Hidden code found in Google Phone app hints at call recording feature for Pixels and other models

by Alan Friedman / Jan 15, 2020, 11:48 PM

Hidden code found in Google Phone app hints at call recording feature for Pixels and other models

The Google Phone app can screen calls, call 9-1-1 automatically in an emergency, make Duo video calls, warn about potential Spam calls, deliver visual voicemail and allow users to multitask while on a call. And if XDA is right, the app will soon give users the opportunity to record phone calls. Strings of code hidden in version 43.0.289191107 of the Google Phone app revealed that there will be an in-call button that will start a new recording.

The Google Phone app is used on Pixel and Android One phones, and also on some Xiaomi handsets. With Xiaomi making the move to the Google Phone app on some models, users lost the ability to record calls which was available with the stock MIUI dialer app. Xiaomi promised its fans that the feature would return in 2020 and this could have provided Google with the incentive to add call recording to the Google Phone app. And since the strings of code don't mention Xiaomi by name, we can assume that the new feature won't be restricted to that manufacturer's phones only.

Google stopped offering an official call recording API since Android 6. This means that users who wanted this feature had to hope that the company that manufactured the device in their hands had included it with their own pre-installed dialer app. However, Google shut that door to manufacturers in Android 9, concerned about the legal ramifications of recording calls in countries where it is not allowed.

So far, the latest version of the Phone app does not have the in-call button for recording. Hopefully, Google will make this official soon. Just to be clear, just because the code did surface in the latest version of the Google Phone app doesn't mean that it is certain that the feature will definitely appear now, in the near future or ever.

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6 Comments

1. fisher

Posts: 16; Member since: Jan 29, 2016

Awesome. i have been waiting for this since forever. most of 3rd party apps are not good

posted on 4 days ago, 2:21 AM 1

2. XP007

Posts: 24; Member since: Oct 21, 2019

I have tried using Nokia and Xiaomi phones with stock Android (Android One devices) and I don't like it at all because it doesn't have many usefull features that available on phones with custom UI.

posted on 4 days ago, 3:04 AM 1

4. Georgio

Posts: 325; Member since: Nov 21, 2016

I had many phones with custom UI ; most of their features are useless . It's hard to find even one useful feature

posted on 4 days ago, 3:51 AM 1

9. Blazers

Posts: 778; Member since: Dec 05, 2011

Systemwide dark mode for non-android 10 devices.

posted on 4 days ago, 3:48 PM 1

10. XP007

That means you're one of those people who isn't smart enough to know that phones with custom IU have many useful features. Almost all the usefull features that are now on stock Android originated or were already on phones with custom UI long before Google put those features on stock Android.