Tutorial: Open Source <https://github.com/NLLAPPS/ACRPhoneHelper>
*Installing automatic call recording (ACR) on Android 13+ Samsung Galaxy*

One out of ten thousand people on Usenet write tutorials like this.

I tested this today, only on my Android 13 Samsung Galaxy A32-5G.
The setup is obvious - and well structured. It walks you through it.
It's easy. And the recording worked flawlessly. On & off speakerphone.

It was actually too easy. Way too easy. Nobody has a right to complain.
The sheer length of my description below belies how easy it was to do.
It took far more work to write this up than it took to perform the steps.

Here's what I did, although there could easily be other ways to do it.

0. Go to <https://acr.app> & read their instructions, specifically...
"Google has restricted Accessibility Service usage on the
Google Play Store & placed it behind an install-time permission
called "android.permission.ACCESS_RESTRICTED_SETTINGS" for
sideloaded apps on Android 13. To overcome this [new Android 13]
restriction, we created APH and published it with
"ACCESS_RESTRICTED_SETTINGS" permission.
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/dev?id=7136143802281885160>

However, it appears that even this workaround is no longer
effective on Android 14, as side-loaded apps are unable to
activate the "Accessibility Service" at all [in Android 14].

On Android 14, in order to use "Accessibility Service", apps must
be installed from a store that utilizes a specific Android API
called "PackageInstaller.Session". Therefore, we had to create
our own app store, allowing users to download and sideload it,
then install APH through NLL Store. While this process may
seem cumbersome, it is currently the only way."

1. Download & install the "ACR Phone" app from the Google Play Store repo.
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nll.cb>
Which the FOSS Google Play Store client automatically saves to:
/storage/emulated/0/Aurora/Store/Downloads/com.nl.cb/10318/base.apk
Name: base.apk
Size: 36974012 bytes (35 MiB)
SHA256: CEB53F5C54FCEAA32501F54CA13BCD5690422B0C5BBB2891E358A92DC4216406

2. Download & install the "ACR Store" app from <https://acr.app>
<https://nllapps.com/store/>
<https://nllapps.com/store/apks/nll-store.apk>
Name: nll-store.apk
Size: 5842581 bytes (5705 KiB)
SHA256: D93B732E84FC59E02364ABFFD62C918B9370067882AE8D768BD230684E4741AB

3. Run the "ACR Store" app & select the red "Install" button titled
"(APH) ACR Phone Helper"
Allow permission when it asks "Please grant install app permissions".

Now you're ready to set up the manual (default) or automatic call
recording. When I set it up, everything worked beautifully the first time.

So tap on the "ACR Phone" app icon & follow the instructions to set it.

HINDSIGHT (learned only after I installed it and tested it out):
a. Unfortunately, apparently "ACR Phone" has to be your default phone app.
b. And, unfortunately, free _automatic_ call recording comes with ads.
c. However... free manual call recording does not require accepting ads.
d. For free manual call recording, tap the "Record" button on the dialer.

A. I tapped on the "ACR Phone" app icon on my desktop.
B. It said: "Default phone app. ACR Phone needs to be set
as default phone app [sic] in order to function.
Only the default phone app can access to [sic] call logs
and necessary services for handling and blocking calls
according to your choices"

Click the blue button saying "Set as phone app".
Up pops a dialog "Set ACR Phone as your default phone app?"
Where you change the "current default" to "ACR Phone".
Then you press "Set as default".
C. You can press the "Skip for now" button when it asks about
"Enhanced Caller ID. Identify unknown callers with caller
name and avoid unwanted spam calls by enabling this
community-based service. Your contacts and black listed
numbers will be uploaded and used to improve accuracy
of this service.
D. When it asks if you want to participate in the "Community call-blocking
process", choose to join or not. Up to you. I chose to "Skip for now".
Likewise with participating in the "Community spam database" option.
E. Tap the "Skip for now" when it similarly asks to be set up as your
"Default Caller ID & Spam app".
F. Bring up the ACR Phone dialer by tapping on the "ACR Phone" icon
and then tapping on the blue "Dialer" icon at the bottom right.
G. Dial any desired phone number to connect to the person, for
example, 611 (or any number that you can remain on for a while).
Maybe call your other phone, as an example. Or directory assistance.
Once dialed, tap the green "Call" button to initiate the call.
H. Once connected tap the round "Record" icon in the dialer.
Two-way recording begins & the icon blinks red & white.
(It records well whether or not you tap the speakerphone icon.)
I. Accept the legal disclaimer which pops up when you first tap
the record button. That default legal dialog will state...
"When using the call recording feature, you are responsible for
complying with applicable laws related to the recording of calls.
Please note that many countries require the consent of both
parties for call recording. Decline or Accept?
J. It will ask you to "Enable the Call Recording Helper"
the first time you try to record a call.
A blue dialog pops up asking
"Call Recording Helper is not enabled.
Please enable Call Recording Helper on Installed Accessibility
Services screen" and then it has an "Enable" link to click.
Up pops an "Are you sure? warning saying "Accessibility Service
must be enabled to access call audio in order to record calls.
Call recordings are not transferred outside your device or
shared with other parties. We do not access any data by using
Accessibility Service. I have read and accept. Accept or Decline?"
K. The first time you use it you'll get the typical permission
screen asking you to "Allow APH to record audio?" where your options
are "While using the app", "Only this time" & "Don't allow"
where I chose "While using the app".
L. The first time you use it you will get a message that
"Call Recording Helper is not enabled. Please enable
Call Recording Helper on Installed Accessibility Services screen",
to which you press the blue "Enable" button.
M. This takes you to the Android "Accessibility" settings
where you click on "Installed apps" and then "APH" to turn
it from "Off" to "On" where Android will ask you
"Allow APH to have full control of your phone?
Full control is appropriate for apps that help you with
accessibility needs, but not for most apps. It includes
these permissions.
View and control screen
View and perofrm actions"
To which you have choices, of "Uninstall", "Deny" & "Allow".
I pressed "Allow".
N. Note: I'm never sure what the heck "APH shortcut" is which
happens on these types of screens. If you can flesh that out,
please do, as I left "APH shortcut" set to the default of off.
O. It will ask you the first time "Import recordings. Would you
like to import previous recordings" to which you just click
the "X" to make it go away.
P. At this point you can return to the phone call you were on.
Q. If desired, tap the "Notes" icon and enter in real-time memos.
R. When done, press the "End call" icon & up will pop options
(for a few seconds) of "Remind me", "Add to calendar", "Note"
& "Message - and then it will default to your ACR screen.
S. At the bottom of your ACR screen are four choices of
"Favorites", "Calls", "Contacts" & "Recordings".
T. Press on "Recordings" to play your manually recorded calls.

Note that you have the option of _automatic_ call recordings,
for free, with advertisements, which is called "Premium upgrade"
or you can stay with the ad-free "Basic without adverts" default.

If you opt for the ability for _automatic_ call recording, then
you will be presented with the option for "Advertising consent.
We care about your privacy and data security. We keep this app
free by showing ads. Can we continue to use your data to tailor
ads for you?" with choices of "Relevant ads" or "Generic ads"
and then you can press the "Accept" button if you want that
"Premium upgrade" of automatic call recording (versus generic).

There are actually three choices, by the way, where they are
Premium with adverts
"Free. Allow adverts and access to all premium features."
Premium with rewarded adverts
"Free. Watch rewarded adverts to access all premium features."
Basic without adverts
"Free. No advertising shown. Some features are unavailable."

Now you are ready to make a real call & perform a manual recording.
1. Bring up the ACR Phone dialer by tapping on the "ACR Phone" icon.
2. Dial the desired phone number and connect to the recipient.
3. Ask for permission to record & then press the manual record button.
(which will blink red & white ever second or so while recording).
4. Press the note button & you can add notes while you're recording.

Note I did not hear any telltale periodic beeps.
Neither did the other party.
Nor are beeps saved in the call recording.

As always, this is written to leverage my extensive efforts to
many others. If you know more than I do about this process,
please add value in your response, as we all learn from each other
as a team, where automatic call recording is a valuable skill.
--
No sense doing a lot of work on Usenet if the answer isn't leveraged to
others, now & well into the future - using basic autoarchival capabilities.

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