Truecaller FREE Call Recording no more! And Google is the reason behind it

If you fell in love with the free call recording feature on Truecaller, prepare to be heartbroken. Soon after Google revised its policies regarding call recording apps on the Google Play Store, Truecaller has gone ahead and removed the feature from its app. The feature is still around and has not gone away immediately, but Truecaller says it will go away on May 11, when those new guidelines are enforced.

“As per the updated Google Developer Program policies, we are unable to offer call recordings any longer. This will not affect devices that have call recording built into the device natively,” said a Truecaller spokesperson. "We had introduced call recording for all Android smartphones based on overwhelming consumer demand. Call Recording on Truecaller was free for everyone, permission-based and required users to enable the feature using the Google Accessibility API,” the spokesperson added.

Truecaller first to confirm following new Google policies

Prior to this, Google announced a change in its policies that prevented third-party call recording apps to stop the call recording feature. Google had initially blocked call recording on Android with the release of Android 10. However, third-party apps continued to do so by using the Accessibility API, which was exempt from the block. Google is now putting a stop to that from May 11, when these new guidelines will be implemented.

“The Accessibility API is not designed and cannot be requested for remote call audio recording,” reads one of the clauses from the updated Play Store policies.

While that seems like a major step towards privacy and security, call recording from Android phones is not going away anywhere. While third-party apps cannot use the API anymore, the in-built app can continue to do so. Hence, if you have got a phone made by Samsung, Xiaomi or any other brand that offers a native call recording function within the app, you can continue to do so without any worry. Additionally, the Google Phone app can also do call recording but it continues to notify the caller on other side.

Truecaller had last updated the app in November 2021 with a couple of new features, in which the call recording feature was a part of. This update has introduced Video called ID< a new user interface, a Call Announce feature for Gold and Premium members, and a Ghost Call feature that comes as a prank.