All call recording blocked?

[Android Central Question]

Don't have Android 10, here, yet, but I am reading that all recording during calls is blocked?

Is that right?

Even if rooted?

If so, I might have to think about Apple, dammit.

 

[mustang7757]

Hi, welcome to Android Forums

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https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=409154

 

[mustang7757]

Depends on country some are legal and some are not .

 

[hallux]

It's not blocked, per-se. The API used to allow access to record calls is no longer included/provided in Android.

Here's an article from another site regarding this - https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/08/15/android-9-pie-puts-end-third-party-call-recording-apps/
There are also several posts in our forums where this is discussed...

 

[Rukbat]

It's not blocked, per-se. The API used to allow access to record calls is no longer included/provided in Android.

Which means that an app can no longer call the API (since it no longer exists) so unless the manufacturer either added it back or put in their own in AOSP, any app written to record phone calls won't work.

(The app doesn't connect to the phone itself, it calls code in Android that feeds it the audio - the place it calls isn't there any longer.)

 

[Pollik]

Thank you to all three of you. Sorry, I thought I had logged in :/

Thanks for the link to Androidpolice.

First, just an observation/whinge that Apple seem not to have a problem with call recording software, so it seems a bit odd that is should be such a big deal for Google. Of course, that observation doesn't alter where we are now, so I won't dwell on it.

I am not especially technically minded when it comes to nuts and bolts of Android. So, Google has removed the API, which basically means that developers cannot access what they need to make the recording of calls possible?

The Android Police piece mentions "no longer be possible without root in the latest version of Android". There is an implication that it might be possible on a rooted phone? If I understand it correctly, rooting carries a degree of risk, but basically in the equivalent of un-hiding system files in MS Windows? Or is there more to it, ie opening up access to system files to third party apps, so there is need for a greater degree of trust in TP apps after rooting?

Presumably such apps would not available through Play, so where would I look?

I did a quick search of threads on this forum, found a couple which related to this topic, but didn't see anything useful :/

For me, the lack of recording might be a deal breaker when I next come to update my phone. I've had TrueCall on my landline for many years and routinely record all calls, legally. I have found recordings a boon when I have forgotten to take notes. And occasionally when rogue business has gone back on its word. It's part of my filing system now. :/

Thanks again for your help

 

[Ara Wagoner]

Google blocked it for "privacy concerns" (which is also why to use any SMS app, you have to set it as your default, which is annoying AF when I'm trying to evaluate new clients for the Best SMS messaging apps roundup), so with Android 9 Oreo or Android 10 phones, you have these options:

- Root and find a root call recorder that has a workaround for the missing API (probably not worth it)
- Root and install a ROM that has a call recorder baked in (workable, but time-intensive and advanced experience all-but-required)
- Buy a phone that has call recording baked in, of which there are practically none in America and still very few overseas.
- Start a petition to make call recording standard and send it to Samsung, OnePlus or Google.

For what it's worth, since OnePlus has already added a screen recorder to OxygenOS this year, they seem the most likely to answer user requests and add a built-in call recorder. They've got my hopes behind them, at any rate, though considering Samsung keeps pushing Note as a power-user's phone for business (especially with DeX and the partnership with Microsoft), I imagine there are plenty of lawyers and other business types who would love the feature to come to Samsung, so Samsung might be more open to the idea now than in years past.

I wish the API hadn't been removed, but honestly call recorders on Android had been a hit-or-miss thing even with the API. I had phones where it would only record one side, or record one side really low, or record nothing but silence. I really wish Android has replaced it with a system-integrated call recorder, but I don't really miss the call recorders I used to use.