Recording a call on Android used to be simple: install an app, tap record. That is no longer how it works. The apps that used to do this mostly cannot any more, and whether you can record a call at all now depends on your phone, your carrier, and where you live.
Here is the current picture, and what to do with a recording once you have one.
The short answer: use your phone's own dialer
The most reliable way to record a call on Android today is the dialer app that came with your phone. Google's Phone app supports call recording on non-Pixel devices running Android 9 or later, and on Pixel 6 and newer running Android 14 or later. Samsung and Xiaomi ship their own recorders in their own dialers.
Two caveats matter before you go looking for the button:
- It is region-dependent. Google's own documentation says call recording is "widely available, but not in all countries or regions," and that features vary by region.
- It is carrier-dependent. Only certain device and carrier combinations support it.
So if you cannot find the option, it may simply not exist on your handset — not a settings problem.
With Google's Phone app
The exact control has moved between app versions, so go by what you see rather than a fixed menu path:
- Start or answer the call.
- On the in-call screen, look for the recording control. On non-Pixel devices this is usually a Record button; on recent Pixels it sits under Call Assist. If there's no recording control at all, it isn't supported on your device, carrier, or region.
- Start recording. Both parties hear an announcement that recording has begun.
- Stop recording to end it. The recording is attached to that call's entry in the Phone app.
On a Samsung phone
Samsung's dialer has its own call recording setting, generally found under the three-dot menu in the Phone app or under call settings. As with Google's app, availability depends on model, software version, region, and carrier. Samsung recordings usually land in a folder in internal storage, though the exact folder name and file format vary between models and software versions.
Why the third-party apps stopped working
If you remember installing a call recorder that worked fine a few years ago, you are not misremembering.
Third-party developers had lost direct access to call audio in earlier Android releases and had been using the Accessibility API as a workaround. On 11 May 2022, Google changed its Play Store policy to prohibit that — the Accessibility API is intended for apps that support people with disabilities, and Google's policy bars its use for recording remote call audio.
Google's policy continued to permit a device's default dialer to record calls. That is why the built-in recorders on Pixel, Samsung, and Xiaomi phones still function while many Play Store apps no longer capture the far end of a call.
Practical consequence: treat Play Store apps promising to record both sides of an ordinary phone call with scepticism. Some record only your side; some capture ambient audio through the microphone with poor results. Capability varies by device and Android version, so check what an app actually does on your handset before relying on it for something that matters.
Before you record: the legal part
Recording laws vary considerably. Some places allow recording if one party to the conversation consents — which can be you. Others require everyone on the call to consent. Covert recording can carry civil and/or criminal consequences depending on where you are.
Google's documentation puts the responsibility plainly: it is up to you to follow all laws on recording phone conversations.
Two practical notes:
- Notice is not the same as consent. The audible announcement in Google's Phone app tells the other person that recording is happening. That is useful, but it does not by itself supply whatever consent your local law, your contract, or your employer's policy requires — and consent can be limited or withdrawn.
- If the call might matter later, ask directly and capture the answer in the recording. That documents consent as given at that moment. It is good practice rather than a guarantee, and it does not settle every question that might arise afterwards.
This is general information, not legal advice. Check the rules that apply where you and the other person are, and take proper advice if anything turns on it.
Getting the recording off your phone
A recording is only useful if you can reach the file.
Google Phone app: open the call's entry in the Phone app and use the share option to send the recording to email, messaging, or cloud storage. Note that these recordings stay on the device and are not backed up off-device — if you lose or reset the phone, they are gone. Move anything important off the device.
Samsung and other manufacturer dialers: open your Files app and look through internal storage for a call or recordings folder. Folder names, locations, and file formats vary by model and software version. The files are commonly .m4a or .mp3, which are straightforward to move and open elsewhere.
One format warning: some manufacturer recorders save as AMR, an old speech codec. It plays fine on the phone but many tools won't accept it. If you hit that, convert it to MP3 or M4A first.
Turning the call into a transcript
Recording and transcription are two separate steps. Your phone captures the audio; a transcription tool turns that file into readable text.
Once you have the audio file:
- Upload it to a transcription tool.
- The audio comes back as text, with each distinct voice grouped under a generic label — Speaker 1, Speaker 2 — marking where the conversation changes hands. The labels don't identify anyone by name; you assign that yourself.
- Copy it, or download it as TXT, PDF, or Word to keep or forward.
You can do this free, without signing up, on our phone call transcription page — recordings up to five minutes are free.
A written transcript is genuinely more useful than the audio for most purposes: you can search it, quote from it, skim it in thirty seconds instead of replaying twenty minutes, and forward it to someone who will not sit through a recording.
If your phone can't record calls
On some devices the built-in option simply isn't available, and no app reliably replaces it. The workarounds people actually use:
- Speakerphone plus a second device. Put the call on speaker and record with a voice recorder app on another phone or a laptop. Quality is worse and both voices arrive at similar volume, which makes automatic voice separation harder — but it works.
- Use the other platform. If the conversation could happen on a video or conferencing app instead, most of those have their own recording built in.
- Ask for a recap in writing. Not a recording, but often the actual goal.
Related reading
- Phone call transcription — turn a recorded call into a speaker-separated transcript
- Voicemail to text — for saved voicemails rather than live calls
- How to record an interview — if the call is an interview, recording setup matters more