4 ms·

For me so far the worst thing Google did was disabling API for call recording. That makes new phones pretty much useless for me. I always record calls, so that

For me so far the worst thing Google did was disabling API for call recording. That makes new phones pretty much useless for me. I always record calls, so that I can go back to them if I forget something or that nobody can claim they said something when they didn't (most recently insurance salesperson told me I will have option X if I take their insurance and they once I bought it, there was no such option. Once I pulled the "I have recorded your salesman lying to me", I got a prompt refund and apologies).

fencepost 6y ago
You may be better off with a VoIP service and a softphone client, though I don't think any are as smooth as the phone native performance
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
tyingq 6y ago
I assume you're up on all the various local laws on recording conversations, so this is for others, not you. Look into it before doing this.
- sxiin 6y ago
  Not against the law in Finland at least and thus seems unfair that rooting is needed to do this.
- varispeed 6y ago
  Ok but then why don't they disable the camera and a microphone when you record videos? You can hide the phone in a way that the person you talk to won't see you are recording it. I don't accept this explanation.
  - tyingq 6y ago
    Yes, laws overlap. The ones I'm talking about are generally about "intercepting communications" i.e., "recording conversations". In general, the US requires one-party consent, but there are 15 states that require two-party consent.
    - varispeed 6y ago
      So you can put your phone on recording e.g. in a restaurant "intercepting communications", but when someone calls you it's a no-no. Regardless, in my country recording is perfectly legal and yet Google has disabled it. If this is the law, then don't you think they should either follow it or not? I am not sure how you can only partially follow the law.
      - tyingq 6y ago
        They are doing the lazy thing and configuring it for "lowest common denominator". Yes, it's irritating. The effort to integrate GPS and allow/not-allow would be low. Maybe it's complicated for telephone conversations where you're not breaking a law locally, but are breaking a law remotely?
        varispeed 6y ago
        I'd rather think that insurance companies and similar who rely on sales over the phone lobbied Google to disable it. The law thing for me is too poorly done to be a valid excuse.
joecool1029 6y ago
I got around this limitation by using LineageOS. Unfortunately, I'm forced to compile my own builds with call recording enabled for the US because there's no way to tell which state you're in through MNC-MCC numbers and states like California and Pennsylvania have lame two-party consent laws for recording calls[1][2]. My state is single party consent. Just super lame that all my featurephones from the mid-2000's could record without modification. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_call_recording_laws#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_call_recording_laws#... [2] File to edit: https://github.com/LineageOS/android_packages_apps_Dialer/blob/lineage-18.0/java/com/android/dialer/callrecord/res/xml/call_record_states.xml https://github.com/LineageOS/android_packages_apps_Dialer/bl...
- vorpalhex 6y ago
  One would think a stern warning dialog would be sufficient...
  - dredmorbius 6y ago
    "This call may be recorded..."
- causality0 6y ago
  I'm surprised and disappointed LineageOS disables it as well. Do they block apps with the word "torrent" in them as well?
p_l 6y ago
DISCLAIMER: It's been some time since I used to read release notes for every new api level Well... IIRC there was never an official call recording API, and in fact on some phones it was physically impossible to snoop on the telephony audio. Most recording apps used to either work only on some qualcomm single chip phones where baseband exposed audio path to application processor, or enabled microphone recording in hopes of catching the audio from speakers (and not all phones allowed simultaneous mic use like that).
wtracy 6y ago
This is more a limitation of smartphone hardware than of Android. In most phones, calls are entirely handled by the baseband processor, and the ARM chip never sees any of the audio data. Android doesn't expose it because the hardware doesn't expose it to the OS in the first place.
- varispeed 6y ago
  I am not sure if that is true. I am running Samsung S9 with an early Android version and call recording works just fine. The Samsung released an update that disables call recording altogether (and does not allow you to turn off updates, so I've been postponing the OS update for almost two years now every day or so).

fencepost 6y ago

You may be better off with a VoIP service and a softphone client, though I don't think any are as smooth as the phone native performance

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

tyingq 6y ago

I assume you're up on all the various local laws on recording conversations, so this is for others, not you. Look into it before doing this.

sxiin 6y ago
Not against the law in Finland at least and thus seems unfair that rooting is needed to do this.
varispeed 6y ago
Ok but then why don't they disable the camera and a microphone when you record videos? You can hide the phone in a way that the person you talk to won't see you are recording it. I don't accept this explanation.
- tyingq 6y ago
  Yes, laws overlap. The ones I'm talking about are generally about "intercepting communications" i.e., "recording conversations". In general, the US requires one-party consent, but there are 15 states that require two-party consent.
  - varispeed 6y ago
    So you can put your phone on recording e.g. in a restaurant "intercepting communications", but when someone calls you it's a no-no. Regardless, in my country recording is perfectly legal and yet Google has disabled it. If this is the law, then don't you think they should either follow it or not? I am not sure how you can only partially follow the law.
    - tyingq 6y ago
      They are doing the lazy thing and configuring it for "lowest common denominator". Yes, it's irritating. The effort to integrate GPS and allow/not-allow would be low. Maybe it's complicated for telephone conversations where you're not breaking a law locally, but are breaking a law remotely?
      - varispeed 6y ago
        I'd rather think that insurance companies and similar who rely on sales over the phone lobbied Google to disable it. The law thing for me is too poorly done to be a valid excuse.

joecool1029 6y ago

I got around this limitation by using LineageOS. Unfortunately, I'm forced to compile my own builds with call recording enabled for the US because there's no way to tell which state you're in through MNC-MCC numbers and states like California and Pennsylvania have lame two-party consent laws for recording calls[1][2]. My state is single party consent. Just super lame that all my featurephones from the mid-2000's could record without modification. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_call_recording_laws#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_call_recording_laws#... [2] File to edit: https://github.com/LineageOS/android_packages_apps_Dialer/blob/lineage-18.0/java/com/android/dialer/callrecord/res/xml/call_record_states.xml https://github.com/LineageOS/android_packages_apps_Dialer/bl...

vorpalhex 6y ago
One would think a stern warning dialog would be sufficient...
- dredmorbius 6y ago
  "This call may be recorded..."
causality0 6y ago
I'm surprised and disappointed LineageOS disables it as well. Do they block apps with the word "torrent" in them as well?

p_l 6y ago

DISCLAIMER: It's been some time since I used to read release notes for every new api level Well... IIRC there was never an official call recording API, and in fact on some phones it was physically impossible to snoop on the telephony audio. Most recording apps used to either work only on some qualcomm single chip phones where baseband exposed audio path to application processor, or enabled microphone recording in hopes of catching the audio from speakers (and not all phones allowed simultaneous mic use like that).

wtracy 6y ago

This is more a limitation of smartphone hardware than of Android. In most phones, calls are entirely handled by the baseband processor, and the ARM chip never sees any of the audio data. Android doesn't expose it because the hardware doesn't expose it to the OS in the first place.

varispeed 6y ago
I am not sure if that is true. I am running Samsung S9 with an early Android version and call recording works just fine. The Samsung released an update that disables call recording altogether (and does not allow you to turn off updates, so I've been postponing the OS update for almost two years now every day or so).