Call recording is a feature that records phone conversation content as audio data. In business, it is used for call center quality management, compliance, and fact verification during disputes. For individuals, it serves to preserve evidence of nuisance calls or threatening calls.
Under Japanese law, recording by a party to the conversation (either caller or receiver) is generally legal. The other party's consent is not legally required, though privacy considerations apply when sharing recorded content with third parties. Call centers commonly announce "This call may be recorded for quality improvement" as a business practice, though this is not a legal obligation.
Call recording on smartphones varies due to OS restrictions. Since Android 9, Google has progressively restricted third-party app call recording, with Android 14 offering built-in recording on some manufacturer devices. iPhone does not natively support call recording, requiring external recording adapters or forwarding calls to recording services.
For business, cloud PBX services increasingly include built-in call recording. All calls are automatically recorded and stored in the cloud for search, preventing "he said/she said" disputes and serving as training material for new employees. Call centers sample-evaluate recordings as part of quality assurance (QA), quantitatively measuring operator response quality. Setting internal policies for recording data retention periods is recommended from a personal information protection perspective. Review legal recording methods in the call recording legal guide.