Is Fireflies AI Safe? The No BS Truth

You're in a Zoom call when suddenly "Fred from Fireflies" joins the meeting. That little bot starts recording everything you say, transcribing your conversation, and promising to send you a nice summary afterward.

It's convenient. Until you start wondering: where do all those recordings actually go? And what exactly is Fireflies doing with them?

We decided to find out.

What Is Fireflies AI?

Fireflies AI is a cloud-based service that automatically joins your video calls as a bot participant. It records everything, transcribes the conversation, and uses AI to create summaries and insights. The bot integrates with popular platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams.

Everything gets processed on Fireflies' servers, not your device. Your conversations become their data.

What does Fireflies actually do with your data?

I went through their privacy policy and terms of service. Here's what I found.

1. They're collecting everything about you

Your meetings and more:

• Complete audio recordings of every conversation
• Full transcripts and meeting summaries
• Your calendar data and scheduling details
• Information about everyone who attended

Your personal details:

• Name, company, email, home address, phone number
• Account passwords and login information
• Payment and billing data

Your digital footprint:

• Your exact location
• Your device IDs and MAC address
• What you search for and click on
• Your network information and browsing habits

Access to your other accounts:

When you connect Google Calendar or other services, Fireflies can access and store "any content that you have provided to and stored in your Third-Party Account" - including your contact lists.

2. The fine print that should worry you

They're not responsible if their AI messes up: Their terms explicitly say that while they use AI to process your conversations, "Fireflies is not liable for any loss or harm resulting from the user's use of AI." If something goes wrong with how they handle your data, you're on your own.

Your data becomes theirs forever: Fireflies keeps "all rights to aggregated and anonymous data derived from your use of the Service" with no expiration date. Even if they can't identify you personally, they own insights from your conversations permanently.

They share your data widely: Your information gets shared with their business partners, service providers, any company that might buy Fireflies in the future, or government authorities if they think it's necessary.

You're legally responsible for everything: Their terms say "You are responsible for compliance with all recording laws." If you accidentally record someone without consent, that's your legal problem, not theirs. This becomes especially problematic when users can't actually control when Fireflies records—you're still legally liable even if their bot shows up uninvited.

3. Their liability? Basically nothing

Even if Fireflies completely screws up and causes major damage, their maximum liability is capped at either what you paid them in the last six months or $100—whichever is less. Your confidential business meeting gets leaked and costs you a major client, and Fireflies owes you maybe $100.

Real privacy problems users are experiencing with Fireflies AI

The privacy policy issues aren't just theoretical. Real users are reporting some concerning problems:

1. It won't go away

Source: Reddit

Multiple people report that Fireflies keeps showing up in their meetings even after they deactivated their accounts, tried to uninstall it, asked their IT department for help, or explicitly requested it to stop recording. One user described it as "trying to remove a deer tick from your leg—messy and painful."

2. It shares transcripts with people who never signed up

Source: Reddit

Fireflies automatically sends meeting summaries to everyone on the calendar invite, including people who never consented to being recorded, external clients and partners, former employees who still have access to recurring meetings, and anyone who happened to be invited but didn't even attend.

3. It installs itself without permission

Source: Reddit

Several users report that just by joining a meeting where someone else used Fireflies, the software somehow installed itself on their computers and started recording their future meetings without their knowledge.

Should I trust Fireflies with sensitive information?

Definitely avoid Fireflies for:

• Healthcare discussions with patient information
• Legal meetings requiring attorney-client privilege
• Financial services conversations with client data
• Any government or defense-related discussions
• International calls with people protected by GDPR
• Client consultations involving confidential business information

Use extreme caution for:

• Internal team meetings with sensitive company information
• Job interviews or HR discussions
• Sales calls with prospect data
• Executive or board-level conversations

Use for:

• Public webinars or presentations
• Non-confidential training sessions
• Casual team social meetings

Even then, everyone in the meeting needs to consent to being recorded, and you're legally responsible if they don't.

Is there a safer Fireflies alternative?

If you need AI-powered meeting transcription but don't want to hand over your conversations to a cloud service, there's a better way.

Meet Char: Privacy-first meeting intelligence

Char is what Fireflies should have been—an AI notepad that actually respects your privacy. While Fireflies sends everything to the cloud, Char processes your conversations completely on your Mac using on-device AI models. Not a single byte of your conversation data ever leaves your computer. It's the only truly local-first AI notetaker.

Check out our Fireflies AI Alternatives article for a detailed Char vs Fireflies review.

How Char keeps you safe:

Complete local processing:

Char uses on-device AI models for transcription (Whisper series) and a custom HyperLLM-V1 model for summaries (just 1.1GB). Your conversations literally never leave your machine.

Universal compatibility without bots:

Works with any meeting platform (Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, etc.) without joining your meetings as a bot. Records both your microphone and system audio directly, and works for in-person meetings too.

You control your data:

Export to Markdown, PDF, or rich text. Integrate with tools you already use like Obsidian or Attio. Connect to any AI provider you choose—OpenAI, Mistral, or custom endpoints. No vendor lock-in.

Built for compliance:

Meets HIPAA, GDPR, SOX, and other privacy requirements. Perfect for healthcare, legal, and financial professionals. No third-party data processors involved. Complete audit trail stays local.

Enterprise-ready:

On-premises deployment options, SSO integration and user management, custom branding available, and consent management built-in.

What Char collects (for full transparency):

Unlike Fireflies, Char collects minimal, anonymous usage data that you can opt out of:

• Optional analytics: Anonymous session IDs and feature usage patterns (via PostHog)—disable in Settings
• Optional crash reports: Error traces to fix bugs (via Sentry)—disable in Settings
• Website interactions: If you use live chat or submit feedback
• Payment info: Only for paid users, processed through Stripe

Char never collects your recordings, transcripts, notes, meeting participant information, conversations, or personal files.

Check Char's take on Privacy

Is Fireflies AI Safe?

Fireflies AI might seem convenient, but convenience comes at a steep privacy cost. Their extensive data collection, broad sharing permissions, minimal liability, and documented issues with user control make it risky for most business conversations.

If you need AI-powered meeting assistance, choose a solution that keeps your data where it belongs—with you. Char proves you don't have to sacrifice privacy for functionality.

Your conversations are valuable. Don't give them away for free.