Where we work · the United Arab Emirates
AI meeting notes in the United Arab Emirates.
The UAE is the one market on this list where the polite rule and the legal rule converge completely: recording someone without telling them is specifically penalised, so announcing it is not optional.
A Dubai meeting room is often the most multilingual place in the building. Arabic between the principals, English as the working language, and Hindi, Urdu, Malayalam or Filipino among the team doing the delivery. Minutes written by one person in one language quietly drop whatever happened in the others. GetNotes transcribes 90+ languages and handles switching within a single meeting, so an Arabic-English negotiation comes back attributed by speaker with the decisions and action items separated out.
Recording rules here are stricter than most visitors expect, and worth stating plainly. UAE cybercrime law penalises photographing or recording people without their consent, with real penalties attached. That is a much sharper position than the one-party consent baseline familiar to American users. The upshot is simple: in the UAE you announce the recording and get agreement at the top, every time. GetNotes suits that model because a phone recording in plain view is visible to everyone in the room.
Where your entity sits also changes which data regime applies. Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 covers personal data onshore, while the DIFC and ADGM run their own separate data protection laws with their own regulators — so a law firm in the DIFC and a trading company in Deira are not answering to the same rulebook. GetNotes does not make that determination for you; if your compliance team has a position on cloud processing of meeting audio, check it before you record client conversations.
This is general context rather than legal advice, and UAE legislation is revised often enough that anything written down should be re-checked. The habit that travels across all three regimes is unglamorous: announce the recording, get agreement captured on the recording itself, stop if anyone objects, and keep the audio somewhere only the people who need it can open. GetNotes stores recordings and notes in private storage accessible only to the owning account, which helps with the last part.
Where it earns its keep
A contracting progress meeting on site
A main contractor, an MEP subcontractor and the consultant meet in a site office over drawings, arguing about a delayed inspection and a variation nobody has priced. The discussion runs in English with Arabic asides and Urdu on the radio outside. One recording produces an attributed record of what was agreed, which matters when the claim is written up months later.
A family business or majlis-style board discussion
Decisions are taken conversationally, in Arabic, with several generations present and no formal secretary in the room. Nobody wants a laptop open. A phone recording, announced at the start, turns an hour of discussion into a written record of what was actually decided and who owns what — without changing how the meeting itself is conducted.
Free-zone advisory and client onboarding
A DIFC-based advisory firm runs an onboarding meeting covering structure, licensing and timelines, with the client asking questions in Arabic and the associate answering in English. The file note has to be precise about what was advised. A speaker-labelled transcript plus a draft summary means the associate writes from the record rather than from recollection.
How GetNotes works
- Record or upload. Hit record on your phone or laptop in the room — or drop in an audio file you already have. No bot joins anything.
- It writes it down. Every word transcribed, every speaker labelled, in 90+ languages including ones that switch mid-sentence.
- Share the minutes.Summary, decisions, and action items with owners — ready before everyone's back at their desk.
Questions, answered
Is it legal to record a meeting in the UAE?
UAE cybercrime law penalises recording or photographing people without their consent, so the answer turns on getting agreement first. Announce at the start that you are recording for minutes, get everyone's agreement on the recording itself, and stop if anyone objects. GetNotes is designed for exactly that open use. This is general context, not legal advice — check with counsel for sensitive meetings.
Does GetNotes handle meetings that mix Arabic and English?
Yes. Arabic is one of the languages GetNotes supports directly, and it transcribes meetings where speakers switch language mid-conversation, which is the normal pattern in UAE offices. Speaker labels are applied across the whole recording, so an Arabic-English discussion returns as an attributed transcript plus minutes with the summary, decisions and action items set out separately.
Which data protection law applies to my meeting recordings?
It depends where your entity is established. Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 applies onshore, while the DIFC and ADGM free zones have their own data protection laws and regulators. GetNotes stores recordings and notes in private storage with row-level security, accessible only to the owning account, but it cannot tell you which regime governs you. That is a question for your compliance team.
What does Pro cost in dirhams?
Pro is billed at $19 per month in US dollars. Since the dirham is pegged to the dollar, the converted amount stays broadly stable, though your bank may add a foreign currency fee. Pro includes unlimited meetings, up to 3 hours per recording and a fair-use cap of 25 hours of processed audio per month. The first meeting is free with no card.
Other markets
Your next meeting can write its own minutes.
Record it, and see. Your first meeting is free — thirty minutes, any language, no credit card.
Try your first meeting free