Truecaller to stop offering its Call Recording feature from this date

Truecaller has announced that it will stop offering its call recording feature from May 11 after Google updated its Play Store policy. As per Google’s new Play Store policy, the accessibility of third-party applications to the Accessibility API will be restricted from May 11.

According to the new rules of Google, all call recording apps including all legit call recording apps on Android and Google Play store will stop working from May 11. 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. Note that first party dialler apps and the Google Dialer pre-installed on phones will still allow users to record phone calls, in specific regions.

Reports have suggested that Google made this change to provide more privacy to Android users, and to comply with call recording laws globally.

Truecaller released a statement regrading this change that said, “Call Recording on Truecaller was free for everyone, permission-based and required users to enable the feature using the Google Accessibility API.” The statement also added that the company introduced this call recording feature for all Android smartphones after receiving an overwhelming consumer demand. However, as per the updated Google Developer Program policies, they can’t offer the feature any longer.

As per the new directive of Google, the Accessibility API is not designed and cannot be requested for remote call audio recording. The Accessibility API is also utilised by apps designed to help users with accessibility issues on Android.

With the introduction of the new rules, users who are using a smartphone that runs on Android 10 or newer versions of Google’s operating system will no longer be able to record apps using third-party apps. Like we said earlier, the policy change will not affect Android handsets that have call recording built-in originally.

Furthermore, the smartphones which ship with the Google Dialer pre-installed will still be able to record phone calls, however, it will depend on the region and manufacturer. This change will affect many users  who often use the call recording feature. This may lead to users downloading the recoding apps from outside the Google Play store, which may make them vulnerable to data theft by malicious apps.

Also Read: Truecaller Crosses 300 Million Active Users Globally