A person may want to record their call for many reasons. It could be a phone call with instructions for something you can’t write down, a way to get reassurance and proof about a conversation you might want to refer to later, and more.
However, it seems that Google sees more negatives than positives when it comes to this topic. From May 11, 2022, it will officially make changes to the Google Play Store policy that bans Android apps from recording calls.
The information comes from Reddit user NLL apps, who say the new policy will affect the Accessibility API. Until now, developers have been using the Accessibility API to get around Google’s previous changes that made the existence of such apps more difficult, something the company has been slowly but surely working on, and it appears that this is the final nail in the way. coffin. is. Ivia 91mobilesI
Google itself came forward to address the policy changes in a developer webinar. “The Accessibility API has not been designed and cannot be requested for remote audio recording,” the search giant said. The reasons behind this decision are probably what you have already guessed: privacy and security.
A little saving grace
The good news is that while Play Store apps can no longer offer call recording, pre-installed first-party apps can’t. For example, if your phone already comes with some form of native call recording, you can still use it. During the webinar where the company discussed this change, Google stated that as long as the app is the default dialer or preloaded, it does not require an accessibility capability to access the incoming audio stream and is not a violation.
Who knows, maybe there will be a new loophole later on. For now, though, it looks like developers will have to abide by the new policy. If not, Google may very well remove the apps that don’t.