Posted On 23 Apr 2020

There are many good reasons to record your phone calls, whether it’s as a reminder so you can review a conversation later, to protect yourself against false witnesses, or even just to be able to listen to your loved one’s voice at a later date. The one thing you must remember though is that different jurisdictions have different regulations about recording telephone calls, and in many areas the consent of your interlocutor must be gained before recording otherwise it certainly won’t be admissible in any legal proceedings and could actually put you on the wrong end of such proceedings yourself.

Although neither Android nor iOS offers inbuilt call recording features, there are numerous apps available that can do it for you. One of the best of these, and most frequently used by professionals, is TapeACall Pro ($20 a year; there is a free version but it only records the first minute of your conversation). All you have to do is dial the company number and then the person you intend to speak to, and it effectively becomes a three-way conference call that is recorded for you; these recordings can then be shared on Evernote, Google Drive, or Dropbox. Other free applications are available, but this one is generally regarded as the gold standard.

If you prefer a hardware solution, there are plenty available at low prices, e.g. the Olympus Telephone Recording Device ($14). This simply plugs into the microphone jack of any digital recorder and its earpiece will record both your words and those of your interlocutor.