Have you ever made a phone call that you really wish you could have recorded? Well, you might have the chance to do it soon with the new iPhone iOS 18.4. This new software update will bring Apple’s Artificial Intelligence to all iPhones it is compatible with (most newer models should be able to support it, but those that no longer receive security updates will likely not get this new version) and will allow users to do a lot of practical things, included but not limited to write or correct texts for you, generate summaries on demand, remove unwanted objects from photos, create transcriptions…. And record phone calls… Maybe?
From what we know, this new Apple Intelligence includes a function to record calls, save them in Notes, and then transcribe and even summarize them which sounds really useful when you think about dealing with insurance companies, lawyers or even trivial things like vacation planning, aka, conversations that include a lot of important details that we might not remember after a few hours due to the complexity of the call. Not to mention it could be a great resource for recording work calls if they come at an inconvenient time when you are just barely paying attention.
But alas, this new super useful feature may not be available in the end and least of all for European Citizens.
The new iPhone recording feature that we will not be able to use
Although the initial announcement was full of confidence and statements from the company explaining users would just need compatible iPhone (iPhone XS or later) and the Notes app to do this, the company failed to tell consumers that this technology is not legal in many parts of the world, primarily Europe. This is due to legal issues surrounding privacy more specifically, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which aims to protect personal data, including voice.
Additionally, consent for recordings works a lot differently in Europe than it does in the US, and one party consent laws do not apply to this region of the world. In order to legally record a call a person would likely need to inform the other party of the recording and get some sort of legal acknowledgement of their consent, otherwise it would violate most of the standards for reasonable expectations of privacy amongst other particular laws that some countries may have in their books.
The thing is, as long as you are not actually planning to use the call recording feature for anything nefarious and you are not out there announcing it to police, there is a workaround that you could use. While we do not recommend you do this as it is against the law, knowing how to record your calls can still be quite useful for a multitude of purposes and we do not want anyone to not have relevant information.
The first step you will need to do is to change your iPhone’s region to a location where the feature is available, like the US. You can do this by going to ‘Settings’ > tap on your Apple ID > ‘Media & Purchases’ > ‘Country/Region’. You will also need to update your Apple ID’s region.
If for whatever reason this is not a possibility for you, you will need to resort to using third-party call recording options which might have even sketchier privacy laws that they follow.
If you live in a country where recording calls is an option or you have managed the workaround, the process is super simple: just open the Phone app to make or receive a call and after it has started, tap the ‘Start Call Recording’ button at the top left. Once the call has ended the recording will be saved in the Notes app and you will then be able to tap ‘Transcribe’ within the note to convert it to text thanks to the new Apple Intelligence.