safe comparison before acting on the payload — see the Integrations guide.

## Related guides

- [Review calls: transcripts, summaries, and intents](https://ahoya.ai/docs/review-calls)
- [Integrations: send every call where your team already works](https://ahoya.ai/docs/integrations)

## See also

- [Security](https://ahoya.ai/security)