Mountain View, California — Google consolidated Gmail with Google Voice in late August, enabling people to make and receive calls from their computer with a Google Voice number. Earlier this month, there were some initial reports that Google has been working on improving this feature with a nifty addition: Now it appears that search engine titan Google has silently unfurled a novel feature that might be frowned upon by certain parties — the ability to record inbound Google Voice calls directly from Gmail.
According to technology website TechCrunch, Twitter is buzzing with people Tweeting about the feature, which has been rolled our more broadly, although it is hard to sift through Tweets, TechCrunch says that they have polled a few people and they are all seeing it, and there are plenty of reports on Twitter of people noticing it for the first time.
The new ability that is being discussed about is the option of recording incoming calls. While Google has not officially disclosed the feature, plenty of folks have reported it and if you do receive a call in your Gmail inbox, chances are that you will see the red recording button appear. Do note that we mentioned “incoming calls” as users do not seem to be able to record calls that you initiate from your Gmail inbox.
Now, Google Voice has empowered users to record some phone calls for a long time, but it is not exactly intuitive — previously, you could record inbound calls by hitting the number “4” on your keypad during a call, at which time a verbal notification that recording has begun is given.
The latest Gmail operation seems pretty similar in terms of functionality — you can still only record inbound calls, and there is the same warning when you activate it. However, it is a lot more handy. A new “record” button appears just above the dialpad, and it will probably introduce a lot of people to the handy feature for the first time.
According to various report suggests that many are witnessing the new functionality in Gmail, it is unclear if its an expanded test or rolling out to all.
While call recording is an excellent way to reap the benefits of Gmail calling, Google adding in this feature means you do not need any extra software to get the job done — just hit the record button to record the call with Google Voice. Note that it only works for incoming calls — you would not be able to record calls you initiate from your Gmail inbox.
However, there do seem to be a couple of caveats, and it is worth mentioning that you might want to make sure you are aware of your state’s wire tapping laws before giving this a try as it might be illegal to record someone’s conversation without their knowledge or consent.