Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Code added in the latest version of the Google Phone app suggests that it could support native call recording in the future. XDA-Developers was first to spot the code, which appeared in the app downloaded to a Pixel 4. The dialer app adds a new layout, icon, and other assets consistent with a call recording feature. The Google Phone app is currently the default dialer application on devices including Pixel and Android One phones.
Call recording has had a bumpy road on Android over the years. The feature used to be widely available in third-party apps via an official call recording API, but this was removed with Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Then, with Android 9 Pie, Google removed the workarounds app developers had been using to continue to…