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How to record phone calls on your Samsung Galaxy phone
Don't miss a single detail with the record call function on your Samsung Galaxy phone
Samsung is one of the few smartphone makers that offer a built-in call-recording function. You can get started on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and older Samsung Galaxy phones without a third-party app, provided your region supports the feature.
Google spells the death of third-party call recording apps once and for all
It was getting increasingly harder to record calls for third-party apps, and soon it might just be impossible
The Google Phone app that comes pre-installed on the latest Pixel handsets and many other great Android phones has the capability to record calls in some regions, at least where it’s legal. In the rest of the world and on phones that don’t come with built-in capabilities, you’ll have to rely on third-party apps for recording instead. However, it looks like Google is going to crack down on these services, blocking them from using accessibility services for this purpose.
Google Phone call recording is available on Pixels in these countries
No luck for North America or much of Europe
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It's been nearly a year since Google announced that call recording would be possible on Android, as long as you had a compatible device and lived in a country that legally allows it. The feature first went live on Nokia then Xiaomi phones, and later gained the ability to automatically record calls from unknown numbers. It's now making its way to the Pixels too.
Google Phone app can now record calls from unknown numbers automatically
Availability is fairly limited though
Call recording is a nifty feature and can come in handy in certain situations. While third-party dialers have offered this feature, Google's Phone app only picked it up last year. Now, it's getting better by letting users record all calls coming from unknown numbers.
Tip: Android 11's built-in screen recorder also works for voice calls
The other party won't be notified, so use this feature with due diligence
Android 11 is the first Android version to ship with a built-in screen recorder on Pixel phones. The native solution has a few tricks up its sleeve compared to third-party options. It's capable of recording sound in a few more places, and you can use that to your advantage when you want to record a phone call (if call recording isn't live in your Phone app, that is). Google even advertises as much in one of its YouTube videos detailing Android 11's top features.
Google Phone call recording feature going live on some Xiaomi devices
The feature has been in the works for a few months
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- A wider rollout of the phone call recording feature probably isn't too far out as Google has added a support page detailing how it works. It states that you need to run Android 9 or higher and use the Google Phone app "on a supported device and country or region," without specifying which exactly are supported. It's safe to assume Pixel and Android One handsets are among them, though, just like India should be on board as a region.
Google has been working on call recording in its Phone app for some time now — we've first seen some evidence back in January, followed by some screenshots and videos of the feature in action. It seems like the company is getting ready to roll it out to the public as first people in India share that they have access to it, which was first reported by XDA Developers.
OnePlus has just posted downloadable images for the latest Oxygen OS Open Beta updates across the entire 7 and 7T series. Both updates (Open Beta 4 for the 7T/7T Pro and Open Beta 14 for the 7/7 Pro) include a handful of the usual bug fixes and improvements, plus May security patches, but there are two noteworthy features: Call recordings now appear in call history (in markets that have that feature), and the ambient display feature has picked up some eminently snazzy new clock styles.
Google's been working on a call recording feature for its Phone app for some time, and it looks like the wait is almost over. As previously anticipated, the feature has started rolling out in India, seemingly beginning with Nokia's Android One phones, according to an announcement from the company today.
All the smaller features in Android 11 Developer Preview 2 you might have missed
Files by Google takes over, a new wallpaper picker, conversation tweaks, and several works-in-progress
As expected, the second Android 11 Developer Preview had a few more features hidden inside it than Google let on in the initial announcement. We've covered several of the more prominent features in individual posts, but to save a bit of time, we've compiled the rest of the changes spotted (so far!) in this list.
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Google has offered call transcriptions as part of its call screening service on Pixel phones for some time already, but we know the company is also working on native actual call recording in its Phone app. Following hints in the form of code strings in versions, XDA Developers managed to activate and use call recording for the first time on the current Phone beta, 44.0.291987060, which has also received a minor icon facelift.
Google's Call Screening service has allowed you to record screened calls for quite some time, but many people have been asking for a native solution letting them save any phone conversation. It looks like Google is working on introducing this functionality to its Phone app.
Call recording is a bit of a thorny issue when it comes to privacy. There are also different rules in different places, making it hard for Google to implement a standard in Android without falling foul of the law in certain jurisdictions. Android's official call recording API was removed in Android 6.0 Marshmallow, so third-party app developers have had to be creative since then. As of Android 9 Pie, it looks like Google has put a stop to it altogether.
Skype was once the go-to for video messaging, but those days seem to have ended. Even so, updates to the service are ongoing, and the latest bump for v8.0 of the desktop version of the service is unifying the interface with the mobile design while also adding a few new features. Anyone still using v7/Skype classic will also need to upgrade by September.
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- Looks like recordings from that period are appearing back where they should, nothing to see here.
Shortly after bringing it back from the dead, it would appear that Google may have inadvertently broken call recording for a short period. For the last two weeks there have been multiple different user reports of problems with recording calls in Google Voice. Thankfully, the issue appears to have been resolved and recording is now working as intended.
Should you ever find yourself on the phone with Comcast and things start to go off the rails, wouldn't it be nice to just tap a button and start recording the call? Sure, but most call recording solutions are seriously janky. CyanogenMod might do a better job with its new call recording feature, but you'll have to enable it yourself, and it's not as simple as flipping a switch.