How to Record a Phone Call On Your Smartphone or Computer

You may remember the last call you had at work. But if you need to listen back later or fill someone in on what happened during the conversation, odds are you won’t be 100% accurate unless you record the call. From pivotal meetings to customer service calls, you could find yourself needing call recordings for all kinds of reasons. 

How you record a phone call depends on the device you use — iPhone, Android, PC, or Mac.

Read on to learn about the easiest way to record a phone call, the legality of recording, and how to select the best phone recording app.

How to record phone calls on an iPhone

Apple doesn’t have a built-in recording feature that lets you record calls from your iPhone. However, there is a workaround. You’ll need the Voice Memos app on a second device and use it to record your call while it’s on speakerphone.

Fortunately, there are better options that don’t require multiple devices. We’ll explore the best one shortly.

How to record phone calls on an Android 

Just like iPhones, Android phones don’t have a built-in recording feature. You could manually record your customers’ calls using an external recorder, but this isn’t reliable. Plus, exporting the recording and sending it to team members can be time-consuming. Another option is to use a business phone app with built-in business call recording like OpenPhone. 

The best 4 apps for recording calls

Call recording apps don’t require a second device to record your calls, but for some calls, you may need more than a basic recording app. Let’s take a look at four of the most popular on the market depending on different use cases.

1. OpenPhone: Best solution for all your phone communication

OpenPhone is a VoIP app that lets you easily call, text, and record phone calls from your computer, tablet, or smartphone. When it comes to recording phone calls, OpenPhone’s mobile app makes it easy whether you’re using an iPhone or Android device. 

During a phone call from your mobile device, simply swipe up on the call control panel to select Record, and you’re good to go.

Then, you can locate the call recording in the relevant conversation thread. From there, you can play, download, export, or delete the recording if you’re an admin user. OpenPhone also offers users on Business and Enterprise plans an auto-record feature you can turn on via the desktop app, so you don’t have to hit record every time.

OpenPhone offers other advanced business call features, like auto-reply and auto-attendant, to provide service to customers more quickly. Our AI call summaries and transcriptions help you review customer conversations faster since you automatically get a summary of every call after it ends. Plus, you’ll get a transcript broken down by timestamp and speaker, which helps you find specific information you need.

OpenPhone allows you to make free calls to anyone in the US or Canada through WiFi calling and record calls right from an active call.

Anyone with access to shared numbers can access the recordings anytime, making it easy to keep your whole team on the same page when solving customer issues.

OpenPhone pricing

• Starter: $15 per user per month for shared phone numbers, free calls and texts in the US and Canada, voicemail transcriptions, one new local or toll-free number per user, and more
• Business: $23 per user per month for call recording, call transferring, CRM integrations (Salesforce and HubSpot), analytics, auto-attendant (IVR), and more
• Enterprise: Custom price for priority support, audit logs, a dedicated account manager, and more

Record your calls with OpenPhone

OpenPhone has plenty of advanced functionality, but it’s simple to get started recording calls. Once you create an account and try out OpenPhone during a free seven day trial, follow these steps to record a call from your phone:

1. Answer or make a call from either of the mobile apps.
2. Press the Record button to start recording the call.

2. Rev Call Recorder: Best for a one-off call

Rev is a call recording app designed for iPhone users who want to record their incoming and outgoing calls. With Rev, you can get a human audio transcription of your recorded phone calls, which costs $1.50 per minute. If you have a large team that makes and receives a lot of phone calls, these costs can add up over time.

Rev also offers a cheaper option: AI automated transcriptions, which cost 25 cents per minute. These are 90% accurate, and you can expect to wait up to 5 minutes to generate a transcription of a 30-minute phone call.

Rev’s transcripts are accurate and searchable by specific words or phrases, so you can easily locate certain points of your conversations. You can get your transcriptions in the app or via email. Plus, you can share call recordings with team members via Dropbox, email, or Evernote. 

Ultimately, Rev doesn’t offer full business functionality. All of your recordings will be stored in that app rather than embedded within your existing contact’s conversation thread. On top of that, Rev isn’t compatible with Android devices. That’s why a VoIP system like OpenPhone makes more sense for growing businesses looking to stay organized and professional.

Rev pricing

Unlimited call recording for outgoing and incoming calls: Free

Transcriptions: $1.50 per minute for human transcription service and 25 cents per minute for automated call transcriptions

3. TapeACall Pro: Best for Zoom call recordings

TapeACall Pro is a call recording app for iPhone and Android users. It lets you record incoming and outgoing calls for an unlimited amount of time, so you don’t need to worry about how long you’re on the phone. TapeACall Pro doesn’t offer a free version, and its pricing plans are more expensive compared to other call recording apps. 

With TapeACall Pro, you can record Zoom meetings on your smartphone, which is great for jumping on a call while you’re away from your computer. You’ll need additional setup time to record meetings and have information handy, like the Zoom location number, Zoom passcode, and Zoom Meeting ID. 

Once you record your calls, you can share them with team members via SMS, email,  X (formerly Twitter), and Facebook. Plus, TapeACall Pro offers unlimited call storage, so you don’t have to worry about the app deleting important customer conversations at a later date.

TapeACall Pro

In addition to the $10.99 fee to download the app, subscriptions cost the following:

• Monthly: $9.99 per month for incoming and outgoing call recording, unlimited storage, transcriptions, and more
• Annual: $59.99 per year for the same features as the monthly pricing model

4. Google Voice: Best for Google Workspace users

You’ve probably heard of Google Voice, one of the most popular VoIP calling solutions, and their free version is available in the US. But it’s limited in terms of your ability to work as a team. Google Voice for Business is a paid service you can use to receive calls over WiFi.

To record your Google Voice calls, you need to: 

1. Turn on call recording in the Google Voice app settings. 
2. When you pick up the phone on a call you wish to record, press 4 to start recording and gain permission to record. Press 4 to stop recording.
3. When you hang up, the recording will be stored in Google Voice, just like a voicemail.

Perhaps Google Voice’s biggest flaw: you can’t auto-record calls unless you pay $36 per user per month (that includes paying a minimum of $6 per user per month for Google Workspace). They also only allow you to record incoming calls, making it an impractical long-term business solution. Plus, Google Voice doesn’t provide a desktop app, which means you might waste time trying to find the right browser tab. You’ll also t miss out on ways to save time due to their limited integration options — Voice is only compatible with Google’s ecosystem, including Gmail, Calendar, and Chat. 

Google Voice pricing

Google Voice’s paid plans require you to have an active Google Workspace subscription (starting at $6 per user per month) on top of one of these three Google Voice plans:

• Starter: $10 per user per month (max 10 users) for calls in the US and Canada, voicemail transcriptions, call forwarding, and more
• Standard: $20 per user per month for ring groups, multi-level auto-attendants, and ad-hoc call recording
• Premier: $30 per user per month for automatic call recording and advanced reporting

How to record telephone conversations on your computer 

Not all phone calls are conducted via mobile devices. Signing up with a VoIP provider like OpenPhone allows you to place (and record) phone calls from any supported WiFi-enabled device, which includes iPads, web, or desktop apps.

That’s right — you can auto-record all calls from the comfort of your desktop screen. 

If you wish instead to manually record a specific conversation, you can do that as well. When you place or receive a call through OpenPhone, the call menu will appear on your screen. Among the call menu options, you’ll find the record button. Simply press it, and a clock will begin counting for the duration of your call, ensuring you know not only that you’re recording but also the length of each call recording.

💡Check out our guide to learn how to call someone from your computer.

4 ways call recording can help your business

Maybe you take meticulous notes or have a good memory. But in every line of business, you’ll need to conduct job interviews, meetings, customer service calls, and more. Learning to record a phone call will give you a clear record of who said what and provide quality-control assurances. 

Here are several scenarios where call recording could prove useful for your business.

1. Find coaching opportunities for your sales or customer service reps

Quality assurance monitoring is one of the top uses for phone call recording. Your team can use the recordings to better train customer service representatives and support struggling employees.

Your sales team can also use call recordings to improve their pitches, show examples to new hires, review abandoned calls for opportunities, and better understand how to satisfy clients and potential clients.

2. Allow team members to listen to interviews at a later date and time

There are different kinds of interviews,  including job interviews and journalistic interviews. For instance, if a member of the hiring committee is unable to attend a candidate’s interview, they may wish to listen later via the recording. 

And if you’re conducting an interview for your website, call recording is useful for catching direct quotes and protecting you from potential lawsuits.

3.  Make it easy for team members to collaborate

Businesses have a lot of moving parts. When it comes to client communication, it’s easy for things to get forgotten. Your teammates may also be on different pages, making your company look unorganized to clients.

When you record client calls, all your teammates have access to the same reliable information. You can use this information to update project progress, respond to client requests, or review your communication strategy.

​​OpenPhone: The VoIP business phone to record a phone call

OpenPhone strives to be the best choice when it comes to VoIP call recording and business phone service. Call recording works in tandem with OpenPhone’s other stand-out business features to create an  easy-to-navigate platform where you can keep track of all customer conversations.

No matter what device you’re working with — iPhone, Android, web, or desktop — OpenPhone allows you access to high-quality call recordings, which you can automate. Just remember to inform the party on the other end that you’re recording, and you’re good to go. Plus, you can store all your calls for an unlimited amount of time on every plan.

Sign up for your free seven-day OpenPhone trial today to begin recording your phone conversations and taking advantage of shared numbers, auto-replies, and other unique calling features.

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