Enable call recording

Atender can record calls for quality review, training, and compliance. Recording is configured at the tenant level as a default, and individual IVR nodes can override the default for specific paths. Atender plays a consent announcement before recording starts by default and lets callers opt out by pressing 9. If your tenant discloses recording elsewhere in the IVR, you can turn off Atender’s built-in consent announcement.

Before you start

• A user role that can edit voice settings (Owner or Team Lead).
• An understanding of your local compliance requirements. Many jurisdictions require consent before recording. Atender can play a consent message and offer opt-out, but the wording, where disclosure happens, and the obligation to allow opt-out are your responsibility.

Steps

Set the tenant default

The tenant-level toggle is the baseline that applies to every call the IVR routes to a queue unless an IVR node overrides it.

1. Open Settings → Voice.
2. Select Global in the sidebar (the top entry, above your phone numbers).
3. Find the Record calls toggle.
4. Switch it on or off.
5. Find Play consent announcement.
6. Leave it on to play Atender’s built-in consent announcement and press-9 opt-out prompt before recording starts, or turn it off if your IVR discloses recording elsewhere.
7. Save.

Override per IVR node

Some flows only want to record specific paths — for example, only the sales line, not internal transfers.

1. Open the IVR in the builder.
2. Click the Send to Queue node whose path you want to control.
3. In the node config, find Record calls. The dropdown has three values:
   Use tenant default — use the tenant default. The starting value for every new node.
   Force on — always record this path, even if the tenant default is off.
   Force off — never record this path, even if the tenant default is on.
4. To control the consent announcement for this path, find Consent announcement. The dropdown has three values:
   Use tenant default — use the tenant default. The starting value for every new node.
   Force on — play the built-in consent announcement and press-9 opt-out prompt for this path.
   Force off — do not play the built-in consent announcement or press-9 opt-out prompt for this path.
5. Pick the values you want and save the flow.

Verify it worked

Dial your number, complete a test call that should be recorded, hang up, and check the conversation in the inbox. A recorded call carries an audio player on the conversation; if recording was off, the audio player is absent.

Opt-out behavior

When recording is on, Atender plays a consent announcement before the caller enters the queue by default and offers press 9 to opt out. If the caller opts out:

• The call is no longer recorded.
• The opt-out is recorded on the conversation as a recordingOptOut custom field; no conversation tag is applied.
• Optionally, the call can still be transcribed if your tenant has the Transcribe calls even when caller opts out setting enabled. This is a tenant-wide setting on the Global voice page.

You can turn off the built-in consent announcement at the tenant level, or override it on a Send to Queue node, when your tenant discloses recording elsewhere in the IVR. Turning off Play consent announcement also removes Atender’s built-in press-9 opt-out prompt for that call path.

The built-in consent message wording cannot be edited in Global voice settings; to override it for a path, upload Consent audio (overrides built-in) on that Send to Queue node. The enable or disable behavior and the press-9 opt-out are still controlled by the consent announcement settings.

Where recordings end up

A recorded call’s audio is attached to the conversation it belongs to. Anyone with permission to view the conversation can play it back. Speechmatics-driven transcription, when enabled, attaches a text transcript to the same conversation.

Recordings can be deleted, but the permission to do so is gated. By default, only Owners can delete recordings; the Who can delete recordings setting can lower the threshold to Team Leads or Agents. Confirm your tenant’s recording-deletion permissions on the Global voice settings page.

Troubleshooting

• Symptom: Calls aren’t being recorded even though recording is enabled tenant-wide. Fix: Check the IVR nodes the call passes through. A node set to Force off wins over the tenant default.

• Symptom: Recording is on but you don’t hear the consent message. Fix: Check Play consent announcement on the Global voice page and Consent announcement on the Send to Queue node the call passes through. If it is off, or the node is set to Force off, Atender will not play the built-in consent announcement or press-9 opt-out prompt. If it is on, confirm that custom consent audio has been uploaded on that node if it uses one, and confirm your IVR routes the call through a Send to Queue node with recording enabled — if you transfer the call out before that, the consent message won’t fire.

• Symptom: The recording is silent or only one side of the call is audible. Fix: This is typically a network or codec issue on a specific call. Reach out to support with the call SID and conversation ID — it’s not a configuration problem at the tenant level.

See also

• Set up a call queue
• The Voice channel
• IVR node types