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Is it legal to record audio on a home security camera?
Video of your own property is broadly fine. Audio is a different body of law, and it is the part that catches people out.
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Is it legal to record audio on a home security camera?
This is general information and not legal advice. If something real is at stake, ask a lawyer in your own state rather than trusting a buying guide.
Video recording of your own property, including areas visible from it, is broadly permitted in the United States. The usual limits are places with a reasonable expectation of privacy, which means not pointing a camera through a neighbour's window, and not installing one in a bathroom or a bedroom someone else uses.
Audio is governed by wiretap law instead, and that is stricter. Some states require only one party to a conversation to consent. Others require every party. A doorbell camera that records the pavement can easily capture a conversation between two people who have no idea it is happening and have not consented, which in an all-party state is the problematic case.
The practical response is simple. Turn audio off unless you have a specific reason to have it on. Angle cameras so they cover your own property rather than a neighbour's. Put up a notice if your state's rules make that useful; surveillance signs cost a few dollars and are the one accessory on this site with a legal function rather than a technical one.
Different rules apply again if the person being recorded lives in the household, and more still if the recording is of a child or in a care setting. Those are not situations to work out from a camera review.
Updated October 27, 2026 by Henrik Halvorsen. Specifications were checked against the Amazon listings on that date. Prices are shown as bands because they change week to week; the listing shows today's.