With the introduction of a new Play Store policy, Google is making a significant adjustment. All Android users who use third-party call recording apps will be affected by this regulation, which will be phased out starting next month. This adjustment is part of Google’s ongoing efforts to eliminate the practice of call recording, for which it has already taken various steps. Here are the important details to be aware of.
Apps for Recording Phone Calls May Be On Their Way Out Soon!
Google has published a host of new Play Store restrictions, one of which suggests that many developers who use its Accessibility service to give consumers with call recording apps would no longer be able to do so. This means that Android users will no longer be able to use third-party call recording apps. Beginning May 11, this modification will take effect.
“The Accessibility API is not designed and cannot be requested for remote call audio recording,” according to Google’s support website. It was first discovered by a Reddit user.
For those unfamiliar, the Accessibility API allowed developers to provide call recording services to Android 10 and higher users while Google prohibited this functionality by default. With Android 6.0, Google began blocking the official call recording API. However, you should be aware that Google’s Pixel phones, as well as a few OEMs such as Xiaomi and Oppo, have in-built call recording.
Users of these businesses’ phones can breathe a sigh of relief, since the new policy change will not affect Android smartphones that have built-in call recording capabilities. “Remote in this case refers to call audio recording where the person on the other end is unaware that the recording is taking place,” Google stated in a video conference.
Although we don’t know if this rigorous restriction is actually a smart idea, given that an inherent call recording capability is still very much present, the rationale for this absolute blockage of call recording apps is for the privacy and safety of customers.
It will be interesting to observe how third-party call recording software developers react to this news, as well as what alternatives are available for users who rely on these apps.