How to Record Calls on Your iPhone

Recording calls isn’t something most people need to do, and it isn’t even legal everywhere or under all circumstances. So it makes sense Apple hasn’t installed a call recording app as a core component of iOS on iPhone, as is the case with Voice Memo. However, there are situations where it’s perfectly fine to record a call, such as if you’re interviewing over the phone or otherwise have legal permission to record.

If you want to record both incoming and outgoing calls, your best bet is a call recording app. There aren’t very many good free call recording apps out there, but there are quite a few options if you’re willing to pay a fairly modest amount. We’ve tried out some call recorders, while others receive high ratings from users. Also, note that the website GetHuman is a potential workaround for specifically recording customer service calls or finding res to fix consumer-related problems.

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iPhone apps

If you have consent and it’s legal, there are several useful apps that let you record a call on your iPhone. Here are a few good ones.

TapeACall Pro ($11)

If you don’t mind paying for a decent phone app, consider TapeACall Pro. For $11, you get unlimited recording for one year, regardless of who or where you’re calling, but the costs go up to $20 per year after that. TapeACall creates a three-way call between you, the caller you want to record, and the company’s service. When you’re on a call you want to record, just launch TapeACall and tap the record button. The app dials the TapeACall access number and begins recording. Then, merge the calls into a three-way conference call, and the phone conversation is recorded. Keep in mind this app only works if your carrier supports three-way conference calls, so make sure to check your carrier supports it. SimpleTalk and H2o Wireless within the U.S. do not, but other carriers will vary.

When you’re done speaking, the recordings are available in the app. You then get a to access your recordings privately on the web, or to share via email, text, or social media. Or you can simply download your recording to your computer or upload it to Dropbox, Google Drive, or other cloud storage. You can access transcripts of the calls and word searching, too, but it’ll cost you extra on top of your subscription costs, which some people may find a little too much. Still, even with those additional costs, this is definitely the best call recording iPhone app out there.

App Store

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Call Recorder Pro ($10)

You can record incoming or outgoing calls with this app, but you must first set up a three-way call by putting your call on hold, dialing in the recorder through the app, and then merging the calls. But that means you can start recording calls already in progress, which is can be a real advantage. Call Recorder Pro is a reliable service that makes it simple to manage your recordings, and you can download them and share them via SMS, email, Dropbox, and other apps. The $10 fee will get you 300 minutes, but you can also buy 150 minutes for $5 or 30 minutes for $1. While there’s no unlimited package option, this pay-as-you-go approach would be perfect if you don’t need to record many calls.

App Store

IntCall Call Recorder (free)

IntCall Call Recorder helps you dial and record national or international calls and save those recordings on your phone. You must use a GSM carrier and support both hold and conference calling. With pay-per-minute rates, IntCall may be an excellent choice depending on the country you’re calling. The app operates by pre-paid credit or pay-as-you-go and makes the calls over the VoIP. They calculate the price of each call per destination and minute. You also can get a weekly subscription calling via normal channels, but in that case, you must make a conference for the recording. You can purchase additional minutes for $5, $10, or $20, but the calling cost per minute varies, so check out the price list first — you can reach most countries for 10 to 20 cents per minute. Updated features include support for iOS 14, the ability to show the phone number and name of outgoing calls in the recordings and history screens if derived from your address book, and the ability to email the recording to yourself automatically.

App Store

Phone Call Recorder — ACR (free)

This highly rated app is a full-featured, high-quality auto phone call recorder app that helps you record an unlimited number of outgoing or incoming calls. Once completed, the recording is available to listen to, delete, save to Dropbox, iCloud, and Google Drive; or share via email, iMessage, or social media. ACR Call Recorder uses your carrier’s conference call feature to record conversations. The app features unlimited incoming, outgoing, and photo call recording, access to recordings directly after the recorded conversation, the ability to share recordings in multiple ways, or export recordings to third-party apps.

App Store

How to record an incoming call using Google Voice

If you’re looking for a good, free option with the ability to record incoming calls, and unwanted call filters, Google Voice might be the ideal choice. You must port your phone number over to Google to get access to the recording feature, and it can’t record outgoing calls. This makes it rather inconvenient if you’re hoping to record any conversations that you need to initiate, or if you like your current carrier, but it’s a small sacrifice if you want free recording. Read our guide on how to set up Google Voice if you’re not familiar with the app.

To record incoming calls with your Google Voice account on iOS 13 and 14, you first need to set up an account. Just go to Google Voice and follow the instructions. Once your account is up and running, the next step is to enable call recording so you can record and automatically save your conversation as an MP3 file.

Step 1: Navigate to the main Google Voice homepage.

Step 2: Click on Settings (gear icon) on the upper left-hand corner of the window.

Step 3: Scroll down to the Calls section and make sure that Incoming Call Options is enabled.

If you’re looking for a way to listen to recorded calls on your iPhone, you need to download the Google Voice app. The Google Voice app tracks and records all your calls when you hit the number 4 on your keypad at some point during the call. However, you’ll have to answer the call within the app itself by using your provided Google Voice number. Be aware that you won’t be able to successfully record phone conversations using just your iPhone’s phone number. When you do this, you and the person on the other line will hear an automated voice message announcing that the call will be recorded. You can easily stop recording by hitting the number 4 on your keypad again or simply by hanging up. Once the recording has stopped, Google will automatically save the conversation so you can refer to it later. 

If all the settings are correct and you’ve already answered and recorded a call using the app, you will notice that the conversation will pop up under your Calls and Voicemail tab. If you’d like to listen to the recorded audio, just click the arrow and make sure your volume is turned up. Finally, the app will email you a to your conversation so you can view it in a browser.

Record using an external voice recorder

Of course, apps aren’t the only way to record a phone call. One other way is to use a designated voice recorder that can be inserted into your phone’s 3.5-millimeter jack, or tethered with a Bluetooth connection.

We’ve found a few cool products that do the job, one of them being the Olympus TP-8 Telephone Pick-up Microphone, a call-recording earpiece that you wear during calls. Those with newer iPhones might have to use a lightning-to-headphone adapter.

We’d also recommend considering the RecorderGear PR200 Bluetooth Cell Phone Call Recording Device if you’d prefer a wireless connection. If you’re wanting a product with better quality and performance with the benefits of a headphone jack we think Techerific’s DeciVibe Digital Voice Recorder is the way to go — even if it is very expensive.

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