Shizuku — recommended
Hosts a long-lived privileged service that survives app restarts. Set it up once and Recline reconnects automatically from then on.
Recline Helper
Privileged recording engine for Recline
Companion appRequired for recordingFreeAndroid 8.0+
Recline Helper is the reason Recline can record calls at all. It's a separate, deliberately small app with one job: capture real two-way call audio and hand it back to the dialer, so the dialer itself never needs a microphone permission.
APK · 4 MB · Android 8.0+ · install from this page, then connect it once
The problem
Why a separate app is needed at all
Android restricts call-audio recording to privileged system apps. For years, third-party dialers worked around it with an accessibility service — a permission meant for screen readers. Google Play now treats that as a policy violation, and rightly so: it's an enormous permission to hand an app for one feature.
Recline's previous version did exactly that. The current architecture removes accessibility entirely. Instead of the dialer asking for sweeping permissions, a separate process borrows the identity of the Android shell — which legitimately holds those audio permissions — and does nothing but capture audio.
How it works
What happens when you hit record
Six steps, from your tap to a file only your dialer can open.
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Step 01
You tap record
Recording starts from the in-call screen, or automatically if you've set a rule for that contact. Nothing runs until you ask it to.
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Step 02
The Helper wakes up
The dialer signals its companion, which brings up the capture service you activated during setup. The two apps verify each other before anything moves between them.
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Step 03
Both sides are captured
Your voice and the caller's are recorded together and mixed into a single track — a real conversation, not just your half of it.
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Step 04
It checks it can actually hear
Devices differ enormously in what they allow. The Helper tries several capture approaches in the first moments of a call and keeps whichever one is genuinely audible, rather than silently recording nothing.
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Step 05
Encoded on your phone
The audio is written to an M4A file on your device, with its length, size and the number attached so the recordings list is useful later.
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Step 06
Only Recline can open it
The finished recording is readable by the Recline dialer and by nothing else on your phone. It is never uploaded anywhere.
Separation of concerns
Who does what
A strict boundary between the app you touch and the process that has privileges.
com.amigo.dialer
Recline Dialer
- Dialpad, call logs, contacts, favourites, settings
- Recording controls, playback list, share and delete
- Blocking, sleep control, incognito and secret calling
- Holds no RECORD_AUDIO and no accessibility service
com.dev.reclinehelper
Recline Helper
- Runs and supervises the capture service
- Records real two-way call audio — both sides of the conversation
- Encodes to M4A and stores recordings on-device
- Makes recordings available to Recline, and to nothing else
Activation
Four ways to start it
You only do this once. After the Helper is running, Recline finds it and reconnects on its own.
Wireless debugging
Android 11+, no computer at all. Pair the phone with itself using a 6-digit code; afterwards the Helper starts the server on its own.
ADB over USB
One command from a PC with USB debugging on. The Helper generates the exact command for your device — copy, paste, run, unplug.
Root
The Helper starts the server itself through su, instantly, and re-launches automatically after every reboot via a boot receiver.
Privacy
The Helper has no internet role
It captures audio, encodes it, and stores it on your device. It does not upload, it does not phone home, and it exposes recordings only to the signed Recline dialer.
Required for call recording
Get the Recline Helper
Recline records real two-way call audio through this companion app — so the dialer itself needs no microphone permission and no accessibility service. Install the Helper, then connect it once.