Neon, the viral call recording app, brings back invisibility with the change of one key

In the controversial September neon app It rose to the top five on the app download charts by promising to pay users for recording and sharing their phone calls. Then the internet connection suddenly cut off. It’s now quietly back in the iOS App Store and Google Play Store with a new version that makes it work again.

Alex Kiam, founder of Neon, was under scrutiny after news site TechCrunch discovered a security vulnerability that allowed people to access calls from other users, including texts and metadata about the calls. After the app went dark, Kalam said the issue would be addressed and the app would return a reward to users.

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Since then, the app has resumed working on both Android and iOS. The company is offering users a rate of 30 cents per minute up to $30 until 5pm ET on Thursday, November 6. The normal price outside that window is unclear.

The company also compensates referrals to the service, but has not specified how much will be paid. Previously, it said it offered $30 for referrals.

Neon sells recordings to companies that train AI models, hungry for real-world input. The company says it hides call information.

According to the hadith Terms of Service As of November 3, those who sign up for the app agree that Neon can “sell and offer call recordings” for sale for the purpose of developing, training, testing, and improving machine learning models, AI tools, systems, and related technologies.

There remains troubling language regarding Neon’s rights and licenses that gives the company the authority to publicly display, reproduce, and distribute call recordings “in any media formats and through any media channels.”

What changed with neon?

Privacy experts CNET spoke to He warned against using the app in its previous version due to concerns about call approval laws, and also noted that artificial intelligence could deduce user information or identities even if call data is anonymized.

The biggest change with the recent relaunch of the app is that Neon now only records and pays for calls to other Neon app users, essentially making it an automatic subscription service. Previously, there were questions about whether call recording in some states would require notification and consent from those who receive calls from someone who has installed the Neon app.

By shifting to an app-to-app business model, Neon may be able to alleviate those legal concerns.

In an interview with CNET in early October, Kiam said his New York-based company was overwhelmed by the sudden popularity of neon, but not completely surprised.

“I expected things to grow very quickly because, you know, we’re giving people free money,” Kiam said. “And I think we’re getting money from people for something they’re going to do anyway… We felt confident that there was a real demand for something like this.”