Not legal advice. This site is an editorial reference. Laws change — always confirm with a qualified attorney in the relevant jurisdiction before recording, and check each page’s last reviewed date.

How to Record a Call on iPhone

iOS does not allow third-party apps to access call audio. Apple has deliberately closed the obvious paths, leaving a handful of workarounds that involve a second device, a VoIP intermediary, or a paid three-way-call service.

Native option

There is no native call-recording feature in iOS. Apple has not exposed an API for it and routinely declines to approve apps that attempt to capture call audio. The reason is partly regulatory — many jurisdictions require disclosure of recording — and partly Apple’s broader posture on access to phone-call audio.

Voice Memos, the built-in audio recorder, cannot access the call audio stream. Pointing the iPhone’s microphone at itself does not work; iOS mutes other audio while a call is in progress, and Voice Memos is no exception.

Workarounds

1. Speakerphone plus a second device

Place the iPhone on speakerphone. Use a second device — a laptop, a digital recorder, or a second phone — to record the audio of the room. Both sides of the call are picked up acoustically.

  • Quality: Fair. Background noise and room acoustics matter. Holding the recording device 6–12 inches from the iPhone usually works well.
  • Notified: No.
  • Legal note: The recording happens in the room. If you are in an all-party state, this method does not get around the law — you still need the other party’s consent.

2. Three-way-call services (TapeACall, Rev, etc.)

These services give you a phone number you call before or during a conversation. The service joins the call, records its own copy, and uploads the file to your account.

  • Quality: Good. Both sides are captured at telephone quality.
  • Notified: Varies. TapeACall historically plays a brief announcement on outgoing calls; some competitors do not. Read the documentation before relying on the absence of notice.
  • Legal note: The service is technically a third party to the call, which has implications under some state statutes (the federal statute’s one-party-consent exception still applies because you are a party).
  • Cost: $10–$30/year for unlimited recording, depending on the service. See our TapeACall review and Rev review.

3. Google Voice (incoming calls only)

If you receive a call through a Google Voice number on your iPhone, Google Voice can record it. Press 4 during the call to start; a verbal announcement is played to all parties. Outgoing calls cannot be recorded.

  • Quality: Good.
  • Notified: Yes — verbal announcement.
  • Legal note: Notification is built in. This is the most legally-safe option in the United States.
  • Cost: Free for personal accounts.

4. Hardware recorder with a phone tap

A hardware in-line recorder that taps into the phone’s analog audio (typically via a headphone-jack adapter or Lightning audio interface) can capture both sides at high quality. This is the approach favored by journalists and investigators who need archival-quality audio. See our hardware recorders guide.

5. Record in a Zoom/Meet meeting instead

If your conversation can happen in a Zoom or Google Meet call rather than a phone call, those platforms have built-in recording with built-in notification. See Zoom and Google Meet.

Where the recording lives and how to export it

  • Speakerphone-plus-second-device: the file lives on the recording device. Export by AirDrop, USB, or cloud sync.
  • Three-way services: the file lives in the service’s cloud. Download as MP3/M4A; consider exporting and saving locally if you care about long-term retention.
  • Google Voice: recordings appear in your voicemail/recordings list; download from voice.google.com.
  • Hardware recorder: typically a SD card or internal storage in the recorder; transfer via USB.

Common failure modes

  • No audio captured. If you are using a third-party service, check that the call actually merged into the three-way bridge. If the service’s line did not pick up, you are recording one side only.
  • Only one side captured. Common with poor speakerphone setups. Try a closer second-device microphone or a different room.
  • Low quality on three-way services. Cellular quality varies. Move to Wi-Fi calling if available.
  • Recording lost. Three-way services have had outages. For anything important, export the file as soon as the call ends.

Legal reminder

Whether you may record a call — with this platform or any other — depends on the law in every jurisdiction whose participants are on the call. See our jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction directory, the one-party vs. all-party explainer, and our consent script templates. Federal US law and most US states permit a participant to record, but thirteen US states and many countries require all-party consent.

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