Having only launched a week ago, Android users are still figuring out all the changes and quirks introduced in the 9.0 Pie update. For example, just yesterday PiunikaWeb reported that third-party call recording apps will no longer work in Android 9.0, and multiple app developers are telling their users as much.
As PiunikaWeb explains, there was once an official call recording API in the mobile OS, but it was removed in Android 6.0 Marshmallow. That’s when third-party developers began releasing their own solutions, but nearly three years later, it appears that Google is putting an end to call recording once and for all. Unless there is a new official solution from Google around the corner, the only way to record calls on an Android now is to root it first.
“We would like to inform our users that there will be no call recording workaround on Android 9 and above,” wrote the developers of the Call Recorder – ACR app on their forums. “No call recording app will be able to do so.”
Boldbeast, the developer of another app called Call Recorder, first told their users to attempt to use Record Mode 13 within the app after updating to Android 9.0, but when a forum member explained that it still didn’t work, the developer said the following: “So root is the only way to go, [there] is no other solution in the market.”
There were rumors that call recording would return in Android Pie, and there was even hard evidence that Google was at least looking into it on the Issue Tracker, but now that the update has launched, the feature is nowhere to be found. That doesn’t mean it won’t be added later down the road, but for now, the only way to record a call on Android is to root it, which, just in case you weren’t aware, will void the warranty on your device.
