Learn how to easily make audio and video calls on WhatsApp from your iPhone or Mac with this comprehensive guide.
WhatsApp is a great tool for texting, group messaging, and making audio and video calls with friends and family, even if they use Android or don’t have FaceTime.
On top of being feature-rich, all messages and calls on WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted, ensuring complete privacy.
Make audio and video calls on WhatsApp from iPhone
You have a few different ways to start a WhatsApp call.
Method 1: From all contacts screen
- Open WhatsApp on your iPhone. I assume you’ve already signed up for it using your phone number and allowed it to access your iPhone contacts.
- Tap the plus button (+) from the top right of the Chats screen to see all your contacts who have an account on WhatsApp.
- Find and tap the contact you want to call.
- Tap the audio or video call icon from the top.
You may be prompted to allow access to your iPhone’s microphone and camera. Make sure you do that.
Method 2: From the Calls tab
- Go inside WhatsApp and tap the Calls tab at the bottom. You will see all your recent WhatsApp call logs here.
- Tap a recent call or tap the plus button (+) from the upper right corner, select one or more contacts, and hit the audio/video call icon.
Method 3: From the WhatsApp profile screen
When you are on an individual or group chat screen in WhatsApp, tap the name from the top to see their profile. Now, use the Audio or Video icons to place a call.
Method 4: Create a call link
- Go to the Calls tab in WhatsApp and tap Create call link from the top.
- Choose Voice or Video for Call type.
- Now, share this link with people like your office colleagues or friends. They can simply tap this link to join your call. You can learn more about it in our tutorial on scheduling WhatsApp calls.
Method 4: From the Phone app
- Open the Phone app and go to the Contacts tab.
- Tap a contact.
- Touch and hold the call mobile or video button and choose WhatsApp to make a call.
- Note: The Phone app will remember your preferences, and it will call that person directly on WhatsApp when you tap the video or audio icon in the future.
Method 5: Ask Siri
In addition to the above methods, you can also invoke Siri on your iPhone and ask it something like “Call Ankur on WhatsApp.” Remember that the first time you do this, Siri will ask your permission to access your WhatsApp data. Tap Yes to allow.
When you are on a phone call
You have all the handy options you’d expect from a good VoIP calling app, and here are some of the highlights:
- You can turn an audio call into a video call by tapping the video button.
- Even if you start a one-on-one call, you can add more people to it by tapping the add people icon from the top right corner.
- You can continue the audio or video call even after you go out of the WhatsApp app. The video call will continue in a Picture in Picture window, provided you have allowed it in iPhone Settings > General > Picture in Picture.
- You can even share your iPhone screen through WhatsApp.
Note: You can use WhatsApp on iPad in a web browser, but the lack of a dedicated app means you cannot make calls.
Make WhatsApp calls from your Mac
The process to call someone on WhatsApp from your Mac is similar to an iPhone.
Start by downloading WhatsApp from the Mac App Store and set it up using your iPhone or Android phone.
Once WhatsApp is set up on your computer, go inside a chat and hit the audio or video calling icons. You can also go to the Calls tab in the app and reach people from there.
Check out next: How to annotate a photo or video before sending it on WhatsApp