Phone-call note takers: iPhone vs Pixel vs apps
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Most AI note takers are built for Zoom, Teams and Google Meet. A regular phone call is different: your phone's own calling system handles it, and most third-party apps can't hear it. So for phone calls, the first question is what your phone already does, and only then which app to add.
This page describes what each product does, in its maker's words. It isn't legal advice.
Quick answer
- You have an iPhone: the Phone app can record a call "when you're talking to one other person", in some countries and regions, and "Both call participants hear an audio notice that the call is being recorded." The recording goes to a Call Recordings folder in the Notes app. Apple says transcripts are available "in select regions and languages", and summaries need Apple Intelligence (iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, or iPhone 16 or later). Apple lists places where call recording isn't available, including the European Union.
- You have a Pixel 9 or later (not an A-series model): Call Notes transcribes and summarizes calls on the phone. Google says "the participants are notified", summaries are "only available in English", and "Your call contents are stored on your device and aren't shared with Google." It's offered in a short list of countries and languages, and needs a SIM card from that country.
- You have a Pixel 6 or later, or another Android phone: the Phone app's Call Recording records calls on supported devices and carriers. Google says both parties are notified when recording starts and when it stops, and Pixel recordings stay on the device.
- You use Otter or Fireflies on your phone: neither phone app records a regular phone call itself. Otter says to record the call with your phone's built-in recorder and import the file. Fireflies' desktop app can capture phone calls that you take on your computer (iPhone calls on a Mac, iPhone or Android calls on Windows).
- You use Granola on an iPhone: Granola can take notes on calls you place through the Granola app, in the countries it lists. It doesn't do incoming calls, and its Android app doesn't do phone calls.
- Your business number runs on Google Voice: "Take notes for me" is built into Voice calls on the Standard and Premier plans, in English only.
- You want a device: Plaud Note sticks to the back of the phone and, per Plaud, can "Switch between phone call and in-person recording modes".
Comparison (as of 2026-10-27)
Each cell is the maker's own claim from the page in Sources, read 2026-10-27. "Not stated" means we didn't find it on the pages we read, not that it doesn't exist. Rows are in alphabetical order, not ranked.
| Option | Phones and places (per maker) | How it gets the call (per maker) | Notice to the other person (per maker) | Where the notes are kept (per maker) | Price (per maker) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple iPhone Call Recording + Notes | iPhone. Calls with one other person "in some countries and regions". Not available in the European Union and other listed places. Transcripts "in select regions and languages". Summaries need Apple Intelligence (iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16 or later) | Built into the Phone app: tap Call Recording during the call | "Both call participants hear an audio notice that the call is being recorded." | Notes app, Call Recordings folder. Transcript and Apple Intelligence summary in the same note. "Deleting the audio recording also deletes the transcript." | $0 |
| Fireflies desktop app | Mac: "Supports iPhone calls" with Calls from iPhone turned on. Windows: "Supports both Android and iPhone calls" through Phone Link | Captures your computer's system audio, no bot. The phone app itself is for in-person recording, live meetings and uploads | Fireflies calls these "consent" options: an audio "consent message" about 10 seconds after you start, a chat message (Mac) and an on-camera "AI Taking Notes" watermark, which it says are "enabled by default" in its first-use prompt. They're notices, not consent. | Fireflies. "System audio mode does not save separate audio or video files." | Free plan; Pro $10/seat/mo annual or $18 monthly |
| Google Pixel Call Notes | Pixel 9 and later, not A series. Australia, Canada, Ireland, UK, US (English); Japan (Japanese); Pixel 10 in India (Hindi and English). Needs a SIM from that country | Phone app, Call Assist > Call Notes during the call; can turn on automatically for chosen contacts or non-contacts | "When you activate this feature on the call, the participants are notified." | On the phone: summary in the call log, plus the full transcript and recording. "Your call contents are stored on your device and aren't shared with Google." Auto-delete setting | $0 |
| Google Phone app Call Recording | Pixel 6 and up on Android 14 and up; other Android phones on Android 9 and up. "Only certain devices and carriers support recording calls." Not in all countries | Phone app, record one call or "Always record" chosen numbers | "both parties are notified with a disclosure that the call is being recorded", and again when it stops | Pixel: "stored on your device. Calls aren't saved or backed up off-device." Deleting the call log deletes the recording. No transcript described on this page | $0 |
| Google Voice "Take notes for me" | Voice Standard and Premier (including Voice Standard for personal Gmail accounts), not Starter. Web, Android, iOS. "This feature is available only in English." | Tap Notes during a Voice call. Admins can turn on automatic notes for incoming, outgoing or all calls | All parties hear "This call is being recorded and captured by AI", or a custom message set by an admin | Email to the person who started it, plus the Voice call log | Voice Standard $20/user/mo or Premier $30/user/mo for teams, plus a Google Workspace plan (team prices from Google's Voice page, read 2026-10-27) |
| Granola for iPhone | iOS only; 40 countries and regions on Granola's list (our count, 2026-10-27), including the US, Canada, UK and many EU countries | Outbound only: you place the call from the Granola app; the other person sees your own number. "Granola can't transcribe inbound calls at the moment." | Not stated on Granola's phone-call help page | Granola notes a few minutes after the call | Basic $0 (30 days of history); Business $14/user/mo |
| Otter | iPhone and Android apps | Doesn't record phone calls directly: "calls must be recorded separately and imported into Otter". A live Otter recording "will pause during a phone call" | Whatever your phone's own recorder does | Otter, after you import the file | Basic $0 (3 lifetime file imports); Pro $8.33/mo annual or $16.99 monthly (10 imports a month) |
| Plaud Note | Card on the back of your phone | "Switch between phone call and in-person recording modes" | Not stated on the product page | Plaud app and Plaud Web | Device $159, includes 300 min/mo AI transcription |
Deals change often; check the vendor's site.
Not for phone calls, per their own help: Fathom's iPhone app ("Phone calls cannot be recorded"). Google's Recorder app on Pixel is for recordings you make with the app; the Recorder help pages we read don't describe recording phone calls.
Language settings matter on iPhone and Pixel
- iPhone Notes transcription follows the device language. Apple: "Audio transcription is available on iPhone 12 and later when the device language is set to English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese." If you don't see a transcript, Apple says "your iPhone doesn't meet the minimum requirements or detect a supported language."
- iPhone summaries follow the Siri and device language. Apple says Apple Intelligence "is available with Siri and device language set to" a list of supported languages, and that "Some languages that support Apple Intelligence summaries are not available for audio transcription."
- Pixel Call Notes summaries are English only. Google: "Call summaries are only available in English." Transcription languages depend on the country list in the table.
- Pixel Recorder (for in-person recordings) picks one language. Google says you choose a transcription language or "Detect language", and "If you record more than one language in a session, Recorder transcribes the most spoken language."
Read the summary before you rely on it
Apple: "Verify the accuracy of a transcription before relying on it. It might not be a perfect representation of the conversation." Google calls Recorder summaries "AI-generated". AI summaries can get dates, numbers and names wrong, so check anything you'll act on, like a date you're about to put in your calendar.
On the phone or in the cloud?
- Pixel Call Notes and Pixel Call Recording: Google says both are stored on the phone. For Call Recording: "Calls aren't saved or backed up off-device." So if the phone is lost or reset, Google's pages don't describe a way to get them back.
- Pixel Recorder: Google says Recorder "sends audio to an on-device Google service or app to transcribe it", summaries run "in a secure, isolated environment in the cloud", and "Transcribe again" "may process audio files on Google servers". Google's delete steps mention "all synced devices" and recorder.google.com, so Recorder files can live online too.
- iPhone: recordings, transcripts and summaries sit in the Notes app. Whether they sync through iCloud isn't stated on the Apple pages we read.
- Apps (Otter, Fireflies, Granola, Google Voice, Plaud): the notes live in the vendor's service. Check each vendor's retention and training settings before recording anything sensitive.
How to pick
- Start with what your phone already does. If your phone and country are covered, the built-in option costs nothing and keeps the notes on your phone (Pixel) or in Notes (iPhone).
- Need incoming calls too? Granola's phone feature is outbound only, per Granola. Google's Phone app help says to "Make or receive a call" and then record. Apple's steps start with "Make a call" and don't say either way, so test an incoming call before you count on it.
- Need the notes somewhere your team can see them? Built-ins keep notes on one phone. A business phone system or a desktop app (Fireflies, Google Voice) puts them in a shared account.
- Calls in more than one language? Check the language lists above before you count on a summary.
Privacy and consent
Recording laws: tell people first. Federal law and most states let you record a conversation you're part of. About 11 states, including California, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Washington, generally require everyone's consent, and a few states mix the rules. Oregon, for example, requires that everyone in an in-person conversation be told it's being recorded, while phone calls need one person's consent (RCFP guide, ORS 165.540). If people are in different states, the stricter law may apply. Rules outside the US differ too, and many employers, schools and clinics have their own policies. A meeting bot showing up in the participant list is a notice, not consent. The same goes for a "this call may be recorded" greeting: it may not tell people that an AI service is transcribing or summarizing the call, so name the AI note taker when you ask. This is general information, not legal advice. If you're unsure, ask a lawyer where you live.
Built-in notices tell people; they don't ask. Apple says "Both call participants hear an audio notice that the call is being recorded", and that before you record you should "make sure the other call participant is willing to be recorded" (Apple, checked 2026-10-27). Google says Call Notes notifies participants and Call Recording plays "a disclosure that the call is being recorded". A notice tells people. It doesn't mean they agreed. Ask, and wait for a yes.
- Automatic recording still needs a yes. If you turn on automatic Call Notes or "Always record" for some numbers, ask on each of those calls too.
What we did and didn't do
We read the Apple, Google and vendor pages below on 2026-10-27. We didn't record any call, install any app or buy any device, so we can't confirm how these features work in practice, how accurate they are, or how the notice sounds.
Sources (checked 2026-10-27)
- Apple, Record and transcribe a call on iPhone: https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/record-and-transcribe-a-call-iph57c6590e9/ios
- Apple, Record and transcribe audio in Notes on iPhone: https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/record-and-transcribe-audio-iphbe11247b5/ios
- Apple, View a Voice Memos transcription on iPhone: https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/view-a-transcription-iph00953a982/ios
- Apple, iOS and iPadOS Feature Availability: https://www.apple.com/ios/feature-availability/
- Google Phone app Help, Use Call Notes in Phone app: https://support.google.com/phoneapp/answer/15257579?hl=en
- Google Phone app Help, Use the Phone app to record calls: https://support.google.com/phoneapp/answer/9803950?hl=en
- Google Pixel Help, Create, edit & manage transcriptions (Recorder): https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/16267698?hl=en
- Google Pixel Help, Create, edit & delete a recording on your Pixel device (Recorder): https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/16267367?hl=en
- Google Voice Help, Take notes for me in Google Voice: https://support.google.com/voice/answer/16968663?hl=en
- Google Voice plans and pricing (read 2026-10-27): https://workspace.google.com/products/voice/
- Otter Help, Record and transcribe a phone call (updated January 23, 2026): https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/37814850589975-Record-and-transcribe-a-phone-call
- Otter pricing: https://otter.ai/pricing
- Fireflies guide, How to Record Meetings Without a Bot on the Fireflies Desktop App: https://guide.fireflies.ai/articles/6666374717-how-to-record-meetings-without-a-bot-on-the-fireflies-desktop-app
- Fireflies guide, Learn about the Fireflies Mobile App: https://guide.fireflies.ai/articles/8937818258-learn-about-fireflies-mobile-app
- Fireflies pricing: https://fireflies.ai/pricing
- Granola Docs, Phone calls: https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/ios/phone-calls
- Granola pricing: https://www.granola.ai/pricing
- Plaud Note product page: https://www.plaud.ai/products/plaud-note
- Fathom help, iPhone app: https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/13926529
Changes
- 2026-10-27: page first written. Every claim checked on the pages in Sources.
- 2026-10-27: Review fixes. Full standard consent block, built-in notice paragraph and ask-on-every-automatic-call line; disclaimer line shortened; Fireflies' "consent" label quoted and called a notice; Google Voice prices re-read.