Android P will signal that you are recording a call to the other party

Android P, the next version of the operating system of Google that will debut during this year, will be naturally equipped with an acoustic warning if you record telephone calls. The news emerges from some recent commits in the repository of the AOSP project.

The change is made necessary by the fact that in some countries, it is mandatory to notify the other party that you are recording a call; an audible warning lets you know that the interlocutor is registering and acting accordingly if he has not announced this fact.

In the commit, brought to light by XDA Developers, it is announced that a note is played at 1400 Hz every fifteen seconds to warn the interlocutor of the recording in progress. The choice of playing the note is up to the telephone operator, who can decide – according to the regulations in force – to activate this function or not, since the recording phone simply states that it is recording. 

At the present time, only Vodafone Germany has expressed interest in supporting this functionality and making it active for its customers. The disadvantage that arises for users is that there is no way to disable this note, even if both parties give their consent to registration.

For some countries, the functionality is unnecessary: ​​according to several judgments of the Court, the recording of calls does not require the consent of the other party as it can constitute a valid evidence in the case of threats or of other behaviors otherwise difficult to test. The ability to record the words of other people – also outside telephone calls – is supported by the sentences of the Supreme Court as a valid instrument to defend themselves, provided that they are an active element of the conversation (and not third that secretly records conversations of others – practice this illegal).