How to Record a Phone Call on Any Device

The recording of phone calls is a popular practice, especially for businesses that offer call center services. Having calls recorded can be useful for several reasons.

This article will provide insights into how to record phone calls on various devices. Without further ado, let’s get started. 

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When might you need to record a phone call?

Recording phone calls can be necessary for certain work or personal life situations. For example, customer service companies need clear recordings of conversations with customers, and call centers want to capture conversations with potential leads.

People may also record phone calls to use them as proof in court in case of illegal activities. In fact, the main reason why companies might need to record phone calls is for legal purposes.

By recording calls, they can save themselves from possible misunderstandings or accusations of unfair treatment. 

Let’s look at some specific examples of call recording purposes in more detail

#1 Agent training

Recording phone calls is a great way for call center agents to get the training they require on any topic. With this method, your employees can go back to recordings of conversations and review them.

Such training can include: 

• Teaching the appropriate call strategy when onboarding new agents based on real-life examples
• Developing and improving the communication skills of your staff
• Explaining how to make calls so agents comply with company policies and regulations 
• Enhancing employees’ abilities to handle difficult customers 

Whether you are training new hires or educating existing staff on new procedures, phone call recordings are much more convenient than creating separate training guides. 

 They are also more cost-effective than other methods, such as corporate training. Learning from call recordings doesn’t require physical presence. Win-win.

#2 Performance monitoring

Apart from training your employees, call recording also allows you to monitor their performance. The benefits of using call recordings for this purpose vary. 

First of all, they allow managers to accurately assess how well employees are performing in their jobs. Recordings can show if and how employees: 

• interact with customers
• follow company procedures
• communicate with their co-workers
• offer services and products

Additionally, recording calls significantly reduces the likelihood of misunderstandings occurring between managers and employees. This is because discussions can be easily reviewed, meaning any issues can be quickly analyzed and addressed. 

#3 Solving complaints

Phone call recordings can also be used in the case of solving customer complaints. It is a sensible strategy to document customer service interactions for tough conversations.

A manager can’t always monitor everything. By recording customer interactions, organizations are able to have an understanding of what went wrong. Thanks to this, they can also fix the underlying issues. The recordings will further be available for reference, in case the same complaint occurs again.

Call recordings are very helpful if a company has to deal with dishonest clients. Due to the fact they are great evidence in case of any irregularities, many businesses use this tool.

Is call recording legal?

It’s worth keeping in mind that there are different laws around the world concerning the legalities of recording phone calls. Let’s look at some of them.

Call recording in the United States

Federal laws in the US permit recording phone calls with the consent of at least one of the involved persons, which is a practice known as one-party consent. According to this law, you can record phone calls as long as you actively participate in the conversation that takes place.

Additionally, this rule means that the person or organization recording a call may itself provide “consent” without notifying the other party about it. This approach is certainly different from that of the European Union, for example, as it means that a lot of the time customers may not know that their phone conversations with agents are being recorded.

Call recording in the European Union

Unless you have a legitimate business reason for recording calls, you cannot record calls in the EU as per GDPR laws. GDPR call recording rules are designed to consolidate the various regulations, laws, and guidelines of the European Union. They also give EU citizens more control over what data businesses collect and store.

The person being recorded must give their consent, and the reason must be one of the following:

• There is a legal requirement to record the call in order to fulfill a contract.
• One or more participants on the call need to have the call recorded to protect their vital interests. For example, they need to make sure they follow all company or state legislation.
• Call recordings are made in the public interest or as part of the exercise of public authorities.
• Call recordings are made in the legitimate interests of the recorder or a third party.

Call recording in Australia

The law concerning recording phone calls has changed recently in this country. The Telecommunications (Interception) Act 1997 in Australia used to prohibit the implementation of technology for call recording Yet now, it is perfectly legal to do so in all jurisdictions, as long as everyone involved agrees on it.

How to record a phone call on a computer?

Now that you know why and how recording your calls may be helpful, let’s look at how you can do so on various devices. We will start with a laptop or PC.

CloudTalk

First, let’s discuss CloudTalk, our fully cloud-based call center software. Of the many world-leading features offered by this tool, call recording is especially worthy of your attention. 

With our tool, all calls may be automatically recorded. As soon as a call ends, you can listen to it directly from your internet browser – anywhere and at any time. All you need is a device with a stable Internet connection. 

You can effortlessly access all recordings via the API and download them as a standard HTTP (website) link. You can save this link and store it anywhere you need, for example in your internal system. Such as a CRM.

Through CloudTalk, your call recordings are available quickly and easily, without any hassle. Thanks to this feature, monitoring your team’s calls to improve customer interaction becomes a piece of cake.

What are other reasons to record calls with CloudTalk?

• you have instant access to business insights
• you can use the recordings to train your staff
• you will understand customer needs more easily
• you automatically gain recordings sent to your FTP server to keep them organized in one place
• you may evaluate best practices for efficient and high-quality customer service

If this isn’t enough, CloudTalk offers much more. You can check all of our available features here.

Other call recording software

Naturally, there are alternative tools out there. Some examples include:

• Bitrix24
• LiveAgent 
• Call Center studio 
• Oreka TR
• Zendesk
• Gong.io

If you’re looking for call recording software, always make sure to check out customer reviews beforehand on sites like Capterra or G2.

How to record a phone call on an iPhone

As we have already mentioned, recording phone calls is also possible on phones. First of all, you will most likely need a special app designed for this purpose, as it is a feature that is not offered by Apple. Secondly, such apps are often not free and so you may have to pay for a subscription plan.

It may also be worth reading some reviews about these apps and comparing their pricing and features. The better you inform yourself before picking an app, the greater the chance that you will be satisfied with it.

Rev Call Recorder

Unlike many other apps out there, Rav Call Recorder is the completely free call recorder app for iPhone. 

The best part about this tool is the fact that there are no hidden charges or ads. Every feature is well described and there’s no limit on the length of recorded calls.

However, the app will charge if you want to get your calls transcripted.

TapeACall Pro 

TapeACall Pro is another reliable recording app in the App Store. You can record any call with it, although it isn’t free.

As soon as you tap on the recording button, the app will create a three-way conference call with the third line being used to record the call. The quality of recordings is very high and they are shareable directly through the app – via email or social media.

Some other apps that are worth checking out include Call Recorder iCall, Call Recorder Lite, RecMyCalls, and Call Recorder IntCall.

How to record a phone call on Android

Similarly to Apple phones, you will need software dedicated to recording calls on Android devices. This is because the operating system also doesn’t offer its own internal app for this purpose.

Google Voice

One of the possible options for recording calls on an Android phone is Google Voice.

Google Voice Call Recorder is a great tool for those who are looking for a simple, non-intrusive method of recording voice calls. It’s easy to use and does not require any extra hardware, which makes it perfect for those who are on a tight budget.

Cube Call Recorder ACR

If you don’t think that Google Voice is the solution for you, there are plenty of other apps available out there. One of them is Cube Call Recorder ACR. 

This app is an intelligent call recorder for Android. It can capture phone conversations, record WhatsApp calls, and use a Viber call recorder. If that isn’t enough, you can even use it for Skype, Telegram, WeChat, and more. 

But make sure that you ask the person on the other end of the call if they give consent for the call to be recorded every time before you press the record button. This will ensure that nobody feels uncomfortable or has any complaints about being recorded without their knowledge.

Wrapping up

To sum up, call recording can be useful in many cases and for various business reasons. Starting from employee training, through performance monitoring, all the way up to solving complaints from difficult customers. 

There are different laws, regulating call recordings in various continents and countries. Though, it’s a great tool to have if you know how to use it right. It’s possible to utilize it on any device, while each of them has strong software and applications to choose from. 

If you enjoyed this article, you are more than welcome to take a look at some of the other publications on our blog. 

Happy call recording!