There are many reasons why we may needrecord a phone call: to record an agreement with a client, to arrange an interview / meeting and later transcribe it to text, as well as a long etcetera. Ultimately, what we usually need is to have proof that such a conversation has occurred, in the same way that we take written notes. Something quite logical and understandable, right?
However, today Android does not have a native tool to record phone calls, and the system simply does not even contemplate it. Now, as it usually happens in these cases, there is always a broken for an unstitched, and the recording of calls in Android is also possible to nothing that we scratch a little in search of solutions.
Is it legal to record a phone call?
Before getting into flour, it is important to clarify the legal derivations that the action of recording a call entails. It all depends on the legislation that is applied in our region, state or country: in some the express consent of the other person participating in the call is required, and in others the recording must be accepted by both parties. Although all this can also have legal variations depending on whether it is a recording for personal use or we plan to disseminate its content.
To give us an idea, for example in Spain, as indicated by Hypertextual, the legislation contemplates the recording and recording of calls as follows:
- Own recordings: It is allowed to record a conversation as long as it is your own recording, that is, whoever is recording is an active subject and participant in it. That is, a recording is legal if those who participate in it they know they are being recorded and give their explicit consent.
- External recordings: In the same way, the recording of someone else's phone call, in which we do not participate, is illegal since it threatens the privacy of people. According to the Spanish penal code, it can carry a penalty of between one and four years in prison and a fine of between 12 and 24 months.
Likewise, you also have to differentiate between recording and broadcast. If we record a conversation for personal use but do not broadcast it to third parties, it is completely legal. Even if we do not have the express consent of the other person.
On the other hand, if we disseminate a recording without the consent of the other person, we would be committing a crime, although there are several exceptions, such as obtaining evidence in legal proceedings or conversations of informative interest by journalists and the media.
In short, we can record a telephone conversation, whether we have the consent of the other person or not, as long as we participate in the conversation and only use the recording for personal use.
Google is against phone recordings
For all these reasons, and because the legislation is different in each country, Google has never been very in favor of this type of activity. Therefore, the official API that was used to record calls was withdrawn with the release of Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
From here the developers continued looking for alternative solutions to maintain this functionality, but finally with the release of Android 9.0 Pie Google completely blocked the ability to record calls on Android.
Today, if we have a mobile with Android 9 or higher it is necessary that we do root in our terminal so that we can use third-party apps to record the recordings. There are rumors that call recording could officially return to Android, but for now there is nothing confirmed, and it really is nothing more than that: rumors.
Method # 1: Use a digital voice recorder
Therefore, if we want to record a telephone conversation we have to pull tricks or alternative solutions. The first and easiest of all is to opt for the method old-school, the voice recorders.
The good thing about recorders is that we don't need technical knowledge, we don't need to root the phone or install any app. Just buy one of these devices - we can find them for just over 20 euros on Amazon - and record the call through the phone's speakers. The quality will not be the best in the world, but you know what they say: the beauty of simple things.
View digital voice recorders on Amazon
Method # 2: Take advantage of your old mobile or tablet to record calls
Digital recorders are fine, but if we already have a second phone or tablet at home, we can save money and use that device as a makeshift recorder. The vast majority of mobiles usually include some series app to record sounds using the microphone, so in many cases we would not even need to install anything. Simply make the call and put your hand free, while with the other mobile we record the entire conversation.
If our Android does not include any utility of this type, we can always install a dedicated app such as “Voice Recorder - ASR”, “Easy Voice Recorder” or “Hi-Q MP3 Recorder”.
Download QR-Code Voice Recorder - ASR Developer: NLL Price: Free 
Download QR-Code Easy Voice Recorder Developer: Digipom Price: Free 
Download QR-Code Hi-Q MP3 Voice Recorder (Free) Developer: Audiophile Price: Free Method # 3: Do you live in the US? Then install Google Voice
The "most official" way (if that term exists) to record calls on Android is through use Google Voice. This is a service that only works in the United States, and it only allows you to record incoming calls, but it is still a fairly valid option and easy to implement.
Google Voice will assign us a virtual phone number, giving us the option to redirect all calls from our usual number to the new Google number. Once we have everything configured, we access the settings of our Google Voice account, we enter "Settings"And activate the option"Incoming call options”. Once this is done, when we receive a call we only have to click on the number 4keyboard to start recording the call.
Register on the Google Voice website
Download QR-Code Google Voice Developer: Google LLC Price: Free 
Method # 4: Install an app to record calls
As we mentioned at the beginning of the post, terminals with Android 9.0 and higher need root permissions so that call recording apps can do their job. Luckily, if you have a mobile with Android 8.0 or an earlier version, you can install any of these apps to record calls without any problem.
You can download a free app like Automatic Call Recorder or Cube ACR, although the truth is that if we enter the Play Store we will see that there are many other similar alternatives. Choose the one you like!
Download QR-Code Call Recorder - Cube ACR Developer: Cube Systems Price: Free 
Download QR-Code Call Recorder Developer: Appliqato Price: Free Personally, I am not very fond of this type of application, since its use implies giving access to a third-party app to content as sensitive as telephone conversations. For the sake of our privacy, it would be best to install these apps only occasionally, and once it has completed its task, uninstall it immediately.
Do you know any other method to record calls on Android? If so, do not hesitate to leave your recommendation in the comments area.
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