In iOS 18 iPhone users can record phone calls, read transcriptions, and get AI-created summaries
Thanks to AI, Apple will soon allow iPhone users to record, transcribe, and get summaries of phone conversations. While on a phone call, the Phone app will include a button that will record the conversation when pressed. When this process starts, the party or parties on the other end of the call will receive a notification letting them know that the call is being recorded. Even with this notification, iPhone users will have to follow local laws and consent might first be required before the call is captured on-device.
While recording, the Phone app will display a soundwave with the length of the recording. The call is transcribed in the Notes app in real time and you can even get an Apple Intelligence-created summary of the call. Speaking of the Notes app, you'll be able to record, transcribe, and summarize from the Notes app along with the Phone app. Apple's iOS 18 Preview page indicates that audio transcriptions will be available for Apple iPhone 12 and later in English, Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, and Portuguese.
With iOS 18, iPhone users will be able to record calls, transcribe them, and receive AI-created summaries
Since the new feature was mentioned for all of 30 seconds by Apple's Craig Federighi during the WWDC Keynote on Monday, it isn't clear whether there are restrictions on the recordings. Is the feature limited to calls between iPhone users, calls between iPhone users running iOS 18, or will this work with calls between a compatible iPhone and any other smartphone brand? This is something that we hope to find out before the final version of iOS 18 is released in September.
Being able to record and transcribe a live call is an exciting new feature for iPhone users. But don't dismiss the ability to summarize calls. This will also come in handy when you need to remember the main points of a phone call at a later time. The summary will be created using Apple Intelligence which was introduced today during WWDC.
The iOS 18 beta is now available to developers and will be available to the public sometime next month. If you want to be the first on your block with the new features, you might want to join the beta program. On the other hand, considering that these beta releases are unstable, your best bet might be to wait for the final version to be released.
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