- Neon App pays 30 cents per minute between users and sets a daily limit of $30 for calls outside the platform.
- Its App Store ranking rose from 476th to number 2 in the social networking category; it also reached the top 7 and then number 6 overall.
- The terms grant the company a very broad license to the recordings and allow for their sale to AI companies for training models.
- Experts warn of legal risks, anonymization, and fraud from voice cloning; the founder and funding raise questions.
A new social app, Neon app has burst onto the US App Store. with a proposal as simple as it is controversial: Pay to record your calls and market that audio to artificial intelligence companies.Its formula, as direct as it is controversial, has catapulted it to the top of the download charts.
According to data from Appfigures, In just a few days it went from 476th place on social media to the top 10. and subsequently, to number 2. The economic hook is 30 cents per minute for calls between Neon users and a maximum of $30 per day for calls to external numbers, a scheme that targets those willing to trade privacy for money.
How does it work and how much exactly do you pay?
The service operates as a voice over IP app and, in accordance with its commercial message, registers the user side of Neon —unless both parties use the app—. The promise is based on recurring revenue, payments per minute and daily limits, which makes it easier to estimate how much each profile could earn.
In addition to pay-per-use, Neon encourages growth of its base with a referral system. daily limit of $30, while conversations between Neon users are paid at 30 cents per minute; that is, The greatest profitability comes when the interlocutor is also within the ecosystem.
What the company does with the recordings
Beyond the marketing rhetoric, the terms of service state that the recordings are intended for "development, training, testing, and improvement." AI models and systems. raw material for AI to train audio recognition and generation technologies.
The terms grant Neon very broad authorization: worldwide, exclusive, irrevocable, transferable, royalty-free license, with the right to sublicense, use, sell, store, modify, create derivative works, and distribute the recordings in any existing or future formats and channels. The company also warns of beta features without warranties, a relevant caveat given the potential for bugs and security breaches.
The numbers of the rise in the App Store
The rise has been meteoric. position 476 in the top 10, and then number 2 in the iPhone social networking category in the US, according to Appfigures. Overall, it peaked at number 7 most downloaded app and later reached number 6.
The fact that such a proposal stands out in a store as closely monitored as Apple's demonstrates a change in perception among some members of the public: tolerance for giving up data, in full demand for real audio to train AI models.
Legal implications: unilateral consent and recording
Legal experts consulted suggest that recording "only one side" of a call could be a way to circumvent wiretapping laws that require the consent of both parties. consent of both parties, so Neon’s strategy attempts to fit into single-consent scenarios.
Other experts suggest that the concept of "one-sided transcripts" leaves room for interpretation: remove the third party part from the transcriptThis ambiguity raises questions about the true scope of the record and how the app's stated limitations are enforced.
Privacy and security risks
La company claims to remove obvious identifiers —names, emails, phone numbers— before selling the audio, but without details about the process or the buyers. Without visibility into its partners, It is difficult to assess what use they will make of the voices and for how long.
The reuse of timbre and vocal features opens the door to voice cloning and identity theft fraud. voice cloning and impersonation, from calls that imitate the user to training other AIs to replicate their way of speaking.
During reported tests, calls did not display a recording alert to the sender or receiver, and the caller ID functioned as usual. absence of warnings to the receiver adds ethical friction and possible legal exposure if the interlocutor does not consent.
Who is behind the project
The founder is listed as Alex Kiam — "Alex" on the official site — and according to records, operates from an apartment in New YorkIt is reported that he may have received funding from Upfront Ventures, a fact about which there is no public confirmation and no response has been provided.
This low corporate profile and the lack of verifiable data on partners and sponsors lack of transparency around product governance and data chain of custody.
Why it's taking off now: a favorable context
The digital ecosystem has normalized devices and AI agents that "take notes" in meetings and capture information with explicit consent. direct voice monetization, a formula that comes after years of controversy over covert data collection in apps and services.
Given the feeling that data is being traded anyway, some users may choose to charge for it. affect the privacy of third parties, who may not accept that their voice—or part of the conversation—ends up in training datasets.
The combination of quick incentives, a narrative of easy money-making, and the growing demand for real audio to train models explains the initial pullIt remains to be seen whether store policies and regulators set clearer limits on such practices.
The rise of Neon app encapsulates a broader phenomenon: an attractive model for its payments, legally complex and with notable risks for privacy. Between the promise of revenue, the breadth of its data licensing, and the opacity surrounding its partners, the discussion centers on how much we value voice as biometric data and what trade-offs we're willing to accept.
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