iPhone now lets you record phone calls on your phone
Back in the day, before smart phones – which (for younger readers) were invented just after the wheel – the only way to record a studio quality phone call was to patch the caller through a special codec connected to a studio or OB desk. I recall picking up a second-hand codec from 2GB for Radiowise for ‘just’ $3,500. That was a lot of money, back in the day.
More recently, you could buy, say, a fully functioning, broadcast quality mixing desk from RØDE which includes the ability to mix two callers plus four studio mics, for around $1,000 all up.
But what if you could record a phone call on the go – right onto your phone – even in the car, without any other equipment necessary? An iPhone running the current IOS 18 lets you do that.
Let’s say, after weeks of chasing an interview, you finally had the Prime Minister lined for the next day for 10 minutes. You’re number seven in a queue with a dozen others. But the PM’s office has called you, NOW! They tell you that due to Donald Trump having blown him off at the last minute (again) the PM NOW has 20 minutes free, to spend with you – and you alone. “Can you take his call right NOW? If not, we’ll have to give someone else this opportunity because he’s tied up for the rest of the day. But you can take your place in tomorrow’s queue.”
A few weeks ago you would likely have had to say NO and given up on this chance of an exclusive scoop, all for lack of instant access to the required equipment.
But now, you can say “YES. Just let me pull off to the side of the road.”
Once you’re in a position to legally touch your mobile phone, here’s what you do.
If your iPhone is still connected to the PM’s office, you’ll notice a new icon in the top left hand section of the screen 
Tap that and you will clearly hear a Siri generated voice say: “This phone call is being recorded.”
The person at the other end will also hear it simultaneously.
Unless the person at the other end objects, the device will continue to record.
To end the recording session you press the STOP 
icon. The Siri voice will inform you and your guest that: “Recording has now ceased.”
The recording, in .m4a format, is automatically saved in your “Notes” app 
together with a transcript of the call.
You can upload the audio to any editing software or platform that supports .m4a.
I found the quality of a direct call between two people to be excellent. But the audio quality where one or more of a party is on speaker phone or run through a desk to be less reliable.
Peter Saxon