Google will start prohibiting third-party call recording applications in the Google Play Store on May 11, 2022.
No more third-party call-recording apps
NLL Apps, a Reddit member, reported the regulation change and elaborated on the current situation. To recall, Google started blocking access to the call recording feature on Android 6. They are also completely disabled call recording over the microphone on Android 10.
But since Android 10, third-party apps found a solution for that and use Accessibility API for call recording. However, their time has come because Google will restrict them from using Accessibility API according to its coming policy.
The new policy says simply that “The Accessibility API is not designed and cannot be requested for remote call audio recording.”.
This new policy only covers third-party apps on Google Play Store but is not the default dialer on some smartphones. Some examples of this are the Google Phone and Mi Dialer from Pixel and Xiaomi devices.
During the special developer webinar, Moun Choi, Google content operations lead, addressed the clear implications: “Remote in this context refers to call audio recording where the person on the other end is unaware of the recording is taking place.”
He also added that “If the app is the default dialer on the phone and also pre-loaded, accessibility capability is not required to get access to the incoming audio stream. Hence would not be in violation. Since this is a clarification to an existing policy, the new language will apply to all apps starting on May 11th.”
This call recording feature is very helpful to other users, especially for business purposes. It may also cause users to force download apps from untrusted sources just to enable this feature.
