Does an AI notetaker capture both sides of a phone interview, or only your side?

It captures both sides only when the call's audio passes through the device the note taker listens to. A desktop AI notetaker records your microphone and your computer's sound, so it hears the candidate when the call runs on the computer: a softphone, a video app, or a mobile call handed to your Mac or PC through Apple's Calls from iPhone or Microsoft's Phone Link. If the call is on a phone held to your ear, the laptop hears only you, and note-taking apps on the phone usually cannot record the call either: Otter says Apple and Google "restrict third-party apps from recording phone calls directly." The phone's own call recorder, a business phone system's AI notes, or an app that places the call itself, such as Granola's in-app dialer, captures both voices because the call runs through it. Facts below are as of November 2026.

This page answers the "only my side" problem. For the full list of recording methods and where each file ends up, see how to record a phone screen; for tools that help run the screen, see AI tools for phone screens.

Why does an AI notetaker hear only my side of a phone call?

Because each kind of note taker listens in one specific place, and a phone call may never pass through it.

• Desktop apps capture two inputs: the microphone, which hears you, and the computer's audio output, which carries everyone else. Granola's transcription page shows the split plainly: without speaker tags, the transcript reads "Me" for your microphone and "Them" for system audio. A call on a separate handset produces no system audio, so "Them" stays empty.
• Meeting bots join a Zoom, Teams or Meet link. An ordinary phone call has no link to join.
• Phone apps are blocked by the operating system. Otter's phone call article says "A live recording in Otter will pause during a phone call" and asks you to record with the phone's own feature, then import the file.

Speakerphone next to a laptop is the half-fix people try first. The candidate's voice crosses the room into your microphone, quieter and with echo, and it arrives in the same channel as yours, so a tool that labels the microphone as you will put the candidate's words under your name.

Which phone interview setups capture both sides?

As documented by each vendor, as of November 2026.

Sources: Apple's call recording guide; Google's Phone app help; Fireflies' bot-free desktop guide; Otter's phone call article; Granola's phone calls page. We make Interview Signal; everything about the other tools comes from their own sites, linked and dated.

How do you put a mobile phone call through the computer?

iPhone and Mac

Apple's guide to calls on Mac says to turn on "Allow Calls on Other Devices" in the iPhone's Phone settings, then "Calls from iPhone" in FaceTime settings on the Mac. Apple says the Mac must be signed in with the same Apple Account as the iPhone and connected to the same network. The call's audio then plays through the Mac, where a desktop note taker can hear it. Fireflies' desktop guide says it "Supports iPhone calls" on macOS after you turn on the iPhone calling setting in FaceTime on both devices.

Any phone and Windows

Microsoft's Phone Link guide covers making and receiving phone calls on a PC from a paired Android phone or iPhone over Bluetooth. Fireflies says its Windows desktop app "Supports both Android and iPhone calls" once the phone is paired with Phone Link.

A softphone or a video link

If your company has a business phone system, its desktop app puts the call on the computer from the start; see Zoom Phone, Dialpad, RingCentral or Aircall for what each records and transcribes. Or send the candidate a video meeting link and keep the camera optional; the call then behaves like any video interview.

How do you check that both sides were captured?

1. Run a two-minute test call with a colleague using exactly the setup you will use with candidates: the same phone, the same computer, the same headset.
2. Look for the other side in the live transcript. In tools that separate the microphone from computer audio, the "Them" or candidate side should fill as your colleague speaks. If it stays empty, the call is not reaching the computer.
3. Check the labels. If your colleague's words appear under your name, the call audio is leaking into the microphone (speakerphone or speakers instead of headphones).
4. Change nothing mid-call. Switching to a Bluetooth headset after the call starts is a common way to lose one side. If you must switch, check the transcript again straight away.
5. Glance at the transcript in the first minute of every real screen. Finding the problem at minute one is cheaper than finding it after the call.

What about consent when both sides are transcribed?

A phone call gives the candidate no recording icon, so tell them. Federal law permits recording with one party's consent, but several states require the consent of everyone on the call, and the candidate may be in a different state from you; see all-party consent states and recording calls across state lines. Even where a phone plays its own notice, Apple's guide still says to "make sure the other call participant is willing and gives explicit consent to be recorded." Read a short line at the start, such as the one in our consent script, and stop transcribing if the candidate declines. This is not legal advice.

Which setup should a recruiter use?

• Many phone screens a day from a desk: a business phone system's softphone with a desktop note taker, or the phone system's own AI notes.
• Screens from your mobile number: route the call to your Mac or PC, or use the phone's built-in recorder and import the file afterwards.
• Mostly video, occasional phone: send a meeting link and treat the call like a video interview.
• Calls you cannot route through anything: take your own notes and write them up straight after; a partial transcript of only your questions is not a record of the interview.