Samsung faced a backlash from the Galaxy S9/S9+ users is Israel over various calling glitches. When software updates failed to satisfactorily address the issues, some customers took the company to court with a class-action lawsuit. One of the many allegations in the suit was about Samsung removing the ability to record calls by popular third-party software.
Not sure if this is what prompted Samsung, but the company has enabled a native call-recording option in the Galaxy S9/S9+ with the May security update in some markets. Since recording calls without consent is illegal in some countries, the new feature is not available for all the Galaxy S9 units worldwide. As of now, the feature seems to be available in the Netherlands, Romania, Russia, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. Barring regions where it is illegal, the feature may roll out to more markets in the coming weeks.
Available in select markets
If you have the May update (XXU1BRE5 or XXS1ARE6 depending on market) installed on your Galaxy S9/S9+, then you should see a recording option in the in-call UI. If you don’t see that option, then it is probably against the law in your country to record calls without consent. Even if Samsung doesn’t bring this feature to all the markets, there are still other options available for users. Many popular third-party call-recording apps have figured out a way to enable call recording on the latest Galaxy flagship smartphones. While they may or may not work as well as the native solution, at least there are now options for users who care about this feature.
Though the May update changelog doesn’t list any new features, it does seem to pack quite a few surprises. Apart from enabling the native call-recording option, the May patch also apparently fixes the color banding issues plaguing some Galaxy S9 units. The update, however, is not available in all the markets yet.
