How to Record a Phone Call Legally in Australia

To record a phone call for a brokerage client file, get every participant’s agreement, use your phone’s call-recording feature or an approved phone system, then save the audio securely. Australian law treats recording, interception and sharing as separate questions. Being part of the call does not give you unrestricted permission to record or upload it.

Is It Legal to Record a Phone Call in Australia?

Yes, recording a phone call can be legal in Australia when the recording method and consent meet the applicable laws. For routine brokerage calls, ask everyone before recording and continue without recording if anyone declines.

The federal Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 prohibits interception, subject to statutory exceptions. Section 6 defines interception around listening to or recording a communication during its passage through a telecommunications system without the maker’s knowledge. Section 7 contains the prohibition. The way a recording system captures the audio matters.

State and territory listening-device laws apply a separate set of rules to private conversations. A client discussing their income, debts or loan application is giving you information that calls for private handling.

State and Territory Recording Rules

The table describes the starting rule for a participant recording a private conversation. It does not decide whether a particular phone setup also engages federal interception law.

Jurisdiction	Starting rule for a participant	Main legislation
Victoria	The listening-device prohibition targets conversations you are not part of. Sharing the resulting recording has separate restrictions.	Surveillance Devices Act 1999, sections 6 and 11
Queensland	A participant is excepted from the recording prohibition. Communication or publication is separately restricted.	Invasion of Privacy Act 1971, sections 43 and 45
Northern Territory	Section 11 prohibits recording a private conversation you are not part of without the required consent. Section 15 separately regulates sharing.	Surveillance Devices Act 2007
New South Wales	Obtain all principal parties’ consent unless a statutory exception applies.	Surveillance Devices Act 2007, section 7
Western Australia	Obtain all principal parties’ consent unless a statutory exception applies.	Surveillance Devices Act 1998, section 5
South Australia	Obtain all principal parties’ consent unless a statutory exception applies.	Surveillance Devices Act 2016, section 4
Tasmania	Obtain all principal parties’ consent unless a statutory exception applies.	Listening Devices Act 1991, section 5
Australian Capital Territory	Obtain all principal parties’ consent unless a statutory exception applies.	Listening Devices Act 1992, section 4

Some exceptions protect a participant’s lawful interests. New South Wales, Tasmania and the ACT also have exceptions concerning recordings not made for disclosure to outsiders. These are conditional exceptions, not a general business-recording permission. A plan to send audio to a transcription provider introduces a further use and disclosure question.

A Victorian broker calling a client in New South Wales must not assume the broker’s location settles the legal position. Interstate calls can engage more than one jurisdiction. Use an all-participant consent policy across the brokerage. Get legal advice on a proposed covert recording or disputed interstate call before proceeding.

Recording and disclosure need separate authority. A recording you can lawfully make might still be restricted when sent to a colleague, lender or external service.

How to Record a Phone Call on iPhone

Use the iPhone Phone app’s built-in Call Recording control where it is available on your device. Australia is outside Apple’s listed excluded regions. Recording availability and transcription support are separate, so a saved audio file does not guarantee a transcript.

Follow Apple’s call-recording instructions:

Agree to recording with the other participant before discussing the client file.
Make or answer the call in Phone.
Open More during the call and choose Call Recording. Both participants hear an audio notice that recording is taking place.
Stop recording with the recording control, or end the call.
Open Notes, find Call Recordings and play the saved recording. Confirm that both voices are audible before relying on it.

Apple’s built-in recorder includes the announcement. There is no separate setting to silence that notice while keeping built-in recording active. Turning off Audio Call Recording in Phone settings disables the feature.

If Call Recording is missing, confirm the feature is enabled under Settings, Apps, Phone and Audio Call Recording. Device software, region and call type also affect availability.

Screen Recording and Other Recording Methods

Screen Recording is not a substitute for a two-way phone-call recorder. A video of the call screen can leave you without useful call audio. Turning on its microphone does not establish that both sides of the call will be saved. Apple’s screen-recording guidance warns that some apps prevent audio or video recording.

Some third-party call recording apps add a recording line to a three-way call. You connect the client and recording service with the phone’s merge-call control. This requires a compatible carrier service and sends the conversation through another provider. Other business systems place calls through their own calling service.

An agreed speakerphone call recorded on a second device is another option. Use a private room, tell everyone about the second recorder and make a short test with a colleague first. Confirm the test captures both voices clearly. Keep real client information out of the test.

How to Record a Phone Call on Android and Samsung

Android call recording depends on the phone, dialler, carrier and region. A recording option shown in an overseas guide does not establish that the same model sold in Australia has it.

For a supported phone using Google’s Phone app, follow the instructions for your device:

Make or receive the call and obtain agreement to recording.
On a supported non-Pixel phone, tap Record on the active call screen. On a supported Pixel, choose Call Assist, then Call Recording.
Use Stop recording, or Call Assist and Stop on Pixel, to finish.
Open the saved call entry and play the recording. Confirm both sides are present before transferring it to the client file.

Google requires Android 9 or later for supported non-Pixel devices. Supported Pixel devices require Pixel 6 or later with Android 14 or later. The latest Phone app and a supported region are also required. Participants receive recording notices. Google’s recorder cannot record a call on hold or a conference call.

For a supported Samsung Phone app, Samsung Australia’s instructions use this sequence:

During the agreed call, tap More.
Choose Record, then Stop recording when finished.
Open Phone settings, Record calls and Recorded calls to locate the file.
Play the file, then transfer it through the brokerage’s approved storage method.

If Record calls is missing, the feature is unavailable in that configuration or disabled. Samsung’s menus depend on the device and software. Use an approved business phone system or the agreed second-device method instead of relying on an app that captures only your voice.

Call Recording Apps and Systems for a Brokerage

A cloud call recording system captures and stores calls through the business’s phone service. It can give a small brokerage one managed place for recordings instead of leaving files across personal phones. The subscription and configuration determine which calls are captured and who can retrieve them.

Choose the setup by how your brokerage handles a client call. Ask the provider to demonstrate an inbound call, an outbound call and a call transferred between staff. Confirm that the recording notice reaches each participant and that staff can stop recording when someone declines.

Before introducing the system, settle these points in the contract and settings:

Where audio and transcripts are processed, including subcontractors and overseas access.
Who can listen to recordings, who can download or delete them and which actions are logged.
How recordings leave the service for the client file, including an export if you change providers.
How retention rules work across the live service, deleted items and backups.
Whether transcription or model training is enabled separately from recording.
What happens if recording fails, storage fills or a staff member uses a personal mobile number.

Run a consented test with colleagues before enabling automatic recording for clients. Retrieve the saved file from another authorised staff account and confirm an unauthorised account cannot access it. A recording indicator alone does not prove the file can be recovered.

Ask for agreement before recording, explain the purpose and keep a record of the answer. Use this short script for an ordinary client call.

“I’d like to record this call so I can keep an accurate record on your client file. Only authorised people handling your matter will have access. Are you comfortable with that? We can continue without recording if you prefer.”

Use that access statement only when it matches your actual arrangements. If an external provider processes the audio, explain that arrangement too. A generic announcement does not explain every later use.

After receiving agreement, start recording and confirm it again briefly on the audio. If another participant joins, pause the discussion and obtain their agreement before continuing to record. If someone declines, continue without recording and make a written file note.

Save the original audio in the approved client-file location. Label it with the client-file identifier, call date and purpose, plus the staff member responsible. Record who attended, how consent was obtained and where any transcript is stored. Avoid putting financial details in filenames.

Keep a separate file note explaining the client’s instructions and your reasons for the next action. A recording does not organise the reasoning required for a mortgage broker’s best interests duty.

Set a retention rule that accounts for the licensee’s record requirements and any complaint or legal hold. Under Australian Privacy Principle 11, covered organisations must take reasonable security steps. They must also destroy or de-identify information no longer needed for a permitted purpose, unless a legal retention exception applies. Include extra phone copies and cloud copies in the disposal process.

AI Transcription of Recorded Calls

AI transcription can be lawful for business use when the recording is lawful and the processing meets the applicable privacy and disclosure rules. Consent to record a call does not automatically authorise every AI use of the audio.

For a brokerage covered by the Privacy Act, uploading audio must fit the original collection purpose or an available exception for secondary use or disclosure. Sensitive information usually requires consent for collection. Financial conversations can also contain health or other sensitive details.

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner advises organisations to assess AI products and explain their use in privacy notices. Its guidance on commercial AI products recommends against entering personal information into publicly available generative AI tools.

For a proposed transcription service, establish who processes the file and whether overseas handling occurs. Confirm retention and deletion controls, who can access transcripts and whether the provider uses audio for training. Explain the proposed use before the client agrees. The AI disclosure guide covers how to tell clients about AI processing.

A transcription script can add:

“With your agreement, our approved transcription provider will turn the recording into draft notes for your client file. I’ll check the notes against the recording. You can choose a written file note without AI transcription.”

Treat the transcript as a draft. Check names and loan amounts against the audio, then check the client’s instructions and any conditions they placed on them. Correct errors before saving a reviewed file note. Stop using the service for client calls if its storage or training settings no longer match the arrangement you explained.