[Updated] Xiaomi doesn't support call recording on devices running Global, European & Russian ROM (Workaround inside)

This story is being continuously updated…. New updates are being added at the bottom…..

Original story (published on July 23, 2020) follows:

Xiaomi’s MIUI is a feature-packed skin and some of these features are actually pretty useful. Like the Xiaomi MIUI dialer’s built-in call recording feature. That is one less third-party app to have on your device.

Sadly, Xiaomi is slowly moving away from its MIUI apps for core phone functions like the dialer and the messaging app. Instead, Xiaomi is opting to use Google’s apps for the same, which is the Google Dialer and the Google Messages apps.

Xiaomi devices released anywhere from late last year running the Global, European and Russian ROMs come with Google’s apps instead of Xiaomi’s MIUI apps. This means that you won’t have a native call recording feature on your device.

Xiaomi earlier promised these users that they would get this feature back in a future update set to come before the end of the year. Already, Xiaomi’s Android One devices, the Mi A2, A2 Lite and A3 have received updates that enable built-in call recording but that is only available to a few devices.

So, now that you want native call-recording on your Xiaomi device, what options do you have?

1. Wait until Google adds call recording feature on their dialer (Google is working on this)
2. Switch to Indonesia or India ROM on your Xiaomi which has MIUI dialer and call recording feature

Well, you might want to sit tight and wait for Google to push out an update to the Google Dialer and get that feature. However, we still don’t know when exactly Google plans to do so.

Secondly, you might want to flash a ROM for your device that has Xiaomi’s MIUI dialer. For now, these are the Indonesian and the Indian versions of MIUI. To do this, you must have an unlocked bootloader.

Unlock your Bootloader

To unlock your bootloader, simply follow the following steps. Also note that a more detailed guide can be found here.

Visit http://en.miui.com/unlock and download the Mi Unlock tool on your PC and extract it.

Go to Setting -> My Device -> All Specs -> Tap On MIUI Version 7 times -> Additional Setting -> Developer Options -> Enable USB Debugging -> Enable OEM Unlocking

Locate Mi Unlock status in Developer Options and Add account and device.

Sign in using your MI Account and then you’ll see Added successfully. Mi account is associated with the device now

Reboot your device into fastboot mode by holding the Power button, and Volume down ( – ) button at the same time with your phone off.

Connect the device to the Windows PC/laptop via a USB cable

Go to your PC and run the unzipped Mi Flash tool as admin. Ensure that your device is connected to the internet for this step.

Login with Mi Account ID

Your device should soon reboot and just like that, you have an unlocked bootloader. Please note that this process will completely wipe your device so ensure you have a backup of all your important stuff before following this guide.

Get Call Recording on Xiaomi by manually installing firmware

Next, you will need to download the new firmware for your device. As mentioned earlier, you will need the Indonesian or Indian ROM for your device if you need the call recording feature.

Go to https://xiaomifirmwareupdater.com/ and search for the appropriate ROM and download the Recovery version of the same. Copy that file to your phone’s internal storage and navigate to Settings>>System Update.

Navigate to wherever you copied this firmware and select it to flash. It is very important that you install the right firmware for your specific Xiaomi model as flashing a wrong firmware could seriously mess up your device.

Upon successful flashing, reboot your device and you should get the MIUI Dialer with call recording and more.

Understandably, many users might not be keen to fiddle with their devices like this. Therefore, it might be wise to wait for Google to finally roll out call recording through the Google Dialer app.

Update 1 (September 4)

IST: 12:50 pm: According to a recent report, the missing native call recording feature is now available on the global variants of the Redmi Note 8 Pro, Redmi Note 9S, Redmi Note 9 Pro and several other devices. Read the entire story here.

NOTE: We have these and many more Xiaomi stories in our dedicated Xiaomi section.

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