According to TechSpot, for a long while, Google has been "cracking" down on the ability of third-party Android apps to record calls. It will have closed the last loophole that some developers were utilizing to deploy the feature by next month.
Google modified its developer program policy on April 6 to prohibit third-party Google Play store apps from recording calls.The change will take effect on May 11, after which time only apps that come pre-installed on Android phones or that Google has created will be able to use this feature.
Are There Exemptions to Google's New Update?
Google removed call recording on Android 6 and Android 10 but enabled it in later versions under a special accessibility provision for disabled users, TechSpot reported citing NLL Apps, an Android recording app developer. Call recording isn't an appropriate use of Google's accessibility API, Google spokesperson said.
The prohibition was imposed due to privacy concerns, Google said.
As per the report of 9to5Google, many apps allow you to record audio from a call without the other party knowing. As a result, only third-party apps on the Play Store are affected by this policy change. On some devices, several default dialer apps, such as Google Phone, Mi Dialer, and others, have native call recording feature built in. The default dialer apps for Pixel and Xiaomi smartphones will not be affected by the update.
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While it's understandable to prevent apps from recording calls without the user's permission, some people may desire to record conference or earnings calls. In addition to the limitations listed above, sideloading for call recording on Android may still be a possibility. Because Google's restriction only applies to Play Store apps, it will do little to prevent malware that wants to capture calls from doing so through other means, TechSpot noted.
Meanwhile, The Register mentioned that since at least 2017, The Chocolate Factory has hinted that it plans to ban apps with accessibility features that aren't developed for disabled people from the Play Store. In November 2017, it sent letters to app developers informing them that accessibility services should only be utilized to assist disabled people.
Popular Android Apps That Were Secretly Capturing Data Have Been Banned by Google
According to the report of Protocol, Google has removed dozens of Android apps from the Google Play store after discovering a line of code that was collecting user data invisibly.
Citing the Wall Street Journal, the report said that Muslim prayer apps were among the now-banned apps, with over 10 million downloads. The data-scraping code was also discovered in a popular highway speed trap detection app and a QR-code scanning app. It was said that the Panamanian company responsible for the code is related to a Virginia-based firm that deals with U.S. national security services.
When users utilized a "cut and paste" feature, the line of code, which was part of an SDK created by Measurement Systems S. De R.L., was detected to be collecting rich data such as precise location information, email and phone numbers, neighboring devices, and passwords.
It was mentioned that Google banned the apps on March 25.
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