It's not really a basic feature. The sandboxing of iOS apps is smart in many ways. Allowing 3rd party access to an native Apple app could open up problems.

Apple can implement "record call" in the standard phone app, though, without allowing 3rd party access.

You don't need to solve the general case, just the specific one - add recording to dialer.

They already allow recording the audio from other apps, other than through audio plugins which apps have to purposefully implement, via ReplayKit.

But there's a good reason for that -- as long as legislatures keep making it ILLEGAL to use such a feature, can you really blame Apple for not wanting to offer it?

It is not illegal to use such a feature.

In some states ("multi-party consent" states), it is illegal to use the feature without the consent of the person being recorded; just like in some situations it is illegal to use the "camera" feature without the consent of the person being recorded. That doesn't stop Apple for offering a camera on their phone.

Other states have "one-party consent" laws that mean it is always legal for you to record own phone calls.

It's not illegal federally or in any of the 38 single-party consent states, as long as the person recording is a member of the conversation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_recording_laws#Unite...

And the entire Canada, where the story is taking place, is single-party consent.

It wasn't legal to rip CDs in many places of the world but they promoted it heavily.

What legislatures would those be?