By default, Beside records calls to provide summaries, transcripts, and full call context. You can exclude individual contacts from call recording - useful when you use Beside for both personal and professional calls, a caller has asked not to be recorded, or you don't need transcripts for certain contacts.
📌 Mobile only: This setting is managed from the Beside mobile app (iPhone and Android). It is not available on Beside on the web.
Turn off recording for a specific contact
The steps are the same on iPhone and Android.
Open the contact's card - tap their name at the top of the conversation
Find the Recording row
Turn the switch off
If the row shows Couldn't load. Tap to retry, tap it once to load the setting again.
📌 On Android, opening the card outside a conversation:
Opened from Contacts, the dial pad or the chat list, the card doesn't yet know which Beside line you mean, so the Recording row names it: Line: followed by the line the setting applies to. Tap Change line to pick a different one.
Opened from the conversation itself, the line is already known and no picker appears.
From then on, calls with that contact that you pick up are not recorded, and no transcript or summary is produced for them. On the call card in your conversation, the call reads Not recorded: recording is off for this contact, so you can tell at a glance why there is nothing to play.
🟡 Only the calls you answer yourself:
Calls answered by your Receptionist, and voicemails, are always recorded - that is how they produce the transcript and summary you get from them.
To keep a contact away from your Receptionist entirely, exclude them from AI handling instead. 📖 Control who your Receptionist handles
Stop recording during a call
For contacts not on your exclusion list, you can still manually stop recording during a live call. The part recorded before you stopped stays playable, and the call card reads Partial recording: stopped during the call.
If a caller asks your Receptionist not to be recorded
When your Receptionist answers and the caller clearly asks not to be recorded, the Receptionist honors it: no recording, transcript or summary is produced for that call, and the call card reads Not recorded: the caller asked not to be recorded. You still see that the call happened, who called and when.
FAQ
Will disabling recording also disable transcripts and summaries?
Will disabling recording also disable transcripts and summaries?
Yes. When you turn off call recording for a contact, no transcript or AI summary is generated for the calls with them that you pick up. Calls your Receptionist answers, and voicemails, are still recorded and summarized.
Can I re-enable recording for a contact later?
Can I re-enable recording for a contact later?
Yes. Open the contact's card again and turn the Recording switch back on.
I'm on Android and there's no Recording row on the contact card
I'm on Android and there's no Recording row on the contact card
The Recording switch moved onto the contact card in Android version 1.27.0. On earlier versions it lives in the conversation instead: tap the + icon to the left of the message composer, tap Receptionist, then toggle off Record calls. Update Beside from Google Play to get the contact card row, which is also where you choose which line the setting applies to.
A call says "Not recorded" - why?
A call says "Not recorded" - why?
The call card tells you the reason. Not recorded: recording is off for this contact means the contact is excluded from recording. Not recorded: the caller asked not to be recorded means the caller asked your Receptionist to stop. Partial recording: stopped during the call means recording was stopped from the call screen, and what was captured before that is still playable.
Can I turn off recording for a contact from Beside on the web?
Can I turn off recording for a contact from Beside on the web?
Not yet. Use the Beside mobile app on iPhone or Android. The setting applies to the contact on every device once it is saved.