Call Recording

What decides whether a call is recorded

Three inputs, highest precedence first:

1. A Start Recording node. A workflow that runs one records the call whatever the two settings below say, including on a number set to Never record. Placing the node on the canvas is an explicit instruction, so nothing overrides it.
2. The number's setting. Always record and Never record each decide on their own, whatever the organization default is. Every number carries one, whether you bought it in Tandem or it arrives over a SIP trunk.
3. The organization default. It applies to every number left on Follow the organization default.

Pausing a recording

A Stop Recording node pauses the recording that is running on the call, whichever input started it. That includes a recording started by Always record or by the organization default, so a workflow can leave part of a call out of the audio on a number that records every call.

A Start Recording node later in the workflow resumes the same recording. A call has one recording, and the stretch between the two nodes is missing from it. A paused recording that nothing resumes stays paused until the call ends, and what was recorded before the pause is kept.

A Stop Recording node on a call that is not being recorded does nothing.

Card payments

A Capture Payment Information node pauses the recording while the caller enters card details and resumes it when the capture is over, so that card entry is left out of the audio. This happens whether the recording was started automatically or by a Start Recording node, and whether it started before the capture or during it.

If Tandem cannot confirm that the recording paused, it tries to stop and delete the call's recording rather than risk keeping card audio, and the payment goes ahead. When Tandem finds the recording to delete, Call Logs shows it as failed, with the reason Deleted to protect card details. Automatic recording does not start again on that call. If Tandem can confirm neither the pause nor the delete, the payment still goes ahead, and card entry may be in the recording.

If the recording cannot be resumed after the capture, the rest of the call is missing from the audio.

Telling the caller

Tandem plays no recording announcement and sends no notification to anyone on the call. Turning recording on changes nothing a caller hears, and the Start Recording node has no announcement setting.

If you need to disclose recording, put it in the call yourself: a Play Message node, or a line in the agent's greeting. Where recording starts decides where the announcement goes:

• Automatic recording on an inbound call to a workflow starts just after the call connects, once the workflow is already running. An announcement at the top of the workflow is recorded, though its first moment can be missing from the audio.
• Automatic recording on an inbound call to an agent starts when the agent begins its greeting, so the ringing the caller hears while the agent connects is not recorded. An announcement in the greeting is recorded, though its first moment can be missing from the audio.
• Automatic recording on an outbound call starts once the other party answers, so nothing before the answer is recorded.
• A Start Recording node starts recording when the workflow reaches it. Place the announcement after the node, or it is not in the recording.

Setting it on a number

Open Admin → Phone Numbers, click the number's row, and set Record calls under Call Recording in the sidebar. The three options are:

• Follow the organization default — the number holds no setting of its own, so the organization default decides. This is what every number starts on.
• Always record — record calls on this number even when the organization default is off.
• Never record — record no call on this number even when the organization default is on.

The setting saves with the rest of the sidebar, under Save.

A SIP trunk's numbers are set the same way. Each one is a row of its own on Admin → Phone Numbers, alongside the numbers you bought in Tandem, and its sidebar carries the same Record calls control. The trunk itself holds no recording setting: the number does, so two numbers on one trunk can answer differently.

The organization default

It is off for every organization, and there is no control for it in Tandem yet. Contact support to have it changed.

Because Follow the organization default is what a number holds until somebody changes it, turning the default on reaches every number nobody has edited. Set Never record on the numbers that need it before asking for the default, not after.

Outbound calls

An outbound call follows the setting on the number it is placed from, not the number it dials. That is the From Number on the Convert to Voice node that places the call. A call placed from a number set to Never record is not recorded, whoever it reaches.

If an outbound leg presents no caller ID, or one Tandem cannot read as a phone number, there is no number whose setting it can look up, and the call is not recorded.

An outbound call placed from a SIP trunk number is not recorded either, whatever that number is set to. The setting on a trunk number applies to the calls arriving on it.

Where recordings go

A recording is kept for 90 days and then deleted.

Insights → Call Logs shows which calls have a recording. A recorded call carries an icon beside its status that reads Recorded, Recording pending or Recording failed, and its expanded row shows the length of the audio, or why the recording failed. See Recorded calls.

There is no way to play a recording back in Tandem yet.

Next steps

• Phone number API — set recordCalls on a number you bought in Tandem from the API instead of the sidebar. A trunk number carries the same field on each entry of PUT /v1/routing/sip-trunks/{id}, which this reference does not cover.
• Admin — the rest of the organization-wide settings.