Wisconsin Phone Call Recording Laws: Consent Rules for All Call Types (2026)

Wisconsin is a one-party consent state, meaning you may legally record any phone call you are a party to without notifying the other participants. Wis. Stat. 968.31 governs this rule and applies to landline calls, cell calls, and VoIP conversations alike.

Recording phone calls in Wisconsin is straightforward under the state's one-party consent law. Wis. Stat. 968.31 allows you to record any telephone call, video call, or VoIP conversation you participate in without telling the other party. This applies to personal calls, business calls, and calls with government agencies.

This guide covers every aspect of phone call recording in Wisconsin, including interstate calls, business call recording, VoIP and video conferencing, and the penalties for illegal interception.

The Basic Rule: One-Party Consent

How It Applies to Phone Calls

Under Wis. Stat. 968.31(2)(c), it is legal for a person not acting under color of law to intercept a wire, electronic, or oral communication if one party to the communication consents. For phone calls, this means:

• You can record any call you are on. You are the consenting party.
• You do not need to announce you are recording. No verbal notice, beep tone, or written agreement is required.
• You cannot record other people's calls. Installing software or hardware to intercept calls between other people is illegal.
• Your intent matters. You cannot record for the purpose of committing a criminal or tortious act, or "any other injurious act," such as blackmail or harassment.

Types of Calls Covered

Wisconsin's one-party consent rule applies to all forms of telephone communication:

Recording Personal Phone Calls

Everyday Scenarios

Wisconsin residents commonly record personal phone calls for many practical reasons:

• Customer service calls. Recording calls with insurance companies, utility providers, banks, and other businesses helps preserve details of promises, agreements, or disputes.
• Calls with contractors or service providers. If a plumber, electrician, or contractor makes verbal promises about pricing or timelines, a recording provides documentation.
• Calls with government agencies. Recording calls with the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, DMV, or other state agencies can help you keep an accurate record of instructions or decisions.
• Legal consultations. You can record calls with your own attorney (though attorneys may have their own policies about recording).
• Personal disputes. Recording threatening or harassing phone calls can help you report them to police and keep an accurate record. A restraining-order petition is a civil action, and Wis. Stat. 885.365 generally bars recorded phone calls as evidence in civil actions, so a recorded call usually cannot be played at a Wisconsin restraining order hearing. Keep written notes too, and ask an advocate or attorney how to present your evidence.

Recording Apps and Tools

Several methods exist for recording phone calls on your personal device:

• Built-in phone recording features. Some Android phones include native call recording functionality.
• Third-party recording apps. Apps available for both iOS and Android can record calls, though iOS restrictions may limit some functionality.
• External recording devices. Standalone digital voice recorders with phone adapters can capture both sides of a conversation.
• VoIP service features. Many VoIP services include built-in recording options.

Regardless of the method you use, ensure the recording captures both sides of the conversation clearly for it to be a useful record.

Recording Business Phone Calls

Employer Rights and Obligations

Wisconsin businesses can record phone calls under the one-party consent rule. Common business uses include:

• Quality assurance. Monitoring customer service calls to evaluate employee performance.
• Training. Using recorded calls as training materials for new employees.
• Compliance. Recording calls to ensure regulatory compliance in industries like financial services, healthcare, and insurance.
• Dispute resolution. Preserving records of verbal agreements, orders, and customer complaints.
• Legal protection. Documenting conversations that may be relevant to potential litigation.

Best Practices for Business Call Recording

While Wisconsin law does not require businesses to announce call recording, many businesses choose to provide notice for several reasons:

• Interstate compliance. If the business receives calls from two-party consent states, a clear notice at the start of the call reduces risk under those states' laws, although a notice is not treated as consent everywhere, so some businesses also ask for an express yes.
• Customer trust. Informing callers builds trust and transparency.
• Regulatory requirements. Certain industries (such as financial services under SEC and FINRA rules) may have separate recording notification requirements.

Common methods of providing notice include:

• Automated announcement at the beginning of the call ("This call may be recorded for quality assurance and training purposes")
• Written disclosure in contracts or terms of service
• Website privacy policy disclosures

The Business Extension Exception

Federal law under 18 U.S.C. 2510(5)(a) includes an exception for telephone equipment used "in the ordinary course of business." This allows businesses to monitor calls on their own phone systems when done for legitimate business purposes. This exception works alongside Wisconsin's one-party consent rule to give businesses broad authority to record business calls.

Interstate Phone Call Recording

The Interstate Call Problem

One of the most important considerations for Wisconsin residents is what happens when you call someone in a state with stricter recording laws. When a call crosses state lines, the recording laws of both states may apply.

States With Stricter Laws

Courts do not agree on which state's law governs an interstate call (see below), so treat a call with someone in any of these states as potentially subject to that state's all-party rule:

Oregon also requires all-party consent, but only for in-person conversations; its phone-call rule is one-party.

The Illinois Border Issue

Because Wisconsin shares a long border with Illinois, the interstate recording issue comes up frequently. Illinois is an all-party consent state under 720 ILCS 5/14-2, which means recording a call with someone in Illinois without their knowledge could violate Illinois law, even if you are calling from Wisconsin.

Best practice for Wisconsin-Illinois calls: Inform the Illinois party that you are recording, or get their explicit consent before beginning the recording.

Which State's Law Controls?

There is no definitive federal rule about which state's law applies to interstate calls. Courts have taken different approaches:

• Some courts apply the law of the state where the recording is made (for example, the Nevada Supreme Court in Ditech Financial v. Buckles, 2017, and a Pennsylvania appeals court applying New York's one-party law to a call recorded in New York in Commonwealth v. Larrison, 2000)
• Some courts look to the state where the non-consenting party is located (in Kearney v. Salomon Smith Barney, 2006, the California Supreme Court held that California law governs an out-of-state firm's recordings of calls with Californians going forward, though it applied Georgia law to the firm's past conduct)

Because you could face exposure under the other state's law, the safest approach is to follow the stricter state's requirements when making interstate calls.

VoIP and Video Call Recording

How Wisconsin Law Applies to VoIP

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) calls are treated the same as traditional phone calls under Wisconsin law. Wis. Stat. 968.27 defines "electronic communication" broadly enough to encompass VoIP transmissions. The one-party consent rule applies.

This covers calls made through:

• Zoom
• Microsoft Teams
• Google Meet
• Skype
• WhatsApp
• FaceTime (audio)
• Discord
• Slack calls
• Any other internet-based calling platform

Video Conferencing With Multiple Participants

When recording a video conference with participants from multiple states, the recording laws of all participants' states may apply. If any participant is in a two-party consent state, the safest course is clear notice at the start plus every participant's agreement, ideally an express yes. Useful steps:

• Announce at the beginning of the call that the session will be recorded
• Use the platform's built-in recording notification (Zoom, Teams, and Meet all notify participants when recording begins)
• Obtain consent from all participants before activating recording

Most business video conferencing platforms now include automatic notification features that alert all participants when recording is active. Using these features reduces risk across state lines, although a notice alone is not treated as consent everywhere.

Platform-Specific Recording Features

Most major video conferencing platforms have built-in recording features:

• Zoom notifies all participants when recording starts and provides a consent prompt for cloud recordings
• Microsoft Teams displays a recording banner visible to all participants
• Google Meet announces when recording begins and requires the host to start recording
• Webex provides recording notifications and can restrict recording to hosts only

Using these built-in features reduces risk because all participants receive notice, although a notice alone is not treated as consent everywhere.

Federal Law and Phone Call Recording

The Federal Wiretap Act

The federal Wiretap Act (18 U.S.C. 2511) follows a one-party consent standard, consistent with Wisconsin law. Under federal law, it is legal to intercept a wire, oral, or electronic communication if one party to the communication consents, unless the interception is for the purpose of committing a criminal or tortious act. Wisconsin's limit is broader: it also removes the participant exception for recording to commit "any other injurious act," so a call recording that is legal under federal law can still be a Wisconsin felony.

Federal penalties for illegal wiretapping include up to five years in prison. Under 18 U.S.C. 2520, a court may award the greater of actual damages or statutory damages of $100 a day or $10,000, plus punitive damages and attorney fees; the award is discretionary, not a fixed amount per violation.

FCC Regulations

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued guidance on phone call recording. Note: 47 C.F.R. § 64.501, which formerly required carriers to inform customers of call recording, was removed from the Code of Federal Regulations in 2017 and is no longer in force. There is no current FCC rule requiring a beep tone, notification, or disclosure for private call recording; Wisconsin's one-party consent law governs individual callers and businesses regardless.

Penalties for Illegal Phone Call Recording

Criminal Penalties

Illegally intercepting phone calls in Wisconsin is a Class H felony under Wis. Stat. 968.31:

Civil Liability

Under Wis. Stat. 968.31(2m), victims of illegal phone call interception can sue for actual damages (minimum $100 per day or $1,000, whichever is higher), punitive damages, and attorney fees.

Using Phone Call Recordings as Evidence

Admissibility in Wisconsin Courts

Recording a call legally and using it in court are separate questions, and Wisconsin is strict about the second. Wis. Stat. 885.365 makes recorded telephone conversations "totally inadmissible" in Wisconsin civil actions. Its notice exception covers only a recording "made in a manner other than by interception," and Wisconsin defines interception as acquiring a call's contents with any device (Wis. Stat. 968.27(9)), so a call you record with an app or recorder does not fit it on the statute's terms.

In criminal cases too, the Wisconsin Supreme Court held in State v. Waste Management of Wisconsin, 81 Wis. 2d 555 (1978) that one-party consent tapes are lawful but their contents "cannot be admitted as evidence in chief" under Wis. Stat. 968.29(3). The exceptions are narrow: recordings made by or with police in felony cases (968.29(3)(b)), a party who opens the door by relying on the transcript (State v. Albrecht, 1994), and small-claims cases, which are not bound by the ordinary rules of evidence (Wis. Stat. 799.209(2)). Talk to a Wisconsin attorney before planning a case around a recorded call. Where a recording can be offered, you will need to:

• Authenticate the recording by testifying about when, where, and how it was made
• Demonstrate that the recording has not been altered
• Show that the recording is relevant to the matter at issue
• Be prepared to address hearsay objections (many exceptions apply to recorded statements)

Preserving Phone Call Recordings

For maximum evidentiary value:

1. Save the original file without editing
2. Note the date, time, and participants immediately after the call
3. Back up the recording to cloud storage and a separate device
4. Do not share the recording on social media before legal proceedings
5. Keep a log of all recorded calls with dates and summaries

More Wisconsin Recording Laws

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I record a phone call in Wisconsin without telling the other person?

Yes. Wisconsin is a one-party consent state under Wis. Stat. 968.31. You can record any phone call you participate in without informing the other party. This applies to landline calls, cell phone calls, VoIP calls, and video calls.

Can I record a call with someone in Illinois from Wisconsin?

Wisconsin law allows it, but Illinois is an all-party consent state, and courts do not agree on which state's law governs a call across state lines. Because you could face exposure under Illinois law, the safest approach is to inform the Illinois party that you are recording or get their explicit consent before beginning the recording.

Can my employer record my phone calls at work in Wisconsin?

Yes. Under Wisconsin's one-party consent law, an employer can record business calls when an employee participant consents. Many employers use automated announcements to notify callers. The federal business extension exception also allows monitoring calls on business phone systems for legitimate business purposes.

Is it legal to record a Zoom call in Wisconsin?

Yes. VoIP and video calls are covered by the same one-party consent rule as traditional phone calls. If you are a participant, you can record. However, if participants are in two-party consent states, announce the recording at the start (or use the platform's recording notification) and, where possible, get an express yes from each participant. A notice reduces risk but is not treated as consent in every state.

What happens if I illegally record a phone call in Wisconsin?

Illegal phone call interception is a Class H felony under Wis. Stat. 968.31, punishable by up to 6 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The victim can also sue for civil damages including a minimum of $100 per day or $1,000 (whichever is higher), punitive damages, and attorney fees.