Android’s upcoming call recording feature could be region restricted
Earlier this year, an APK teardown revealed that Google was working on adding a call recording feature to its Phone app. This week, XDA Developers reported that it may have already rolled out to some Nokia phones in India. Now, the arrival of this feature appears to be even more likely, as Google itself posted a support document on how to use the Phone app to record a call. The document has since been taken down, but we’ve captured a screenshot and posted it at the bottom of this post.
According to the Google support page, in order to record a call, the device must run Android 9 or later, and it has to have the latest version of the Phone app “on a supported device and country or region.” However, it did not specify what those devices, countries or regions were. Recording a call is apparently as simple as opening the phone app, making or receiving the call, and hitting the record button on the screen.
The document went on to say that when you record a call for the first time, you’ll be advised that you’re responsible for complying with local laws (many regions require consent by all parties prior to call recording). It states: “When you start recording, the other party hears a disclosure informing them that the call is being recorded. When you stop recording, the other party hears a disclosure informing them that the call recording has ended.” Additionally, the document said that you can’t record until the other party has picked up, if the call is on hold or mute, or if you’ve started a conference call.
Recorded calls are stored on the device and not in the cloud. You can access them via the Phone app; simply tap Recents, and then the name of the caller. From there you can play back the recording, delete it, or share the call via email or messaging apps.
There’s no word yet on just when we’ll see the feature arrive on Android, but with a few customers in India already seeing it and Google publishing (and then withdrawing) its own official support document for it, we’re guessing it could be pretty soon.
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