Recording, consent and retention

Tern gives you the tools to record, announce and delete. Whether you may record a call and what you must say first both depend on the law where you and your customer are. Set these once as an admin and every agent follows the same rule.

Choose a recording rule

1. In the sidebar open Settings, then Compliance.
2. Find Recording consent. It applies to every recorded call, on the phone line and in the browser.
3. Pick one of the three options in the table below.
4. If you picked an option that records, check Announcement text. It is shown to the agent word for word before a recording starts. It starts as: "This call may be recorded for quality and training. Please let me know if you would rather it was not."
5. Press Save.

With Off, Tern skips recordings from Zoom Phone as well: the call is still logged on the lead with its time and length.

Recording calls on WhatsApp Web

Recording WhatsApp Web call audio through Tern Bridge is off by default and has its own switch.

1. Open Settings, then Bridge. Find the Recording card.
2. Pick Off, Ask each call or On with announcement.
3. Press Save. The change reaches devices within one pack refresh or one realtime push.
4. When a call starts, the panel on the page tells the agent Read this to the other party before recording: followed by your announcement.
5. The agent presses I have announced, record or Do not record. Nothing is recorded until they choose.

With On with announcement, the QA scorecard checks the transcript for the announcement.

Choose what is transcribed

1. Open Settings, then AI processing.
2. Process calls and threads with AI is the master switch. Off means recordings are kept, nothing is transcribed or summarised and every switch below it is ignored.
3. Under it, switch each of these on or off: Transcribe calls, Lead summaries, Commitment detection and QA scoring.
4. Press Save.

Voice notes an agent records on a lead are always transcribed into the note, because the agent made them on purpose.

Set how long recordings are kept

1. Open Settings, then Retention.
2. Fill in Keep recordings and transcripts for (days). The minimum is 30.
3. Press Save. A shorter window deletes older material on the next nightly run.

Deletion removes the recording, the transcript, the review and the flags together. Deleted items leave the live database at once and leave backups within 35 days.

Opt a lead out of a channel

When a lead asks you to stop, record it straight away.

1. Open the lead and press Actions.
2. Choose Opt out of a channel.
3. Pick the Channel, for example WhatsApp or voice.
4. Press Opt out.

Every planned message and call on that channel is cancelled and the identifier is suppressed for the whole workspace. The lead shows a badge such as Opted out of WhatsApp, open drafts are withdrawn from the bridge and, for voice, the call button reads Do not call.

Keep a do not call list

1. Open Settings, then Compliance. Find Do not call.
2. Type a phone number in international format or an email address into the box.
3. Press Add to list. Every planned call and message to that contact is cancelled at once.
4. To take someone off, press Remove on their row.

Quiet hours

1. Open Settings, then Compliance (the Organisation page shares the same setting).
2. Under Quiet hours set Start and End.
3. Press Save.

Nothing goes out between these times in the lead's local time. That covers playbook steps, automations and templates.

Who can see a recording

Recordings, transcripts and media are never on a public address. Each playback uses a short lived signed link issued only to a signed in user of the right workspace. Every view of a recording is written to the audit trail with who and when.