Audible

Is Audible safe?

Yes, for listening. Audible sells and streams published audiobooks and podcasts, so there is almost nothing for a scammer or stranger to use against you inside the app. We found no breach, no fine naming Audible, and a paid bug bounty. We score it 69/100, well above its parent's shopping app, Amazon (54), and above Spotify (57).

What holds it back is that Audible is part of Amazon's data and advertising system, and that its credit rules make leaving expensive.

What Audible collects

Apple's App Store label for Audible has no "Data Used to Track You" section, which means Audible tells Apple it does not track you across other companies' apps. The list of data linked to you is long, though: purchases, coarse location, name, email and phone number, audio and customer support content, search history, user and device IDs, product interaction and advertising data. Most of it is marked for Audible's own advertising or marketing as well as for running the app.

Google Play's data safety section adds detail for Android. Device IDs are collected for analytics and advertising, and name, email and user IDs for "advertising or marketing". App interactions are shared with other companies for analytics.

The US app's listing points to the Amazon.com Privacy Notice, last updated on 30 June 2026, which covers Amazon and its affiliates. It says Amazon gives ad companies an advertising identifier, such as a cookie, device ID or hashed code, so they can show you "more useful and relevant Amazon ads", and that it never shares your name for this. In practice, what you listen to on Audible sits in the same company as your shopping and Alexa history. You can request a copy or deletion through Amazon's Data Privacy Queries page.

Credits, cancellation and the 2026 lawsuit

Audible's membership is built on credits: each month you pay, you get credits to exchange for books. They expire 12 months after they are issued or the moment you cancel. A plaintiff in Ontario says that is how she lost the credits she had built up since 2018 when she cancelled to switch plans in August 2025.

In June 2026 the Consumer Law Group filed a proposed class action against Audible, Inc. in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, alleging the policy is "exploitative, unfair, and abusive" and breaches Ontario's Consumer Protection Act. The case has not been certified, and no ruling has been made. These are lawsuits, not regulator findings, so they shape our transparency and control score but count only as context in the regulatory record.

Accounts and security

We found no breach of Audible customer data. Audible runs its own public bug bounty on HackerOne, separate from Amazon's main programme, which pays researchers for valid reports. In the US you sign in with an Amazon account, so your Audible library is only as safe as that account: a reused password is the main way in, and Amazon's two-step verificationTwo-factor authenticationSigning in with a second proof of identity on top of your password, such as a code from an app, a security key or a passkey.More in the glossary closes it.

Regulators and Amazon

No privacy or consumer regulator has fined Audible or issued an order naming it, as far as we found. The closest look came from competition authorities. The European Commission and Germany's Federal Cartel Office examined Audible's exclusive audiobook supply deal with Apple's iTunes store after a complaint from German publishers, and the two companies dropped the exclusivity on 5 January 2017. That ended the case without a finding, and it was about publishers and rival shops rather than listeners.

Amazon's own record is much heavier, including the $2.5 billion FTC settlement over Prime sign-ups in 2025. Those cases concern Prime, Alexa and Ring, not Audible, so they are context here.

How to use Audible more safely

1. Turn on two-step verificationTwo-factor authenticationSigning in with a second proof of identity on top of your password, such as a code from an app, a security key or a passkey.More in the glossary for the Amazon account you use with Audible.
2. Spend or note your credits before cancelling or downgrading; they do not survive cancellation.
3. Set up a kids profile for children instead of sharing your own library.
4. Review Amazon's Your Ads Privacy Choices page and turn off interest-based ads if you do not want them.
5. Download your data or request deletion through Amazon's Data Privacy Queries page when you leave.

How we scored it

Scams and harmful content (82) and the regulatory record (85) are the strongest factors: published content, no messaging and no fine naming the app. Security (70) reflects a clean record and a paid bounty, tied to the strength of your Amazon password. Privacy (60) and transparency and control (62) are the weakest, because Audible runs on Amazon's marketing system and its credit rules punish cancelling.