Google Phone 43 may have capacity to record calls and save your voicemail

It looks like call recording and voicemail saving features might be on the horizon for Google’s Phone app, according 9to5Google who’ve taken apart a beta version of the app and found some interesting new strings for the user interface.

Recording Calls

The expectation is that in the phone UI you’ll have a new button to begin recording.

This one could be a bit of a minefield for anyone concerned about their privacy.

There is no indication if there will be an audible notification that the call is being recorded. There will be a visual indicator for the person recording, but that’s not much comfort for others on a call.

Tapping the new button will trigger it to animate, making it obvious at a glance that a recording is in progress.

Google Phone record call button
The feature is still very much a work-in-progress, but it looks like you’ll be able to find information about your recorded calls from the conversation history list, as a “call_recording_details_row” appears in code for the call log.

Saving Voicemails

There’s also a number of strings that mention saving voicemails. If you like to save important voicemails, then this is could save you a lot of hassle with carrier space limits.

One of the strings carries a “visual_voicemail” identifier, suggesting this might be a feature intended for users of Visual Voicemail — features that aren’t available on all carriers (or they might cost extra).

Keep in mind that the app that has been decompiled to find these code snippets is a Beta version, so there’s no guarantee the features will make it to your phone – they may be shelved or outright abandoned for a variety of reasons. For the full story, be sure to head over to 9to5Google.