Truecaller has confirmed that it will stop providing the option to record phone calls across the globe after the updated Google Developer Program policies were announced.
Google is making another big attempt to stop third-party call recording Android apps. As per the new directive from Google, starting May 11, it will ban all call recording apps on Google Play store. In fact, all legit call recording apps on Android will stop working. So, if you wish to record voice calls on your phone then you will have to rely on the native call recording feature that is available on your smartphone. If your smartphone doesn’t have an in-built call recording feature then you will not be able to record calls after May 11.
Having said that, you can always use any voice recording app on another smartphone to record a phone call after putting the call on the speaker.
One of the most popular dialer apps in India– Truecaller– is also used by a lot of users to record voice calls. In fact, call recording is one of the most in-demand features of the Truecaller app in India. Sadly, Truecaller has confirmed that it will stop providing the option to record phone calls across the globe.
In a statement to News18 Tech, an official Truecaller spokesperson said, “At Truecaller, we had introduced call recording for all Android smartphones based on overwhelming consumer requests. Call Recording on Truecaller was free for everyone, permission based and required users to enable the feature using the Google Accessibility API. However, as per the updated Google Developer Program policies, we are unable to offer call recording any longer.”
Truecaller clarified that this will not affect devices that have call recording built into the device natively. Few smartphone brands like Xiaomi, Samsung, OnePlus and Oppo among others offer their built-in call recorder feature, which will continue to work even after May 11.
WHAT’S THE PROBLEM WITH CALL RECORDING APPS?
Google has been taking action against call recording for a few years now. It started with the Android 10 version when Google said that the call recording feature won’t be available for users, as part of its privacy and security strategy. All call recording apps, including Truecaller, were using Accessibility API for offering this feature. Now, Accessibility API covers a lot of aspects and rogue developers were found to be misusing these permissions to track users.
Now, Google is removing access to its Accessibility API for call recording purposes, which means all the third-party apps lose their core functionality.
