How to record or transcribe a WhatsApp interview: capture, consent across borders and device rules

To record or transcribe a candidate screen held on WhatsApp, take the call in WhatsApp for Windows or Mac and run a desktop note taker that captures both your microphone and the computer's sound, because WhatsApp itself has no call recorder: as of October 2026 its Help Center describes none, and its calls are end-to-end encrypted. Tell the candidate at the start and get a clear yes, since the rules where they live can apply as well as yours. Avoid recording on a personal phone; move the notes to your ATS the same day.

This page covers what is different about WhatsApp. For ordinary phone, Zoom and Teams screens, see how to record a phone screen and call recording apps for recruiters.

Can you record a call inside WhatsApp?

Not with WhatsApp's own tools. Three facts from WhatsApp's own pages, as of October 2026:

• No recording feature is documented. We searched the WhatsApp Help Center's calling section and found no feature or article for recording a call.
• Calls are end-to-end encrypted. WhatsApp's calling page says, "Your calls on WhatsApp are always end-to-end encrypted," so WhatsApp cannot hand you a copy afterwards.
• Other users can still record. WhatsApp's privacy policy says "any user can capture screenshots of your chats or messages or make recordings of your calls with them." That describes what is technically possible, not what is lawful.

WhatsApp's calling page also says you can make calls from "iOS, Android, Mac, iPad, and Windows devices" and from WhatsApp Web. Moving the call to a computer is what makes capture possible.

What are your options for capturing a WhatsApp screen?

Desktop tools document this differently, so check the exact wording. Granola's help center says it can transcribe "any call where the audio plays through your computer," including VoIP calls (Granola), and that it does not record or save audio. Fireflies' bot-free desktop guide names WhatsApp among the apps its "Take Notes" mode supports and plays an audio consent message about ten seconds after you start, unless you turn it off (Fireflies). Both as of October 2026. We make Interview Signal, which also captures the interviewer's microphone and the computer's sound with no bot, so a WhatsApp desktop call goes through the same path as a phone screen taken on the computer; it does not keep the audio. Meeting bots cannot join a WhatsApp call at all.

How do you set up a WhatsApp interview on your computer?

1. Use a company-managed WhatsApp account. Link it to WhatsApp for Windows or Mac on your work computer rather than calling from a personal phone.
2. Wear a headset. Laptop speakers feed the candidate's voice back into your microphone, which doubles their words in the transcript and confuses speaker labels.
3. Start the note taker before you dial, and confirm it shows two inputs: your microphone and the computer's sound. A tool that captures only the microphone records half the interview.
4. Run a two-minute test call with a colleague on WhatsApp the first time, and read the transcript back.
5. Give the notice before the first question (wording below), and note the candidate's answer.
6. If the line drops, ask again when you reconnect; a fresh call is a fresh conversation.
7. After the call, move your notes or scorecard into the ATS and delete any copies elsewhere.

If the candidate prefers video, a WhatsApp video call works the same way for audio. The note taker captures sound, not the picture.

What do you say when the candidate is in another country?

WhatsApp screens are often international, and that changes the consent question. Recording laws and data protection laws can apply where the candidate is, not only where you are. In the US, federal law allows recording with one party's consent (18 U.S.C. 2511(2)(d)), but several states require everyone's. For candidates in the EU, Article 13 of the GDPR requires you to tell people, when you collect their data, who you are, why you are collecting it, the legal basis, who receives it and how long you keep it.

A line that works across borders:

"Before we start: I'd like to transcribe this call so I can
focus on you rather than typing. The notes are only for your
application with [Company/Client], they are kept for
[period], and the audio isn't stored. You can say no and it
won't affect your application. Is that okay?"

Adjust the last part if your tool keeps audio. Country-specific rules are in our guides for India, the Philippines, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, the UAE and the UK, and US interstate calls are covered in recording calls across state lines. This is general information, not legal advice.

Personal phone or company device: what changes?

The legal question does not change; the data handling does. A screen on your personal WhatsApp leaves the candidate's number, messages, voice notes and call history on a device your employer does not manage. WhatsApp's Help Center describes chat backups to cloud storage, so a personal backup can copy that data again.

If a personal phone is the only option, use it for the call alone: no recording on the phone, notes typed straight into the ATS, and the chat deleted once the candidate is placed or rejected. Agency recruiters should check client contracts too, since many restrict where candidate data may be held.

What about candidates who answer by voice note?

Some candidates prefer to answer screening questions with WhatsApp voice notes instead of a live call. A voice note is a recording the candidate chose to send, so the consent question is different from a call, but the data question is the same: it is candidate audio sitting in a chat.

• Read it in WhatsApp first. WhatsApp's voice message transcripts are "generated on your device," and can be turned on under Settings > Chats > Voice message transcripts (WhatsApp, November 2024). That avoids sending the audio anywhere else.
• Do not forward voice notes to a transcription service on a personal account. Uploading them sends candidate audio to another company without the candidate knowing.
• Copy the answer, not the file. Paste the relevant text into the candidate record, then delete the voice note once the stage is closed.
• Do not score on voice alone. Accent, tone and sound quality are not job criteria; score the content of the answer against the same questions you ask everyone.

What should you keep after a WhatsApp screen?

• Keep: your scorecard or notes on the candidate record, the date, and a one-line consent note ("notice given, candidate agreed, [time]").
• Keep for your retention period, then delete: the transcript, if your process uses it.
• Do not keep: audio files, screenshots of the chat, or voice notes on a personal device.

If the candidate later asks what you hold, you will be able to answer from one place; see candidate data access requests.

What goes wrong most often?

• Only your voice in the transcript. The tool is capturing the microphone but not system audio. Grant system audio permission and test again.
• Doubled lines. Speaker echo. Use a headset.
• The candidate calls your phone instead of the computer. Agree in advance which number and device you will use, and call them yourself from the desktop app.
• Weak connection. Garbled audio produces garbled text. Note gaps rather than guessing what was said, and confirm key facts like notice period and pay by message afterwards.