Reports earlier this month revealed that the Google Phone app may soon get a native call-recording feature, and latest developments now suggest that it is functional in version 44 of the application. According to XDA, which apparently managed to get the feature to work on some devices, there’s a ‘Record’ button that initiates voice recording during any incoming or outgoing calls. There’s also a ‘Share’ button that will allow the recorded audio file to be uploaded to an external server or shared online as a .wav file.
The report further claims that it should also be possible to view a transcript of any recorded phone calls, although, that particular functionality is seemingly still not functional in the latest build. One important thing to note here is that every time somebody initiates call-recording, the app will let the person at the other end know that the conversation is being recorded. The call-recording feature reportedly works on a number of devices, including the Pixel 4 and the OnePlus 7 Pro, but not on the Pixel 4 XL for some reason. However, given the latest developments, that’s likely to change sooner rather than later.
As mentioned already hints about the call-recording feature within the Google Phone app were originally spotted within version 43.0.289191107 of the Google Phone app earlier this month. However, even though the feature has now seemingly been confirmed, it still isn’t clear as to whether it would be restricted to Pixel devices or if Google intends to roll it out on all Android smartphones.
It’s also possible that it will only be available on Xiaomi devices for now, given that the aforementioned strings were only discovered after the Chinese firm announced plans to pre-install the Google Phone app instead of the default MIUI dialer on all its future smartphones in Europe to comply with the EU’s new privacy laws. While the default MIUI dialer has a built-in call-recording feature, the function is conspicuous by its absence from Google Phone, so it’s certainly a welcome step from Google to incorporate the feature in its in-house dialer app.
