Since its advent, Galaxy S9 series has seen users not only complaining about Samsung’s decision to drop call recording functionality, but also for not being vocal about the change while launching and selling the phones.
https://twitter.com/retina007/status/984731299234672640
https://twitter.com/mdeepakr16/status/977885584474755072
Soon after the matter caught heat, the company came up with an official statement calling the feature drop an intended change, citing “Google’s security policy and local law” as the reason.
But now things seem to be changing.
Some third party apps have the key
Samsung’s attempt at blocking call recording on Galaxy S9/S9+ stumped third party app developers initially. But turns out at-least a handful of app developers have managed to somehow breach Galaxy S9’s call recording restrictions.
Specifically, the developers of apps like ACR, Boldbeast and Skvalex have made their apps capable of recording calls on Galaxy S9 and S9+.
Right in the beginning of this month, Boldbeast (makers of Call Recorder) came up with a software update (v11.1) that brought along the ability to record calls on S9, with no country-specific limitations. Here’s how they explained the change:
Great news! We invented a new solution to fix the Galaxy S9 recording problem.
We have just released Boldbeast Recorder V11.1, please update the app in your phone to V11.1, now both Snapdragon 845 and Exynos 9810 phones are supported, all Galaxy S9 variants in all countries work perfectly, recorded calls are crystal clear in two sides, No Root Needed.
Not only Boldbeast, even ACR confirmed the change for their app, telling Galaxy S9 users that they can record calls on their units now. But along with that, they also informed the inquirers that the functionality might stop in future:
It is very possible that call recording might stop in the future. It is really a constant struggle.
Even users of Skvalex can now enjoy call recording on their S9 units, going by the latest reports on this XDA thread.
The story doesn’t end here, as we are getting reports about Samsung itself allowing call recording in some countries.
Native call recording?
Remember that lawsuit on Samsung in Israel for Galaxy S9 call drop/mute and call recording issues? Well, looks like the trial opened the gates at least for call recording.
We are seeing user reports that say Samsung has enabled built-in call recording on Galaxy S9 /S9+ in Israel.
By the way, in the ILO (Israel) firmware, after the last update the call recording already appeared as native. Apparently thanks to the trial on the subject that was in Israel.
Another user clearly explained the change saying the native call recording feature only works in the absence of third-party call recording apps.
The update provides the built-in recording of the phone. You can choose automatic or manual recording, and wether to save on local storage or SD card. However, if you use a third party app like ACR, the internal program does not work
The first user also confirmed the change for Taiwan (though we couldn’t find more related reports on this).
Option to record calls is in all firmware, but except Israel and Taiwan in others is blocked.
So as of now, it appears that Samsung has started allowing call recording feature on Galaxy S9, at least in countries where it is legally permitted. But there’s no confirmation about it, as the matter still lacks an official word from the company.
Even if that’s not the case, what’s good is Galaxy S9 users will not have to miss the functionality, as they can now use third-party apps like ACR, Blockbeast and Skvalex for recording calls.
NOTE: For more Samsung-related news, head here.
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Dr. Aparajita Sharma
1261 Posts
A budding entrepreneur by profession, and a psychologist by education. As a founding member of PiunikaWeb, I am nurturing this firstborn with my sharp-eyed expertise and even journalistic writing when needed.
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