Call recording apps are discontinued in Play Store

For some time now, Google has been making it difficult for developers to create call recording apps. Call recording has continued to work via third-party apps since the launch of Android 6 and since the release of Android 10, the microphone can no longer be used to record calls. This is because the legislation regarding call recording varies in different countries.

However, developers have been able to circumvent this with Android’s accessibility features, in order to introduce recording functionality into their apps. Now Google claims the solution is also via accessibility features to be clogged, which means that third-party apps will no longer be able to record calls in any way. More specifically, the changes affect the accessibility features API and are effective May 11.

“Remote control” in this context refers to calling the audio recording where the person on the other end is not aware of the recording. So, if the app is the default caller on the phone and also preloaded, the accessibility is not required to access the incoming audio stream and therefore it will not be off. As this is a clarification of an existing policy, the new language will apply to all applications starting May 11.

On Android phones with integrated recording functionality, call recording will continue to work and the change will only affect third-party applications that use the operating system’s access API to record calls. It remains to be seen if Google will ban apps that use the API directly from the Play Store on May 11, or if it will just stop working.

Do you usually record your calls?