In some countries there are mobile plans with "free WhatsApp/Facebook/etc", but limited or paid regular calls/messages/data.

Because pretty much everyone who isn’t from the US is on WhatsApp, and voip calls quality is infinitely better than normal voice calls.

I either use FaceTime or WhatsApp.

The majority of times when somebody calls me over WhatsApp, I can't properly hear them and need to hang up and switch to a regular call, which works properly

I do the opposite

You or them have some issue with device, whatsapp calls work perfectly fine for past 15 years. If needed you can quickly switch to video, good luck with normal calls.

Back home 5g signal is weak, so my phone does even regular calls over wifi/network, then you are 1:1 with whatsapp or similar apps. No more missed or interrupted calls due to blip in coverage.

Here in Europe I know exactly 0 people who don't have it, even online contact forms of various webs and companies have direct whatsapp contact.

> Here in Europe

Europe is not homogeneous... I rarely see WhatsApp integration in Switzerland.

But my phone providers support "Call over WiFi", and calls that go through that are crystal clear. But it's curious stuff, if the calls are being routed through my home WiFi (or when I'm on the road: over my data SIM, which is from a different provider), what the hell am I paying them X cents/minute for?

> what the hell am I paying them X cents/minute for?

Because they can get away with it. They don't care, they're the phone company and have a monopoly.

With this change, you can finally get similar UX with a third-party app independent of your phone company.

but most phone numbers you are clicking on a web page (the cited use case) won't have a whatsapp account behind it

No, overseas most do and it's endless frustrating right now:

1. Long press on the phone number, but don't tap it otherwise it calls

2. Choose Copy phone number

3. Create a contact

4. Refresh WhatsApp by quitting and reopening

5. Find the contact on WhatsApp and call

If you're calling multiple companies for bookings or quotes, repeat this over and over.

Apple is to blame for many things, but the fact that if whatsapp has access to your contact list you can't start a conversation with any phone number in an easy way is entirely up to them.

This said, it's good to see that apple is slowly adding things so basic that it's baffling they are not there since years.

Do not know things on Iphone side but in android I justs end the device to myself and click the number,then it gives option to chat via whatsapp.

FYI you can go to wa.me/<phone-number> on your browser to start a WhatsApp conversation without having to create a new contact.

Even more, there are convenient Shortcuts for messaging a number on WhatsApp quickly, implemented through the same wa.me OpenURL action.

not the case in europe at all, hence my comment. you guys should travel more.

Are you sure about that?

Could imagine that countries like India the majority of buisneses also have an whatsapp account.

Never tried it, but it seems that calling a regular non-account via whatsapp will still work. But routed through watsapp servers. If someone can confirm or deny that, would be cool.

That's hugely incorrect, most of Asian, Europe have whatsapp numbers listed, not phone numbers.

That doesn’t really align with my experience in Europe or Japan - do you have a particular country in mind?

that's 100% wrong, i live in europe in a whatsapp country and no listed phone number EVER has an associated whatsapp account

so don't downvote me if you're in india and certain countries in sa asia where that is the case but that's not the whole world outside the us

East Asia isn't on Whatsapp. In most of South-East Asia it's also not the #1. That makes for ~2 billion people.

You can make it a video call, or invite other friends in. Even when the called person is on android. I'm not sure if that would work with regular call. (iOS to iOS probably has this already, I don't know)

Also you are connected via wifi, it's free. Even when you are in another country.

For a long long time I had a prepaid sim, and would just call my out of country family on whatsApp / Signal from home. Basically did not pay anything for it.

Your WhatsApp's user ID is your phone number, so it makes sense to be able to use WhatsApp directly whenever you have a "Call" button somewhere in the UI. Same for messages.

More abstractly: maybe you want to pick your preferred app to do it with instead of being artificially prevented by the phone's maker.

>> (as someone who doesn't use an iphone or whatsapp) What's the purpose of this? Surely if you want to call a phone number you want to make a phone call?

Outside of major cities in the US, mobile coverage can become spotty. However, most people have Wifi, so I almost always use WhatsApp Audio or Facetime Audio at home for this reason (when the other party supports it.)

My mobile company (O2 in the UK) will route calls over WiFi if there is no mobile reception.

While still making you pay for it. Also, they often prevent foreign IPs from connecting (to juice those extortionate roaming fees), so this wouldn't work abroad.

This opens the door to decoupling the "phone" functionality from your SIM card and telecom carrier monopoly. You can use any VoIP app now as your primary phone.

My mother has no idea how to call me from an android phone via phone, and instead always calls via Whatsapp.

As to reiterate that I have the reverse problem, like my mother, too:

As someone who has an iPhone and Whatsapp, often I fail to find a button to call people, and use whatever app I am currently using instead, even if that annoys me. But the UI is to complex and phoning people is a hidden/dark pattern in said apps. Or in Signal, I have contacts without phone numbers, so there is no possibility to call anyhow.