Recording calls on iPhone is simple – you just need an app. But you need to make sure you’re doing it in the correct context, otherwise things can get a tad creepy – or worse, illegal…

The legality of recording your phone calls on iPhone is something of a grey area. An individual’s privacy is important. Recording them in secret without their consent is not cool – imagine if someone did that to you?

There are plenty of instances where recording phone calls is fine and necessary. Reporters record calls all the time. You can record calls with teachers or online advisors, although you should always get their consent first.

But there are some pretty important things you need to know before you start recording calls on your iPhone…

Is It Legal To Record Phone Calls?

What does the law say about recording phone calls? According to DMA Law, you can record a phone call without the other person’s consent, providing you do not share that phone call with anybody else – it has to be kept for your own private use.

You cannot record calls and then sell them to third-parties, obviously, nor can you or should you record people with a view to using what they said to get them into trouble (this is entrapment) which is basically blackmail and that, as you probably well know, is 100% illegal.

The only time covert phone recording is allowed is when a crime has been committed. But even then a court will have to give permission for the call to be used as evidence.

Journalists often record phone calls in secret and then use the information gleaned from them in articles. This, again, is something of a grey area – you can get away with it but it is dangerous, especially with UK libel and privacy laws.

Furthermore, any business in the UK that records calls has to tell the person that calls might be recorded. This is why nearly all calls to businesses and service providers inform you that your call may be recorded for training purposes – they have to under the Telecommunications Regulations 2000.

For this reason, you need to be VERY careful when recording calls – or other types of audio – on your phone. In most cases, if you’re looking to record calls on your phone, it will usually be for work-related tasks – things like interviews and the like.

As a general rule of thumb, if you must record phone calls make sure you keep them private and never share them with anybody else – either online via social media or in person. Failure to keep your recordings private could result in criminal lawsuits against you – and nobody wants that…

Best iPhone Apps For Recording Phone Calls

OK, now we’ve got the legal stuff out of the way, what’s the best call recorder for iPhone? As it goes, you have plenty of options with iPhone call recorder apps – both free and paid.

Here are our current #1 picks for the best iPhone apps for recording phone calls.

#1 – Rev Call Recorder – Download Now (FREE)

Rev Call Recorder is the best free phone recording app for iPhone. The app itself is simple to use and works great. Rev Call Recorder works by setting up a three-way call, whereby the third component, next to your line and the person you’re calling, is the recording channel.

And while that does sound rather complicated, don’t worry, it really isn’t – all you have to do is push a button to activate it. Rev Call Recorder is a free to use app, there are no limits on call length or the number of calls you can record. For this reason, it is our #1 choice for the best phone call recorder for iPhone.

Rev Call Recorder does offer a $1 per minute transcription service, whereby your entire recorded call is converted into text for review at a later date but this feature will not be necessary for most, although it is certainly nice to have something like this in place.

#2 – Call Recorder Pro – Download Now ($10)

Call Recorder Pro works in a similar fashion to Rev Call Recorder; it uses a three-way call setup, whereby you have to patch the audio recording in. But unlike Rev Call Recorder, the app is limited to 300 minutes on the $10 fee plan. Additional minutes cost $5 per 150 minutes.

This app works fine, but it costs a fair amount of money and lacks the features and support of Rev Call Recorder – and that is free too!

#3 – TapeACall Pro – Download Now ($11)

TapeACall Pro is another paid-for phone call recording app, but it works slightly differently to Rev Call Recorder and Call Recorder. With this app, when you want to record a phone call you need to put the caller on hold, load up the app, and then hit record. In this respect, it’s a little simpler to use than both of the aforementioned applications.

TapeACall Pro costs $11 and this gets you unlimited call recordings which are stored on your iPhone’s internal storage. Once your call is complete, the recordings are stored in the application and can be shared via social media and cloud storage solutions like DropBox and Drive.

Recording Phone Calls on iPhone Without An App

If you don’t want to use – or pay for an app – you can, of course, record calls the old school way. In order to record a call on your iPhone without an application, you’ll need some form of dedicated voice recorder – one that either plugs in via the headphone jack, via Bluetooth, or through your iPhone’s lightning port.

Depending on the iPhone you have, the following dedicated phone call recorders are the current highest-rated options available right now:

RecorderGear PR200 (Best For iPhones Without Headphone Jack)
Olympus TP-8 Telephone Pick-up Microphone (Best For iPhones With Headphone Jack)

Richard Goodwin

Richard Goodwin has been working as a tech journalist for over 10 years. He is the editor and owner of KnowYourMobile.

How To Record Calls on iPhone – Everything You Need To Know…