Unless you’re insanely adept at shorthand or have a photographic memory, talking to people on the phone in a professional capacity can leave a lot of room for error — especially if you need to record precise information for later reference or transcription. This is the precise reason why apps like Call Recorder exist.

There are ways of recording calls that don’t require you to download an app for your smartphone, but these usually necessitate barbaric methods such as connecting a mini microphone to your device, downloading confusing software to capture Skype calls, or actually pressing buttons on a tape recorder. The good news is that there are many apps you can use seamlessly from your smartphone as substitutes. They usually can’t provide the same level of audio quality as more traditional recording methods, but the good ones are suitable enough, and they make up for it by being much simpler to use.

Currently, Call Recorder by Clever Mobile is our favorite inexpensive Android app for recording phone calls. The program operates on an easy to navigate interface in which recording calls is as simple as tapping a small white toggle at the top of home screen. Once it’s enabled, every future call you make will be recorded until it’s turned off again. From there, you can have Call Recorder ask you if you’d like to save your chat, and then access or delete those recordings at any time. It’s all as straightforward as you’d want it to be.

Additional Dropbox compatibility lets you upload your calls straight from your phone to the cloud for further storage, and passcode protection can be added to confidential or otherwise sensitive recordings. Other options in the app’s simplistic slide-out tab enable you to change the primary source of the audio you’re recording (the phone line, the mic, your partner’s voice, etc.), the file format (either 3GPP or MPEG4), and whether or not you want to record in a mono or stereo channel.

Like most mobile recording apps, though, Call Recorder is far from perfect. For one, device support is limited, as evidenced by Clever’s (probably slightly outdated) list of phones with which its app doesn’t fully work. If you see yours on there, this probably isn’t worth the hassle. Furthermore, some users have reported Call Recorder to have issues recording their partner’s voices clearly. Clever recommends tinkering with the app’s audio settings to find a workaround, but you should know that cheap call recorders like this are almost always finicky as a rule. When Call Recorder does work, it works well, with surprisingly clear audio on both ends, but it’s really the best in a sea of mediocrity.

So, if you’re running an Android device and have a need to record conversations for business purposes, Call Recorder is the best mix of efficiency and affordability yet available in the Google Play store. The basic version is available at no cost right now, while a Pro version, which gives you a confirmation prompt after each call and even allows you to share your recordings with others, is up for $5.94. Whichever one you get, just remember to tell your partner that they’re being recorded once the app is fired up.