Google is killing third-party call recording apps on Android starting May 11

Google has been trying to restrict third-party call recording apps on its Android operating system for a long time now. With Android 6 Marshmallow, the company killed the APIs that enabled developers to build call recording feature in their apps. And with Android 10, the company killed all workarounds that developers had used to enable call recording feature in their apps. Additionally, the company also blocked call recording functionality over the microphone. Now, as a final measure, the company is killing Android’s Accessibility APIs as well.

“The Accessibility API is not designed and cannot be requested for remote call audio recording,” Google wrote in a support page documenting the changes in its Developer Program Policy. This means that Google’s Android mobile operating system will stop supporting recording functionality in apps starting May 11.

In a webinar on YouTube, the company clarified that this change will only affect third-party apps. “Remote in this context refers to call audio recording where the person on the other end is unaware of the recording is taking place. So, 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 and hence would not be in violation. Since this is a clarification to an existing policy, the new language will apply to all apps starting May 11th,” Google said in the webinar, as reported by XDA Developers.

It is worth noting that in-built apps will not get affected by this change. This means that in-built call recording apps that are available as a part of custom skins offered by companies such as Samsung, OnePlus, Xiaomi and Oppo will not get affected by this change.

As far as the change is concerned, it remains uncertain how Google plans to implement this policy. Google hasn’t confirmed if it will simply block the phone or if it will ask the app developers to remove their apps from the Play Store when the date nears.

Separately, the company is also planning to introduce a Self-Share feature on Android smartphones that will enable users to share files with their devices using the company’s Nearby Share feature without requiring explicitl permission each time.

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