How to Record a Call with Samsung

Do you have a Samsung phone and want to know how you can record calls you receive from contacts in your address book or from call centers? In this article we will try to clarify a much debated issue in Italy.

Below you will find everything you need to know about how to record calls on Samsung.

Can I record calls on Samsung via the Phone app?

In Italy, Samsung smartphones do not allow you to record phone calls through the proprietary Phone app , that is, the one marked with the white phone icon on a green background. This is despite the fact that the official Samsung website and the well-known Sammobile portal contain the same guide that explains in detail the procedure to follow to store received calls in the phone’s audio library.

On www.samsung.com, the guide in question is available via a video uploaded to the YouTube platform. For simplicity, we reproduce it below.

Samsung’s step-by-step video guide explains that the option to record phone calls is built into the default Phone app. Simply tap on the Phone app, tap on the three-dot icon in the top right, select “ Settings ,” and tap on the “ Record calls ” option .

The sore point is that Samsung has limited this option to only those countries where the law allows recording phone calls, even though it is allowed in Italy, as the Court of Cassation has clarified several times . In fact, secretly recording a phone call or a conversation, without the other person’s knowledge, is not a crime only if one condition is met:

• that is, whoever records the call must be present at the time of the conversation.

However, the use of the recording is a different matter , as the recorded audio cannot be disclosed to third parties or published on social networks.

Despite all this, in Italy, the South Korean company has not made this convenient feature available on Galaxy smartphones, unlike what happens in other countries where it is regularly present.

If you want to check for yourself whether or not the “ Record calls ” function is present on your Samsung Galaxy device, all you have to do is follow the steps described above: tap on the Phone app (the white phone icon on a green background), tap on the three dots at the top right, and from the menu that opens select “Settings”.

In the next screen titled “ Call Settings ”, theoretically under the heading “ Caller ID and spam protection ” you should see the option “ Record calls ”, but in reality it is not there (neither there nor anywhere else).

We can therefore say that on the one hand Samsung phones support call recording , but on the other hand it is also true that support is not available everywhere .

In short, if you don’t see the feature called “ Record calls ” it means that Samsung has not enabled it for legal reasons.

This feature is not available with Samsung smartphones with an Italian warranty or a European warranty.

Can I record calls on Samsung with Google’s Phone app?

There is no good news here either. Google’s Phone app does not allow you to record phone calls on Samsung , even if after installation it is enabled as the default application for making or receiving calls instead of the default Samsung app.

There are several guides in Italian online that say the opposite, making people believe that it is sufficient to install the Google Phone app to record calls. The problem is that the screenshots published in these insights are taken from American sites, where this feature is evidently available.

In Italy, however, the same applies to the app created by the Mountain View giant as to the Telephone application that is present by default on Samsung Galaxy phones: the functionality that would allow you to record calls is not there because the regulations in force in our country do not allow it .

You can check it yourself by downloading the free Phone app developed by Google, through the Google Play Store, available at this link Google Phone . Once downloaded and installed, press the “ Set default ” button to allow the application to work correctly (add the dot next to the white phone icon on a blue background and press “ Set default ”).

At this point, press on the three-dot icon at the top right and select “ Settings ”: in the new screen where the option to record phone calls should appear, you will immediately notice that it is not there.

How to Record a Call on Samsung Using Third-Party Apps

While Samsung’s default Phone app and Google’s don’t work, there are alternatives. To record calls on your Samsung Galaxy phone, you’ll have to rely on a third-party app .

There are many apps on the Google Play Store that promise to record a phone call, but those that actually work can be counted on the fingers of one hand . After having tried them for the creation of this guide, we suggest you try Call Recorder and CallApp , two apps that allow you to record calls on Samsung automatically and for free.

Note : During our testing, we used a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra updated to Android 12.

Call Recorder

Call Recorder is an app developed by CallMaster that allows you to automatically record incoming and outgoing calls on Samsung phones for free . It also includes a convenient function to block unwanted calls . There is also a paid version available at a one-time cost of 1.49 euros, which includes additional functions regarding call blocking and spam calls.

To use the app, you must first download it via Google Play Store by clicking here Call Recorder . When you launch it for the first time, press the “ Accept ” button to accept the terms of use and privacy policy. Then press “ Continue ” to give the app permission to record audio, manage calls, access your address book contacts, call logs, and set CallMaster as your default caller ID and spam app.

Select “ While using the app ” to the question “ Allow the CallMaster app to record audio? ”, then tap “ Allow ” to allow access to your phone’s call logs, contacts, and call management. Then set the app as the default for caller ID and spam by adding a dot next to “ CallMaster ” and tapping “ Set default ”

Finally, go to the “ Accessibility ” screen from your Samsung phone’s settings, select “ Installed Applications ”, tap on “ CallMaster ” and move the lever from left to right next to “ Activated ” to unlock all the app’s features.

Note : If you do not perform all the steps above, the app will not record calls.

Call Master records phone calls on Samsung phones automatically, meaning you don’t have to press any buttons before or during the call to start recording. At the end of the conversation, the last call made or received will appear in the ” Records ” section of the app. To listen to it again, simply press the Play button.

Caller ID & Block – CallApp

As an alternative to Call Recorder, to record a phone call with Samsung use CallApp (on Google Play Store the full name is Caller ID & Block – CallApp ). The app in question allows you to automatically record incoming and outgoing calls on Samsung Galaxy phones , as well as block spam calls and display the caller ID and sender of an SMS.

The free version of CallApp allows you to store up to 100 calls . To remove this limit, you need to upgrade to the Premium version at a price of 2.49 euros per month. The paid plan also removes advertisements.

Once downloaded (available at this link  Caller ID & Block – CallApp ), open the app and add a check mark next to “ CallApp Contacts ” to give permission to access the call log and send SMS. Then tap “ Allow ” to allow CallApp to access photos and media stored on the device, and to work without limiting battery usage.

When you are on the main screen of the app, tap the “ Reg ” function, then tap “ Allow ”. The “ Accessibility ” screen of the Samsung phone settings will open automatically : from here go to “ Installed Applications ”, tap “ CallApp ”, next to the “ Disabled ” item, move the lever from left to right to activate it and tap “ Allow ”.

Now tap on the “ Record ” option again , then tap on the three dots icon at the top right and add a check mark next to “ Automatic Recording ” (by default the check mark is next to “Manual Recording).

Once this is done, all you have to do is call a contact in your address book to verify that the app is working correctly. Once finished, to listen to the recording again, simply go to the “ Rec ” menu and tap the “ Play ” icon twice in a row.

Note : Unlike Call Recorder app, CallApp requires you to register an account using your phone number, Google account or Facebook profile.