I totally sympathize with the need for “on the fly” recording as you so aptly put it. Like when you’re in the middle of a conversation and you’re like, oh crap, I should be recording all of this. A solution that would allow you to do that without having to interrupt the call would be ideal.

Just thought I’d throw that out there. Ultimately, I’ll take whatever I can get though.

Stay tuned. I’m working with a company that is making a great solution for recording phone calls on any cell phone.

Sorry to use your comment section as a place to lament, but I am so bummed that its so hard to record calls on my iphone. I knew this was a feature I needed, and naively assumed there would be an application. Now I wish I wasn’t locked into this iphone service contract for another year and a half.

Unfortunately, I have no background in electronics whatsoever, nor the time to learn, and wouldn’t dare to attempt this project.

Gawd, what’s my best bet now? Those iphone apps that charge per minute seem annoying and that voice that warns the other party doesn’t work for me. (In my defense, I’m not recording calls to sabotage someone, but just to make sure I don’t miss any important complicated detail in a call, and then I erase the file, and I’m aware the laws vary by state).

I can’t believe there’s nothing out there. Well, if you’ve got any other recommended solutions I’m all ears. (And, well, if you’d reconsider selling one of those things you’ve got my email. A hundred is totally reasonable).

Good work figuring all that out. Seems complicated.

You obviously know far more than I have the time and patience to learn about electronics. Would that work with your unit? I came across a box that seems to be similar to yours, the “cell tap” made by JK audio. Would it or your box work with the bluetooth adapter and a stereo recorder to separate the audio channels?

~RC

Recording your side and the other persons side of the conversation using one channel for each does not work. The problem is that most of your small digital recorders only record in mono, so you could separate the sides of the conversation to each channel but (depending on the device your using) that audio is going to get combined anyway and cause the other person to hear themselves in their ear piece.

If you had a recording device that kept the channels separate then it would probably work. I was trying to come up with a device that was as universal as possible.

Calling the iPhone a POS because it lacks what is arguably a minor feature (in terms of the number of people asking for it) is a bit… silly.

How many iPhones have sold? I’d like a piece of that POS pie.

I’m sure that it’s possible to rig a setup with bluetooth but it’s beyond what I wanted to get into. In this case wires don’t bother me.

Yep, I’m not sure… I guess he thought I was an idiot and would not notice he left a spamy comment again.

Thanks for your kind words.

btw, nice piece of invention…

Back again?

Listen, you tried to link to this page before and I removed it… I’m not sure what exactly you think has changed between now and then that makes you think it’s ok to post the same link again. Whatever Consumer Empowerment Group is, it isn’t legit.

The main page is blank except for text that reads “ENTER” and there is music, f-ing music playing. Wake up! it’s not 1990, it’s not acceptable to put auto-starting music on a website. If you are brave enough to click “ENTER” you greeted with a website that looks like it was made by one armed monkey on an acid trip; seriously my left nut could design a better website.

Oh, and the kicker is the contact info they provide – Anytown Cares 1234 N. Elm Street Anytown, Anystate 12345 (123) 123-4567 info@anytowncares.coolexample.com

Seriously dude if you bought anything from these people, you sir are a fucking idiot. Actually, the jury came back, you are a fucking idiot.

I’m done with you, one more comment with an irrelevant link and you will be permanently banned. Jury came back on this one too, your banned.

@Adam,
will be looking forward to hearing from you

C

I have an app called CallRec.me and it has all the pitfalls of any ohter app… your system is by far the best solution. I’m jealous.

Thanks. I plan to keep nerding out till I can’t nerd out no more.

Those knobs are sexy.

You are correct about the cross talk.

You are correct that you could split the mic input of the iPhone and headphone and push each one to a separate channel. The problem with this is that unless your recording device records in stereo, your not going to get both the mic and headphone.

Most of your handled digital recorders only record in mono, unless you get something spendy. I was more interested in a universal solution.

Unfortunately I don’t… you can reference the pictures in the post to get a pretty good idea of where everything is placed though.

Got your last comment but Akismet flagged it as SPAM. This is important for you to understand because it means that you made a comment on a site(s) that uses Akismet for SPAM protection and the administrator of that site(s) flagged your comment as SPAM.

I didn’t flag any of your comments as SPAM because I was being nice but someone, on another site you commented on did.

The upshot – I’m not the only one who felt your comments were SPAM.

OK, I’ll go fill out the form that asked for a bunch of personal information, while I’m at it I’ll e-mail that Nigerian Prince my bank info so he can give me that billion dollars he said he wants to give me.

You are more than welcome to link to products/services as long as they are related to the post… the site you linked to didn’t appear to offer any services related to the iPhone or recording calls on it. In any case it hardly appeared legitimate.

Please see my comment policy at the bottom of this page.

Note from Adam – this comment apperes to be from a real person but is spammy so I disemvoweled it… more fun than deleting it.

Dude really glad that your inspired to try making one yourself! If you do make one please send me pics!

As far as commercializing it… not likely. I know as well as anyone that that this is a kludge. It’s bulky and inelegant, I doubt Apple would be interested especially when they could just allow call recording to occur naively in the iPhone.

That said, I’ve moved on to other projects, but am still thinking of ways to improve the recorder. I may have come across a way to make the isolation better (would eliminate the capacitors) and thus make the whole thing smaller but I’m waiting for research funds to become available if ya know what I mean

Yes you could put them onto your computer:

1. Use your computer as the recording device, that way there already on your computer. A bit bulky or impossible if you don’t have a laptop though.

2. Use a recording device (such as those little hand-held recorders) that has a USB port that will let you copy files off of the recorder to your computer. This is the best most portable way.

3. If the recording device does not have a USB port you could always just record your phone calls with it, then plug the recorder into the mic (or line-in) port on your computer and record it to your computer that way. This is obviously a bit time consuming because it would be recording to your computer in real-time.

You sir, have inspired me to follow your plans and create one. I have never had experience in making electronic equipment, but there is no time like the present to learn. Failing at this, I may try to convince you to build one more just for myself. Yes, I am aware of your warnings on price and prepared for the price tag should I fail.
What are your thoughts on commercializing your product? Maybe pitch it to Appl themselves…
Thank you for your excellent documentation and shared knowledge.
High Regards,
Robert

Great send me some pics after your finished! I used the TRRS jacks for exactly the reason you mentioned. I do believe that the same manufacturer makes a TRS jack that looks like the TRRS jack but the cost is negligible if I remember correctly.

Thanks! I am really trying to move in a direction of better documentation for the projects I do. It’s great when people share their projects but incredibly frustrating when there is no, or too little documentation.