Recording a mobile call can be very useful in some cases and yet Google began a crusade years ago to eliminate them completely. Today, no application capable of recording calls should be left on Google Play. And yet, there are, there are.
almost a year after
These are bad times for call recording. Since Android Pie, Google has been putting a spoke in the wheels of call recording apps, to such an extent that with the most recent version of Android, Android 13, this functionality can be considered practically extinct. How did we get here?
Until Android 6.0, application developers could save the real audio of the mobile during a call, but the API disappeared and was never replaced. Call recording apps had to find workarounds to continue doing the same with unofficial methods in Android Pie, thus preventing actual call recording.
Since then the recorded apps record what is played through the speaker using the microphone of the mobile. The invention did not last long, because with Android 10 Google also prevented doing this directly: it could only continue to be carried out 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Without any other method to continue fulfilling its function, call recording apps have been progressively withdrawn from Google Play progressively, to avoid reprisals from Google. However, Google can only put limits on what goes and doesn’t go into its store, so you can still find apps that are recorded outside of the store and/or that take advantage of root. This is the abstract:
These changes and restrictions after call recording restrictions have caused many recording applications to throw in the towel or not work at all today. It is relatively common that after installing one of these applications we find ourselves with any message that tells us that the app is not going to worklike the following.
Worse is the case of TrueCaller, the application famous for identifying calls, which announced with hype and cymbal a great update that included native call recording, for later having to remove the feature from your app to avoid violating the publishing policies on Google Play, as specified on their support page.
Other apps, like NLL’s call recorder, ACR Phone, have taken the middle path: leave a version that doesn’t work on Google Play by itself, by not including the accessibility service. For it to work, you need to install the accessibility service separately in the form of the ACR Phone Helper or APH app, from its APK. With Magisk, it’s even better because you can record direct audio and not through the mobile microphone.
So that, let’s recap: With a recent version of Android, the only way we can 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 just that.
Therefore, the only apps that are on Google Play that can continue to record calls are the rebels, those that They are violating Google Play policies and they don’t care. We have tested them.
Cube ACR is one of the most popular applications for recording calls for years and, indeed, it needs you to activate the accessibility service in question to do its job. With this active service, recording is automatic and includes the name of the contact of the call, which is appreciated.
In our tests, the recording has worked quite well and with an appropriate volume, something that sometimes fails in this type of application. In summary, Cube ACR continues to work today without problems on Android 13, although Google is not very amused by this.
Another calling app available on Google Play that is still working smoothly is Appliqato’s Call Recorder. The application has more than 100 million downloads and, yes, it needs you to activate the accessibility service to work.
As an app, it’s quite a bit clunkier than Cube ACR and the recording, which is also automatic, records audio rather quietly in comparison. It is functional, although it could be improved.
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 the functionality nativelybecause in this case the direct audio will be recorded and without needing any accessibility permission.
Depending on the brand of your mobile, whether it has the call recording or not will vary from country to country. For example, neither Google nor Samsung have it active in Spain, although sometimes it is possible at your own expense and risk to activate the recording function with a special APK.
Google Phone’s native call recording
If not, you still have several alternatives. First, third-party apps can still record calls with accessibility services, but you’ll need to download these apps from outside Google Play.
Also, recording calls is still possible with root and the help of Magisk. It is not something ideal nor is it always a possibility, but the possibility is always there if all of the above has failed or you want to make a recording at the highest quality, instead of depending on recording with the mobile microphone.
In Xataka | Is it legal to record another person with the mobile phone in audio or video without their consent to gather evidence?
