A new app that records your phone calls and pays you for the audio, which it then sells to AI companies, has surprisingly become the number two app in the social networking section of Apple’s U.S. App Store.
The app, called Neon Mobile, presents itself as a money-making tool. It promises users the potential to earn “hundreds or even thousands of dollars per year” in exchange for access to their audio conversations. According to Neon’s website, the company pays thirty cents per minute for calls made to other Neon users and up to thirty dollars per day maximum for calls to anyone else. The app also offers payment for user referrals.
The app’s popularity has surged rapidly. It first ranked at number 476 in the Social Networking category on September 18, but jumped to number 10 by the end of the following day. By Wednesday, Neon was spotted in the number two position on the iPhone’s top free charts for social apps. It also briefly became the number seven top overall app or game and the number six top app.
Neon’s terms of service state that its mobile app can capture users’ inbound and outbound phone calls. However, the company’s marketing claims it only records your side of the conversation unless you are speaking with another Neon user. The collected data is sold to AI companies for the purpose of developing, training, testing, and improving machine learning models and artificial intelligence tools.
The existence and high ranking of such an app indicates how deeply AI has encroached into areas once considered private. Its success also suggests a segment of the market is willing to exchange their privacy for small payments, despite the potential broader costs.
Despite what Neon’s privacy policy says, its terms include a very broad license for user data. The company grants itself a worldwide, exclusive, irrevocable, and royalty-free license to sell, use, modify, and distribute user recordings through any media channels, now known or developed in the future. This language leaves significant room for Neon to do more with the data than it may explicitly claim.
Legal experts note that while the app raises red flags, it may be technically legal. Recording only one side of a call is likely an attempt to avoid wiretap laws, which in many states require consent from both parties. However, experts also expressed concern about how anonymized the data truly remains. Neon claims it removes user names, emails, and phone numbers before selling data, but it does not specify how its AI partners might use the information.
Voice data could potentially be used to create fake calls that sound like the user or to develop AI voices. Once a voice recording is sold, it could be used for fraud, such as creating impersonations. Furthermore, Neon does not disclose who its data partners are or what those entities are permitted to do with the data down the line. The company is also subject to potential data breaches.
In a brief test, Neon did not indicate that it was recording the user’s call, nor did it warn the call recipient. The app functioned like a standard voice-over-IP application, displaying the inbound phone number as usual.
The founder of Neon, identified as Alex Kiam on the company website, did not return a request for comment. Business filings show Kiam operates Neon from a New York apartment. A LinkedIn post indicated he raised money from Upfront Ventures recently, but the investor did not respond to an inquiry.
This situation raises the question of whether AI has desensitized users to privacy concerns. In the past, companies that profited from data collection often did so discreetly. Scandals erupted when it was revealed that Facebook paid teens to install a spying app, or when analytics providers collected data through seemingly harmless apps. Now, AI tools that join meetings or always-on devices are common, though typically with consent from all participants.
In light of the widespread sale of personal data, some individuals may feel cynical enough to believe that if their data is being sold anyway, they might as well profit from it. Unfortunately, they may be sharing more information than they realize and inadvertently putting the privacy of others at risk. The desire for productivity and convenience often comes at the expense of personal privacy and the privacy of those with whom we interact.