{
  "slug": "phone-calls",
  "name": "Phone calls",
  "maker": "Your carrier",
  "category": "calls",
  "verdict": "n",
  "answer": "No. Normal phone calls are only encrypted between your phone and the cell network, so your carrier can listen. Carriers can also be ordered by a court to intercept calls.",
  "title": "Are phone calls encrypted? Normal and VoLTE calls",
  "description": "Normal phone calls are only encrypted between your phone and the network, so your carrier can listen, and courts can order it to. Checked at the source.",
  "parts": [
    {
      "key": "call",
      "status": "n",
      "words": "Your carrier can read it",
      "note": "Calls are encrypted over the air between your phone and the network, but not end to end, so your carrier can hear them.",
      "sources": [
        3,
        2
      ],
      "label": "One-to-one calls"
    },
    {
      "key": "people",
      "status": "n",
      "words": "Your carrier can read it",
      "note": "Conference calls go through your carrier's network in the same way.",
      "sources": [
        2
      ],
      "label": "Group calls"
    },
    {
      "key": "video",
      "status": "na",
      "words": "Not offered",
      "note": "Recordings are made by your phone, not your carrier: on iPhone, they're saved in the Notes app.",
      "sources": [
        5
      ],
      "label": "Recordings"
    },
    {
      "key": "pq",
      "status": "x",
      "words": "Not yet",
      "note": "Normal calls aren't end-to-end encrypted, so there is no post-quantum protection for them as of 25 October 2026.",
      "sources": [],
      "label": "Post-quantum"
    }
  ],
  "extra_parts": [],
  "keys": "Your carrier's network sets up the encryption on the radio link, and the call is open inside the network.",
  "can_see": "Everything: the call itself, plus who you call, when and for how long.",
  "business": null,
  "fix": null,
  "fix_line": "For anything private, call on an app that seals calls by default, like FaceTime, Signal or WhatsApp.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "id": "are-phone-calls-encrypted",
      "q": "Are normal phone calls encrypted?",
      "a": "Only part of the way. On 4G networks, calls (VoLTE) are encrypted on the radio link between your phone and the network [3]. That isn't end to end: once the call reaches your carrier, it's open, so the carrier can hear it [2].\n\nApps such as FaceTime work differently. The call is sealed on your phone and only opened on the other person's, and Apple says it can't intercept FaceTime calls [4]."
    },
    {
      "id": "can-my-carrier-listen",
      "q": "Can my carrier or the police listen to my calls?",
      "a": "Your carrier can. In the US, for example, the law requires carriers to be able to intercept calls when a court orders it [2]. The same law says carriers don't have to unlock encryption you add yourself, only encryption they provide [2].\n\nIn December 2024, the US cyber agency CISA said hackers linked to China's government had broken into phone networks, stolen call records and reached some people's private communications. It advised people likely to be targeted to use only end-to-end encrypted apps [1]."
    },
    {
      "id": "how-to-make-a-private-call",
      "q": "How do I make a private phone call?",
      "a": "Call over an app that seals calls by default. CISA suggests an end-to-end encrypted app such as Signal, which also does voice and video calls [1]. FaceTime calls are end-to-end encrypted too, and Apple says it has no way to decrypt them [4].\n\nBoth people need the app, and the call has to go through the app, not the normal phone dialer."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Mobile Communications Best Practice Guidance",
      "publisher": "CISA",
      "url": "https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/2024-12/guidance-mobile-communications-best-practices.pdf",
      "read": "2026-10-25"
    },
    {
      "title": "47 U.S. Code § 1002, Assistance capability requirements",
      "publisher": "Cornell Law School, Legal Information Institute",
      "url": "https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/1002",
      "read": "2026-10-25"
    },
    {
      "title": "Call Me Maybe: Eavesdropping Encrypted LTE Calls With ReVoLTE",
      "publisher": "USENIX Security 2020 (Rupprecht, Kohls, Holz and Pöpper)",
      "url": "https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity20/presentation/rupprecht",
      "read": "2026-10-25"
    },
    {
      "title": "Legal Process Guidelines: Government & Law Enforcement within the United States",
      "publisher": "Apple",
      "url": "https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/law-enforcement-guidelines-us.pdf",
      "read": "2026-10-25"
    },
    {
      "title": "Record and transcribe a call on iPhone (Personal Safety User Guide)",
      "publisher": "Apple",
      "url": "https://support.apple.com/guide/personal-safety/ipsfa513e1a6/web",
      "read": "2026-10-25"
    }
  ],
  "changes": [
    {
      "date": "2026-10-25",
      "text": "First published."
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "facetime",
    "sms",
    "signal",
    "whatsapp"
  ],
  "url": "https://isitencrypted.com/phone-calls/",
  "checked": "2026-10-25"
}