Recording a mobile call can be very useful in some cases and yet Google launched a crusade years ago to eliminate them totally. These days, no app that can record calls should be left on Google Play. And yet, there are, there are.
Nearly a year after Google set a deadline for apps in its store to stop using the only method they have left to do their jobs, Some applications capable of recording calls still hold up. We tell you which ones and, in doing so, we summarize the tragic history of call recording on Android.
Brief History of Call Recording
These are difficult times for call recording. Since Android Pie, Google is putting obstacles in the way of call recording apps, so much so that with the most recent version of Android, Android 13, this feature can be considered practically extinct. How did we get here?
Until Android 6.0, app developers could record actual phone audio during a call, but the API disappeared and was never replaced. Call recording apps have had to look for workarounds to continue doing the same thing with unofficial methods in Android Pie, thereby preventing actual call recording.
Since Android Marshmallow 6.0, Google has gradually blocked all means of recording calls on Android until today, this is directly impossible for an application present on Google Play. Or almost.
Since then, registered applications They record what sounds through the speaker using the microphone of the mobile. The invention did not last long, because with Android 10 Google also prevented this from being done directly: this could only continue to be achieved with the help of an accessibility service. Last year, Google said enough: Accessibility services can’t be used to record calls, period.
Without any other method to continue performing their function, call recording apps They are gradually withdrawing from Google Play gradually, to avoid retaliation from Google. However, Google can only impose limits on what does or does not enter its store, so you may still find apps stored outside of the store and/or that take advantage of root. Here is the summary :
- Up to Android 6: good call recording time. Recording apps can record audio directly incoming and outgoing during a call.
- From Android 6 to Android Pie: Recording app developers are starting to record using unofficial APIs, much like tricks that allow you to continue recording mobile audio even if there is no official way to do so.
- Android Pie: Google blocks the use of these unofficial methods. Call recording apps must choose to record audio using the mobile microphone, which reduces the quality of the resulting audio.
- Android 10: The only way to continue recording call audio through the mobile microphone is to use an accessibility service. To call applications, you must therefore activate them as an accessibility service.
- May 2022: After years of warning that accessibility services are for accessibility only, Google is clarifying that this excludes their use to record calls. Specifically, Google prohibits the use of accessibility services to record calls in its store privacy policies.
Many apps have been abandoned
These changes and restrictions after restrictions on call recording have caused many recording apps to throw in the towel or no longer work at all today. It is relatively common that after installing one of these applications we find ourselves with a message telling us that the application will not worklike the following.
Worse is the case of TrueCaller, the famous call identification application, which announced with great fanfare a major update including native call recording, for later having to remove functionality from your app to avoid violating Google Play’s posting policies, as specified on their support page.
Other apps, like NLL’s call recorder ACR Phone, have taken the middle route: leave a version that doesn’t work on Google Play by itself, because it does not include the accessibility service. For this to work, you need to install the accessibility service separately in the form of the ACR Phone Helper app or APH, from its APK. With Magisk it’s even better because you can record audio directly and not through the mobile microphone.
The daredevils of Google Play
SO, Let’s summarize: With a recent version of Android, the only way to record a call with a third-party app is to use an accessibility service, but Google doesn’t allow apps on Google Play to do exactly that.
Therefore, the only applications present on Google Play and capable of continuing to record calls are the rebels, those which They break Google Play rules and don’t care. We tried them.
ACR Cube
Cube ACR has been one of the most popular call recording apps for years, and indeed, it needs you to enable the accessibility service in use to do its job. With this active service, recording is automatic and includes the contact name when calling, which is appreciated.
During our tests, the recording worked pretty well and with appropriate volume, which sometimes fails in this type of applications. In summary, Cube ACR continues to run smoothly on Android 13 today, even if Google isn’t very happy about it.
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To use: In a previous version of this article, we also included Appliqat’s Call Recorder in the list, but the app has already been removed from Google Play, either on its own initiative or forced by Google. |
If the mobile comes with it as standard, the better
Does this mean all is lost for call recording on Android? Not exactly, the best thing that can happen to you is that your mobile bring features nativelysince in this case the audio will be recorded directly and without requiring any accessibility permissions.
Depending on the brand of your mobile, whether or not it has call recording This will vary from country to country. For example, neither Google nor Samsung have it active in Europe, although it is sometimes possible, at your own risk and expense, to activate the recording function with a special APK.
Native Google Phone call recording
Otherwise, you still have several alternatives. First, third-party apps can still record calls with accessibility services, but you’ll have to do so. download these apps from outside Google Play.
Additionally, call recording is still possible with root and the help of Magisk. It’s not ideal and it’s not always a possibility, but the possibility is still there if everything has failed before or if you want to make the highest quality recording, instead of depending on recording with the mobile microphone.
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