How to Record Phone calls on Android

Recording your calls is yet another handy feature available in Android smartphones these days. There are my reasons why you might record your calls with someone or some organization, but a majority of them would be related to your security. Many institutions/organizations record all official (maybe even unofficial?) voice calls for security purposes. You can also record all your voice calls or make a list of contacts for which you would like to record all calls automatically. There are a lot of options available for you on Android devices. Let us look at all the best ways to record your calls on Android:

Record phone calls on Android using the phone app

Here’s how to make call recording a default for all your calls:

1. Unlock your phone and launch the Phone app on your device.
2. In the top right corner there would be an option of “Call settings” or menu/more button with a three dot icon.
3. Scroll down, find and select the option of “Call recording”.
4. Select and turn on the option “Always record”.
5. Once this option is activated, all your calls will be automatically recorded.

Here’s how to make call recording a default for selected contacts:

1. Navigate to and tap on the Phone app on your Android device.
2. Tap on the more/menu button or the Settings button in the top right corner of your screen.
3. From the presented list, find the option “Call recording” and tap on it.
4. On the call recording tab you will find the option “Always record”, tap on it to toggle it on.
5. Now, when you scroll down you will find the option “All numbers” and “Selected numbers”, tap on “Selected numbers”.
6. Again, scroll down and tap on the option of “Custom list”.
7. You can now add the contacts for which you would like all your calls to be recorded automatically. To do this, simply tap on the plus icon and select the contacts.
8. Also, you can toggle on the “Unknown numbers” option (which is somewhere below the custom list option) to automatically record your conversations with unknown/private number callers.

Want to know how to make your own number private? Click here!

Here’s how to start recording an ongoing call

1. This method only works when you are (already) successfully connected on a call with someone.
2. On the call screen will see the options like speaker, add person, etc. On the same screen you’ll see a record button, tap on it.
3. Once the recording begins, there should be a small timer below the record button indicating the time elapsed since the recording started.
4. To stop recording your call, simply tap on the same button again.

Record phone calls using Google Voice

If you are using Google Voice for calling purposes, then this is a great method for you. The only disadvantage is that call recording will only work for incoming calls. And when you do start recording there would be a small announcement saying that the call is being recorded, so it’s better to ask permission beforehand. Let us look at how to enable call recording feature on Google voice to record all your incoming calls automatically:

1. Launch the Google Voice app on your phone or go to the Google Voice website.
2. Now, go to Settings. For Apple users, there would be a hamburger menu option in the upper left corner of your screen. For website users, tap on the settings button in the top right corner of your screen (cog icon).
3. From the presented list, tap on the “Calls” option.
4. From this list, look for and select the option “Incoming call options” to turn it on.
5. And after you answer a call from someone, you can record it by pressing the number four from the number keypad.
6. After the recording begins, a small message will announce that the recording has begun (all the people connected on the call can hear this).
7. All the call recordings will be saved in your inbox, you can also download it from there.

Record Android phone calls using another device

If you have a secondary Android smartphone/tablet with you, this method would be the best and easiest option for you! This is so because almost all Android smartphones or tablets have a voice recorder app pre-installed in them. So after you are connected to the call, you can use these steps to start recording it:

1. Turn on your secondary android device and go to the app drawer.
2. Search for and launch the Voice recorder app on your phone.
3. Or you can also search your app drawer for a voice recorder (might be named “Recorder” or “Voice recorder”).
4. By chance, if your phone does not have a pre-installed voice recorder app, go to the Google Play Store and download one.
5. Put your call on speaker and bring the secondary phone closer to its speaker.
6. Lastly, tap on the record button at the bottom of your screen (red circular button) to record the ongoing call on your other device.
7. Make sure to reduce the surrounding sounds to a minimum to record your calls properly.

Using Voice recorder

We are not talking about third-party apps which will record your voice, but rather a simple physical device that can record voice. This will save you from all the confusing big list of apps, settings manipulation, rooting your device, etc. You can easily get a voice recorder on Amazon or other e-commerce websites, or even in hardware and tech stores around your area. This solution is great for users who can’t record their calls because of no availability of settings options on their device or no access to third-party apps which can record calls.

Record calls on Android using third-party apps

After going through the above-mentioned methods, if you would rather like to download a third-party app to record calls, you can get them from the Google Play Store or the internet. Here, we won’t be discussing any third-party apps because there are innumerable options on the play store and the internet. Before downloading any call recorder app, it would be best that you check the app’s features and reviews. There are many fake/useless apps that would deliver a subpar performance, or some shady ones might even hamper your device’s security.

Legal consequences of recording calls

There might be legal consequences of recording calls (or recording some type of calls, etc.) in some regions or countries. Now, before you record a call it is always better to research the laws regarding call recordings in your region, state, or country, etc. It might be completely okay to record calls in some countries/regions, while in others you may need to take permission before recording, or it might be punishable to record calls in some areas/regions/countries. Check out all the laws pertaining to this act in your region, just to be safe.

Where to find the call recordings?

On Google empowered Android phones, your call recordings are stored solely on your device (no cloud storage unless you download and upload it yourself). You can access call recordings from the phone app, simply follow these steps:

1. Launch the Phone app on your Android device.
2. Tap on the option “Recents”.
3. All your recent call recording history will be there.
4. Simply tap on the play button to listen to the recording.
5. You can also share a recording by tapping the share button.