007 Would Be Proud - How to Record Calls and Back Up Text Message

A recent article on the Wall Street Journal prompted me to give two apps a try. The first is Calltrunk which is an app that automatically records your calls and backs them up to a server. The other is Uppidy, an app that will automatically back up your text messages.

Calltrunk

Calltrunk works exactly as advertised, but there are a few things you need to know beforehand. First, know what your state’s laws are regarding recording conversations. Secondly, you can only record calls that you initiate through the app. Calltrunk will give you a free trial to test it out, however beyond that you need to pay either a monthly rate ($5-$50 per month) or 8 cents per minute.

When you initiate a call through the app, it takes a few seconds for the call to process. You’ll receive a call on your phone from the person you’re calling as Calltrunk connects the call for you. The person on the other end will see your number come up on the caller id just as it normally would. Once the call is completed, you can review the call on Calltrunk’s website and the audio playback is very solid.

Calltrunk will listen and analyze the call and you can search your recordings by key words. I made a test call to my bank’s customer service number and was then able to find those recordings by searching for terms like “bank” and “customer service.” Calltrunk has a built in feature that allows users to send recordings to accounts for Box, Dropbox, and Evernote. To sum it up, Calltrunk does exactly what it’s supposed to do and does it well. The only shortcoming I can find is the inability to record incoming calls. Calltrunk is available for iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and Windows Phone devices.

Uppidy

Not to sound repetitive, by Uppidy does its job well. The app will back up your text messages to its website. Text messages can either be backed up manually or every 1 to 10 minutes. I haven’t noticed an extensive battery drain with it set for 10 minutes. I’m not an extreme text message user and average about 1000 total messages per month. If you’re concerned about battery life, you can set the app to back up your messages manually.

Uppidy’s website seemed a little sluggish at times and required me to refresh my screen a few times to get pages to load properly. I use Chrome, but I don’t know if the issue was browser related. The website’s dashboard interface is clean and efficient. Conversations are listed on the left hand side of the site and quickly load when selected.

In the past I would recommend using an app called SMS Backup and Restore, but Uppidy surpasses its performance for a few reasons. SMS Backup requires users to manually back up text messages to a memory card. In my experience, I’ve seen SMS Backup fail on some older models of Android phones and if you lose or damage your SD card then you’ve lost your messages. Uppidy eliminates these last two worries because your information is stored remotely.

Uppidy is available for Android and Blackberry devices.