Phone call recording app

[Carlos E. R.]

Hi,

In Spain, recording a phone call in which you are one of the
participants is legal. What is illegal is publishing it without permission.

And with recent changes in regulation about spam calls, the authorities
want a recording of the phone call in order to reprimand the company
responsible for the call.

But Android universally disallows recording of phone calls. At most, you
can manage what goes on the speaker, but not your own mike.

One alternative would be a headphone that did the recording on its own
hardware.

But another alternative was mentioned on one of the many articles
(click-bait mostly). All of them describe the situation, none says how
to actually do the recording.

The alternative that I read about the other day was application on apk
form, ie, not distributed by google play.

Does any one have suggestions, preferably with actual experience?


(my purpose is recording spam calls, and business calls that the other
side say they are recording).

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

[VanguardLH]

https://support.google.com/phoneapp/answer/9803950?hl=en

Google cracked down on phone recording apps, so I didn't bother to
search their Play Store. I use Google Voice which has the option to
record calls, but GV isn't available for free in Spain. You can get GV
in Spain, UK, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy,
Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland, but perhaps not for
free. There are other PBX-like services that have similar GV features
that may operate in Spain, but they may not be free, plus you have start
publishing your new PBX phone number wherever you previously published
your old phone number to get spammers to start calling your old phone
number, or see if the PBX service lets you port your old phone number to
their PBX service. Ringblaze, Ooma, and Skype have call recording.
RingCentral has call recording, but it's on-demand for their $20/mo
plan, more for automatic recording.

I've used Call Recording with GV (hit 4 to start and end), but have
rarely used it. I've probably used it accidentally more than
intentionally. There's a beep that both parties on a call can hear.
Whether you have to announce you started recording depends on the laws
in your locality. I've read the max limit is 3 hours for a recordeding.
Recorded calls can be downloaded to your computer.

Did you check with your cellular carrier to see if they have the option
to record calls? Might have to pay them to up your service tier.

[Wally J]

"Carlos E. R." <robin_...@es.invalid> wrote

> But Android universally disallows recording of phone calls. At most, you
> can manage what goes on the speaker, but not your own mike.

Hi Carlos,
Last I wrote on this subject, that wasn't the case as it's model specific.

*Is there any way to get 3rd-party call recording (ACR) apps working after tomorrow, May 11th, 2022?*
<https://xdaforums.com/t/is-there-any-way-to-get-3rd-party-call-recording-acr-apps-working-after-tomorrow-may-11th-2022.4444061/>

As always, if you (or anyone) knows more about manual or automatic call
recording, please add value to this thread so that everyone benefits.
--
Most people guess at everything - which is why they're wrong most of the time. I don't guess; I look for the data - and then I make an assessment.

[Wally J]

VanguardLH <V...@nguard.LH> wrote

> Google cracked down on phone recording apps

Like you, I haven't checked in years since these threads were authored:

*Automatic call recorder freeware (best)*
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/Tb8wf4fJu_A/>

*Plan now for May 11 2022 removal of call recording apps*
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/azDZNzK33Hk/m/SfiwzwUeCQAJ>

But at the time, Google did NOT crack down on phone recording apps, per se.
a. Google cracked down on *non-native automatic phone recording (ACR) apps*
b. But (AFAIK) Google left the _existing_ non-native ACR apps alone (AFAIR)
c. And, as far as I'm aware (but I haven't checked), manual recording works

But that's only my recollection as I didn't re-read my threads above since
ACR isn't something I worry about given it's easy to record phone calls.
--
Most people just guess all the time - which is why they're often wrong.

[Carlos E. R.]

On 2023-11-22 19:12, VanguardLH wrote:
> "Carlos E. R." <robin_...@es.invalid> wrote:
>
>> In Spain, recording a phone call in which you are one of the
>> participants is legal. What is illegal is publishing it without
>> permission.
>>
>> And with recent changes in regulation about spam calls, the
>> authorities want a recording of the phone call in order to reprimand
>> the company responsible for the call.
>>
>> But Android universally disallows recording of phone calls. At most,
>> you can manage what goes on the speaker, but not your own mike.
>>
>> One alternative would be a headphone that did the recording on its
>> own hardware.
>>
>> But another alternative was mentioned on one of the many articles
>> (click-bait mostly). All of them describe the situation, none says
>> how to actually do the recording.
>>
>> The alternative that I read about the other day was application on
>> apk form, ie, not distributed by google play.
>>
>> Does any one have suggestions, preferably with actual experience?
>>
>> (my purpose is recording spam calls, and business calls that the
>> other side say they are recording).
>
> https://support.google.com/phoneapp/answer/9803950?hl=en
>
> Google cracked down on phone recording apps, so I didn't bother to
> search their Play Store. I use Google Voice which has the option to

No, I am seeking for apps outside of the Google Pay Store. The article
said they exists, so somebody may know them.

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

[VanguardLH]

The PBX-like services that I mentioned do not require an app. Perhaps
you don't want to port your old phone number to a PBX service which
would eliminate any disruption and having to update everyone that has
your old phone number.

[Wally J]

"Carlos E. R." <robin_...@es.invalid> wrote

> No, I am seeking for apps outside of the Google Pay Store. The article
> said they exists, so somebody may know them.

You're not the only one looking for them as I just skimmed my old XDA
article on the subject (which you have the URL to) as they suggested some.

Me?

I record whenever I want to record, but like Vanguard, I use Google Voice
(GV) usually in a way different than he does - but the results are that I
have no problem recording phone calls when I'm using GV at home.

The reason I use GV is...
a. Since I live in the boonies, GV has much better clarity than Ooma
b. Plus, incoming GV calls ring all my phones (e.g., home & cell)
c. So I use GV for many (most?) of my phone calls when I'm at home

When I want to record a particular phone call, after informing
participants, I just press the recorder button on my Android phone.

Of course that only works when I'm at home and using Google Voice (which I
only use on the iPad because GV will _create_ an account on Android).

When I'm away, I too could use a call recording solution, which I used to
have running just fine until Google started their shenanigans in May 11 of
2022 where only _native_ apps would continue to work in future Androids.

Notice the "native" component there?
And the "Automatic Call Recording" (ACR) component perhaps also?

Details matter.
a. Native versus 3rd party
b. Automatic versus manual
c. Internal mechanisms versus external (mic & speaker) methods

As far as I can recall, Google only made it miserable for _third-party_
internal-mechanism ACR apps - but I'd have to check again to be sure.
--
Often when seeking a solution that the mothership is trying to break,
it helps to hone the detail to exactly what each problem set comprises.

[Carlos E. R.]

That's correct, I do not want that.

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

[Carlos E. R.]

On 2023-11-22 20:34, Wally J wrote:
> "Carlos E. R." <robin_...@es.invalid> wrote
>
>> No, I am seeking for apps outside of the Google Pay Store. The article
>> said they exists, so somebody may know them.
>
> You're not the only one looking for them as I just skimmed my old XDA
> article on the subject (which you have the URL to) as they suggested some.
>
> Me?
>
> I record whenever I want to record, but like Vanguard, I use Google Voice
> (GV) usually in a way different than he does - but the results are that I
> have no problem recording phone calls when I'm using GV at home.

There is no GV in Europe, AFAIK.

> When I'm away, I too could use a call recording solution, which I used to
> have running just fine until Google started their shenanigans in May 11 of
> 2022 where only _native_ apps would continue to work in future Androids.

I have been told that only apps on Google Play are restricted, but apps
downloaded externally are not. I don't have verification for this.

So I am asking if somebody has tried such an external app.

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

[Wally J]

"Carlos E. R." <robin_...@es.invalid> wrote

>> I record whenever I want to record, but like Vanguard, I use Google Voice
>> (GV) usually in a way different than he does - but the results are that I
>> have no problem recording phone calls when I'm using GV at home.
>
> There is no GV in Europe, AFAIK.

That matters for Vanguard's method but not for mine as Google Voice is just
being used as a speakerphone. The fact it's GV changes nothing in my model.

>> When I'm away, I too could use a call recording solution, which I used to
>> have running just fine until Google started their shenanigans in May 11 of
>> 2022 where only _native_ apps would continue to work in future Androids.
>
> I have been told that only apps on Google Play are restricted, but apps
> downloaded externally are not. I don't have verification for this.
>
> So I am asking if somebody has tried such an external app.

I have not recently tried call recording apps even though I've tested
_every single one_ that was free and wrote up my summaries years ago.

That's probably something like twenty or thirty automatic call recorders.
But unfortunately for the team, I haven't tested any of them recently.

Hopefully someone else has tested them since the May 11 2022 moratorium on
3rd-party Google Play Store repository automatic call recording apps.

Good luck!

REFERENCES:

*Automatic call recorder freeware (best)*
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/Tb8wf4fJu_A/>

*Plan now for May 11 2022 removal of call recording apps*
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/azDZNzK33Hk/>

[Wally J]

"Carlos E. R." <robin_...@es.invalid> wrote

> That's correct, I do not want that.

Hi Carlos,
This article, dated September 4, 2023, makes the following claim:
"We can confirm that every app on the list below worked on both of
our test devices, and we made over 140 phone calls in total to
test apps for this. Here are the best call recorder apps for Android."

They tested those 140 call-recording apps on a Galaxy S23 Ultra & a Pixel
6, both running Android 13, all testing done in the United States from both
apps inside the Google Play Store repository, and those sideloaded instead.

Interestingly, they noted "call recording apps don't work with Wi-Fi
calling", which, if anyone knows why, let me know why as that's weird.

They give a bit of history, which I'll just post verbatim sans editing:
"Call recording is one of the stickiest topics on mobile.
It should be relatively easy, but itĄŚs not.
It worked well until Android 9, when Google turned it off
for the first time. It stayed turned off until Android 11.
Technically, the functionality is still there with Android 13.
Some OEMs, like Google and Samsung, package call recording
in the native dialer app, but only in some regions.

In 2022, Google changed a Google Play policy that prevents apps
from using the accessibility permission for call recording.
ThatĄŚs how the developers enabled the feature.
Since this was the easiest method, developers have scrambled
for workarounds since the May 2022 ban.

So, in short, four things prevent people from recording calls.
The version of Android your phone runs can prevent it entirely.
Secondly, the region you live in can cause features to be turned off.
Google Play policies make it hard for developers to release products
that actually work. Finally, the lack of root access limits a
personĄŚs ability to bypass the previous three issues.

These days, there seem to be three major workarounds.

The first is downloading an app from outside the Play Store that
still allows accessibility.

The second method uses a plug-in or secondary app that uses the
Accessibility API while connecting to the original app to record calls,
thus bypassing the Google Play ban.

The third is root access.
Rooting isnĄŚt the most popular thing anymore, so we focus on
the other two methods below."

1. ACR Phone + APH
2. Call Recorder by Lucky Mobile Apps
3. Automatic Call Recorder Pro (formerly CallU)
4. Cube ACR
5. Pixelify Magisk Manager module (root)
6. All Call Recorder
7. Your stock phone dialer (regional restrictions apply)
8. Blackbox
9. Call Recorder ĄV Auto Recording
10. Call Recorder ĄV Talker ACR

There are other references claiming similar functionality.
*Best Android 13 Call Recording Apps That Actually Work*
Dated March 31, 2023
<https://teamandroid.com/call-recording-apps/>

*How to Record Calls on Your Android Phone*
Updated August 7, 2023
<https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/record-calls-on-your-android-phone>

Anyone have success with any of these Android 13 ACR solutions?
And why is Wi-Fi calling specifically excluded?
--
Those with a good heart are the ones who continually add value to Usenet.

[VanguardLH]

"Carlos E. R." <robin_...@es.invalid> wrote:

> There is no GV in Europe, AFAIK.

There is, but might not be free. I have not investigated if free or
what is the cost in other countries. GV lists Spain as a supported
country.

https://support.google.com/a/answer/12743190?hl=en

However, since you don't want to port your old phone number to another
service, the PBX-like services would mean you'd have 2 phone numbers:
your old one, and a new one. The GV number would get little traffic
unless you gradually migrate to it by updating your phone records for
your callers. I know some folks that don't migrate to the GV number,
but instead use it as a 2nd number, like for business or work use.

Something to consider: how long do you keep your cell phone number(s)?
Average turnaround on cell phones is 2.5 years, but the user may
continue with the same carrier to keep their old phone number with them,
or port their old phone number when switching to a new carrier if
allowed.

A caveat with GV is that once you port a phone number to them, you
cannot port it elsewhere later. If you ever consider switching carriers
is when you might consider GV to port your old phone number. I had a GV
number since 2014, but waited 2 years before I decided to port my old
phone number to them (which was also when I bought a new smartphone).

GV isn't for everyone. For one thing, a recent update to the GV app no
longer supported separate support of the main ringtone and ringtones
assigned to contacts. I wanted a soft main ringtone that would be easy
to ignore for spam and wrong-dial calls, and a much louder ringtone for
my contacts. Took 2 weeks of working with their tech support before
they admitted supporting only the main ringtone on my ancient Android
8.0.0. I had to move to Android 8.0.1 to get dual ringtone support in
their GV app, but my phone (c.2016) was discontinued in 2019, and its
maker (LG) left the smartphone market in 2021, so no chance of ever
getting an OS update. Tis the tribulations of keeping an old phone with
an old OS. The world moves on. I figured out a trick, but prefer not
to use workarounds. Have my phone's Phone app answer incoming calls.
GV calls all my phone via landline, cellular, and data (the latter uses
the GV app). The Phone app supports multiple ringtones for incoming
calls. Just an example how apps can eventually require a later OS. I
have no interest in jail breaking or rooting my old phone even if and
when I get a new phone.

[Wally J]

Wally J <walte...@invalid.nospam> wrote

> This article, dated September 4, 2023, makes the following claim:
> "We can confirm that every app on the list below worked on both of
> our test devices, and we made over 140 phone calls in total to
> test apps for this. Here are the best call recorder apps for Android."

Ooops. I forgot to provide the URL in my previous help for Carlos...

*The 10 best call recorder apps for Android - Fall 2023*
Dated September 4, 2023
<https://www.androidauthority.com/best-call-recorder-apps-android-1001838/>

Apparently there are two solutions to the problem.

a. "The first is downloading an app from outside the Play Store
that ​still allows accessibility."
​
b. "The second method uses a plug-in or secondary app that uses

[Wally J]

Wally J <walte...@invalid.nospam> wrote

> a. "The first is downloading an app from outside the Play Store
> that ​still allows accessibility."
> ​
> b. "The second method uses a plug-in or secondary app that uses
> the​ Accessibility API while connecting to the original app
> to record calls,​ thus bypassing the Google Play ban."

OT Maybe Andy Burns can explain why those funny characters happened.
It's likely due to a mixup in the character encoding header directive.
How would I fix that?

[Wally J]

VanguardLH <V...@nguard.LH> wrote

> GV isn't for everyone.

I use Google Voice (GV) every day in the USA for send/receive but I agree
with anyone sensible as there are caveats to using GV on an Android phone.

1. For one, GV _creates_ a Google Account on the Android phone (but it does
_not_ create a Google Account on the iPad) which is why I use it on iOS.

2. For another, GV _requires_ an account on Google servers.

3. What I like about GV is that it sends an email of any message to your
Google Account (which you can read on your computer if you like).

4. And what I love best is the clarity is a billion times better'n Ooma is
(at least on my WISP connections which go ten miles LOS over the air).

There are other advantages, of course (e.g., free phone calls to/from the
USA & about 2 cents a minute to Europe) & texting, but those are the best.

Back to Carlos' problem, I think he already has the solution.
<https://xdaforums.com/t/is-there-any-way-to-get-3rd-party-call-recording-acr-apps-working-after-tomorrow-may-11th-2022.4444061/>

All Carlos needs to do is test it out and let us know how it worked.
--
Every Usenet thread should strive to add value so that all always benefit.

[VanguardLH]

Wally J <walte...@invalid.nospam> wrote:

> ...

> 3. What I like about GV is that it sends an email of any message to your
> Google Account (which you can read on your computer if you like).

> ...

Google has announced they will removed the feature of sending texts and
transcripts of voicemail to an e-mail address. Their argument is that
they don't want to be seen as a pipe of spam texts or voicemails to
e-mail accounts. They made the announcement many months ago, but the
feature still exists.

To be clear, when you get an e-mail copy of a text, you cannot simply
reply to that e-mail to send a text back to the sender. You have to use
the GV app's messaging or go to the GV web site to send a reply to a
text. Replying via e-mail to a text has the reply go into the bit
bucket. I was replying to texts by replying to the e-mail copy, but the
recipients never got those texts. Once I used the GV app (instead of an
e-mail client) or used the GV web site then the recipients got my
replies.

For voicemail, those that are sent via e-mail that have no transcription
are those where the caller hung up. A spammer, wrong-dialer, or someone
that chooses not to leave a message ends up with no transcription to
include in the e-mailed copy. So, I know those are garbage calls.
Besides hearing the OGM (OutGoing Message) for voicemail, and the beep
to start recording to alert the caller to abort, I have screening
enabled. The caller has to say their name, or something, before their
call is accepted. Sure gets rid of a hell of alot of spam and wrong
dialers. Google has their own spam filtering, too. So far, I've not
seen any false positives, and only few false negatives. I still get the
one ring on the incoming call, but wait until the 2nd ring to answer.
The first ring is needed to see from where the call comes. This is very
similar to the NoMoRobo free service I added to my aunt's landline.
NoMoRobo doesn't work with GV, so I cannot compound those spam filters.

[VanguardLH]

My guess not an issue if you quit using OE as your NNTP client.
Alternatively, as I recall, you could configure features differently
between e-mail and newsgroup accounts, like quoted-printable. If so,
you could configure your NNTP accounts to use us-ascii or UTF-8 and
plain text (no quoted-printable) separate of however you configure the
e-mail accounts.

[Wally J]

VanguardLH <V...@nguard.LH> wrote

>> OT Maybe Andy Burns can explain why those funny characters happened.
>> It's likely due to a mixup in the character encoding header directive.
>> How would I fix that?
>
> My guess not an issue if you quit using OE as your NNTP client.
> Alternatively, as I recall, you could configure features differently
> between e-mail and newsgroup accounts, like quoted-printable. If so,
> you could configure your NNTP accounts to use us-ascii or UTF-8 and
> plain text (no quoted-printable) separate of however you configure the
> e-mail accounts.

Thanks for the advice that my 'newsreader' sucks. I'm sure it does.

Did you also see the characters messed up in this post from me?

From: Wally J <walte...@invalid.nospam>
Newsgroups: comp.mobile.android
Subject: Re: Phone call recording app
Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2023 13:10:53 -0400
Message-ID: <ujt9qs$2e340$1...@paganini.bofh.team>

Or was it only I who saw the few funky characters as messed up?

Characters were messed up in my view but they seem OK in the archives:
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/-UD_qZVBBik/m/Ku0yMiFWAQAJ>

[Andy Burns]

Wally J wrote:

> Wally J wrote

>
>> a. "The first is downloading an app from outside the Play Store
>> that ​still allows accessibility."
>> ​
>> b. "The second method uses a plug-in or secondary app that uses
>> the​ Accessibility API while connecting to the original app
>> to record calls,​ thus bypassing the Google Play ban."
>
> OT Maybe Andy Burns can explain why those funny characters happened.

you used fancy double-quotes " instead of plain ASCII ones " was the
text copied from MS-Word, or a web page?

Normally a newsreader would add headers for UTF-8 to show the character
encoding it was using, e.g.

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

[Andy Burns]

Andy Burns wrote:

> Wally J wrote:
>
>> OT Maybe Andy Burns can explain why those funny characters happened.
>
> you used fancy double-quotes " instead of plain ASCII ones "

Actually it wasn't the quotes, but other "stray" characters with wrong
encoding, I can't see them within the android authority page, assuming
that was the source?

<https://www.i18nqa.com/debug/utf8-debug.html>

[Wally J]

Andy Burns <use...@andyburns.uk> wrote

Hi Andy,

First off, I solved the OP's problem, which is the most important fact.
*Tutorial: Installing open-source automatic call recording (ACR) on Android 13+ Samsung Galaxy*
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/7mCHCktUuKw>

It took me a few hours as I had to write up the entire thing
after researching which was the best solution to attempt first.

What takes the hours is writing it up, which if it only helps
Carlos, isn't worth it as the goal is to help thousands of people.

If you get a chance, it would be nice for you to test it out on
your Pixel (but maybe the Pixel has a native automatic call recorder?).

Now for the off topic discussion...
a. Yes. I copied and pasted from the web page
b. Clearly, the web page had funky characters
c. You know that my headers are meaningless

Given that, I guess that you are saying I "could" have put in my
headers the character encoding directives, so that recipients'
newsreaders would know there are UTF-8 characters in the body.

Is that correct?

Since my headers are random, as you know, I can _insert_ that UTF-8, but
before I do that, is that the "most universal" character encoding directive
I can insert into the headers?

[Theo]

VanguardLH <V...@nguard.lh> wrote:
> "Carlos E. R." <robin_...@es.invalid> wrote:
>
> > There is no GV in Europe, AFAIK.
>
> There is, but might not be free. I have not investigated if free or
> what is the cost in other countries. GV lists Spain as a supported
> country.
>
> https://support.google.com/a/answer/12743190?hl=en

There's no personal GV outside the US, but there's GV for Google Workspace
in 'select markets', which that might be a list of. Minimum pricing for UK
Workspace is £5 per user per month, and than GV starts at $10 per user per
month on top of that.

(I have no idea why the mix of currencies, that's the en_uk GV page)

That makes it quite pricey, given I pay £1.44pm for a VOIP service (which
does support call recording). I suppose GV could make sense if you make a
lot of calls, but then you might already have them included by your mobile
carrier.

Theo

[Carlos E. R.]

On 2023-11-25 21:31, Wally J wrote:
> VanguardLH <V...@nguard.LH> wrote
>
>>> OT Maybe Andy Burns can explain why those funny characters happened.
>>> It's likely due to a mixup in the character encoding header directive.
>>> How would I fix that?
>>
>> My guess not an issue if you quit using OE as your NNTP client.
>> Alternatively, as I recall, you could configure features differently
>> between e-mail and newsgroup accounts, like quoted-printable. If so,
>> you could configure your NNTP accounts to use us-ascii or UTF-8 and
>> plain text (no quoted-printable) separate of however you configure the
>> e-mail accounts.
>
> Thanks for the advice that my 'newsreader' sucks. I'm sure it does.
>
> Did you also see the characters messed up in this post from me?
>
> From: Wally J <walte...@invalid.nospam>
> Newsgroups: comp.mobile.android
> Subject: Re: Phone call recording app
> Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2023 13:10:53 -0400
> Message-ID: <ujt9qs$2e340$1...@paganini.bofh.team>
>
> Or was it only I who saw the few funky characters as messed up?

Yes.

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

[Carlos E. R.]

On 2023-11-25 17:57, VanguardLH wrote:
> "Carlos E. R." <robin_...@es.invalid> wrote:
>
>> There is no GV in Europe, AFAIK.
>
> There is, but might not be free. I have not investigated if free or
> what is the cost in other countries. GV lists Spain as a supported
> country.
>
> https://support.google.com/a/answer/12743190?hl=en
>
> However, since you don't want to port your old phone number to another
> service, the PBX-like services would mean you'd have 2 phone numbers:
> your old one, and a new one. The GV number would get little traffic
> unless you gradually migrate to it by updating your phone records for
> your callers. I know some folks that don't migrate to the GV number,
> but instead use it as a 2nd number, like for business or work use.
>
> Something to consider: how long do you keep your cell phone number(s)?

For ever.

...

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

[Carlos E. R.]

On 2023-11-25 22:59, Wally J wrote:
> Andy Burns <use...@andyburns.uk> wrote

...

> Hi Andy,
>
> First off, I solved the OP's problem, which is the most important fact.
> *Tutorial: Installing open-source automatic call recording (ACR) on Android 13+ Samsung Galaxy*
> <https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/7mCHCktUuKw>
>
> It took me a few hours as I had to write up the entire thing
> after researching which was the best solution to attempt first.
>
> What takes the hours is writing it up, which if it only helps
> Carlos, isn't worth it as the goal is to help thousands of people.
>
> If you get a chance, it would be nice for you to test it out on
> your Pixel (but maybe the Pixel has a native automatic call recorder?).
>

Thanks.

Looks complicated... that will take me some time.

[Wally J]

"Carlos E. R." <robin_...@es.invalid> wrote

>> First off, I solved the OP's problem, which is the most important fact.
>> *Tutorial: Installing open-source automatic call recording (ACR) on Android 13+ Samsung Galaxy*
>> <https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/7mCHCktUuKw>
>

> Looks complicated... that will take me some time.

Hi Carlos,

It's actually pretty easy as they walk you through all the steps.
In fact, it took far longer to write it up than to actually do it.

I'm a naturally purposefully helpful person (which is why the iKooks
incense me to no end, as does Joerg & similarly unprepossessing souls.

When you were having problems, initially I felt for you but I knew it would
be a lot of work to find the solution - even as I was sure it existed.

After I did a bit of research (see prior cites), I latched onto the most
likely candidate being <https://acr.app> because of what they wrote up.

For example, any time an article says "it works" or "it doesn't work" but
they don't speak about the details (as it depends on the Android version),
then the article is garbage (and it's pretty much what the iKooks do).

This <https://acr.app> site went into the kind of detail that showed me
they knew what versions of Android needed which version of ACR Phone.

Bear in mind I was on Android 13, where Android 13 and 14 needed more
effort than Android 10 to Android 13, and that needed more than Android 9,
which itself needed more than Android 7 and Android 8 did.

Notice there is no possibility of a blanket statement of whether or not the
automatic call recording apps work or not if you don't know that detail.

As for the "automatic" part, I tested the _manual_ call recording, where I
was surprised to note how perfect the fidelity was (for a phone call).

I did not test the _automatic_ call recording because it brought ads with
it, so when I get a round tuit, I'll look for ad-free automatic recording.

In summary, it appears that ACR works fine for all versions of Android.
You just have to know how to do it - which is why I wrote that tutorial.

Obviously there are other methods which I haven't tested, but the method I
tested worked the first time and it was pretty simple to do, as summarized:

1. Install what they call the "ACR Store" (but it's just a simple browser).
2. Using the ACR Store browser, install both the "ACR Phone" & "APH" apps.
3. Start "ACR Phone" and follow the prompts.

Bear in mind you end up making "ACR Phone" your default phone dialer.
I'll use it for a while to see how it differs from Samsung's dialer.
--
It's almost worthless to solve a problem and only help one person doing it.

[Wally J]

VanguardLH <V...@nguard.LH> wrote

>> 3. What I like about GV is that it sends an email of any message to your
>> Google Account (which you can read on your computer if you like).
>> ...
>
> Google has announced they will removed the feature of sending texts and
> transcripts of voicemail to an e-mail address.

Hi Vanguard,

Bummer. That's one of the main features I liked about GV (other than the
clarity of the free phone calls over my WISP with high jitter numbers).

BTW, I solved the OP's problem, and wrote up a tutorial for you to try.
Tutorial <https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/7mCHCktUuKw>
*Installing automatic call recording (ACR) on Android 13+ Samsung Galaxy*

The method I used, I think, works on all versions of Android but if you
have an older version than mine, it's even easier than what I wrote up.

1. Install what they call the "ACR Store" (but it's just a downloader app).
2. Using the ACR Store downloaqder, install the "ACR Phone" & "APH" apps.
3. Start "ACR Phone" and follow the prompts for one-time setup steps.

Then, whenever you want to record, either turn on the manual recorder, or,
if you're willing to put up with advertisements, set the automatic switch.

The one thing that is weird is the help said it doesn't work with "Wi-Fi
Calling" which I find odd - as it worked for me while on Wi-Fi.

I can't see how Wi-Fi calling could possibly matter anyway.
It's just recording the sound from the mic and speaker, right?

Any ideas why the instructions say it shouldn't work with Wi-Fi calling?
<https://acr.app/>

[Eric Pozharski]

with <ks676n...@mid.individual.net> Carlos E. R. wrote:

*SKIP* [ 8 lines 1 level deep]

> But Android universally disallows recording of phone calls. At most,
> you can manage what goes on the speaker, but not your own mike.

I would say -- The G prohibitevely discourages such recordings. For
instance, mine (no-brand, niche product) with
com.android.server.telecom APK (aka -- "Call Management") (besides two
other c.a.s.components.*) introduces
com.mediatek.telecom.recording.PhoneRecorderServices . Then I guessed
what that rightmost circled dot (during outgoing phone call) does.

*SKIP* [ 7 lines 1 level deep]

> The alternative that I read about the other day was application on apk
> form, ie, not distributed by google play.
> Does any one have suggestions, preferably with actual experience?

Well, hold yout breath. Fdroid distributes such thing as
com.github.axet.callrecorder . OOH it suffers recent active(?)
development. Whatever it means -- I can't say, because, OTOH on A7 it's
capable to record mic only. It has bunch of methods(?) on board,
doesn't seek root, and then mic only. So there's that.

*CUT* [ 5 lines 1 level deep]

--
Torvalds' goal for Linux is very simple: World Domination
Stallman's goal for GNU is even simpler: Freedom

[The Real Bev]

On 11/28/23 2:20 AM, Eric Pozharski wrote:
> with <ks676n...@mid.individual.net> Carlos E. R. wrote:
>
> *SKIP* [ 8 lines 1 level deep]
>> But Android universally disallows recording of phone calls. At most,
>> you can manage what goes on the speaker, but not your own mike.
>
> I would say -- The G prohibitevely discourages such recordings. For
> instance, mine (no-brand, niche product) with
> com.android.server.telecom APK (aka -- "Call Management") (besides two
> other c.a.s.components.*) introduces
> com.mediatek.telecom.recording.PhoneRecorderServices . Then I guessed
> what that rightmost circled dot (during outgoing phone call) does.
>
> *SKIP* [ 7 lines 1 level deep]
>> The alternative that I read about the other day was application on apk
>> form, ie, not distributed by google play.
>> Does any one have suggestions, preferably with actual experience?
>
> Well, hold yout breath. Fdroid distributes such thing as
> com.github.axet.callrecorder . OOH it suffers recent active(?)
> development. Whatever it means -- I can't say, because, OTOH on A7 it's
> capable to record mic only. It has bunch of methods(?) on board,
> doesn't seek root, and then mic only. So there's that.

What about a separate 'recorder' app and then putting your phone on speaker?


--
Cheers, Bev
"We're from the Government. We're here to help."

[Wally J]

The Real Bev <bashl...@gmail.com> wrote

> What about a separate 'recorder' app and then putting your phone on speaker?

Just like they can't stop us from recording an image that displays on the
screen (even if they disallow screenshotting in the latest Android
versions), they can't stop you from recording any phone call.

The _easiest_ way I know of I've been testing for a few days for you, and
(so far) it works beautifully (surprisingly so as I had expected glitches).
*Tutorial: Installing open-source automatic call recording (ACR) on Android 13+ Samsung Galaxy*
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/7mCHCktUuKw>

The dozen or so recorded phone calls I've done since are all crystal clear.

Having said that, there are a bunch of other methods, so all I want people
to do is STOP saying that it can't be done. It can be done.

People are concluding the wrong thing from the facts.
a. The facts show Google is hindering call recording, that's for sure.
b. But the facts show that you _can_ do call recording on any Android.

You just have to know how to do it.
--
Usenet is a venue for intelligent people to widely share their knowledge.