You Can Now Make WhatsApp the Default Calling and Messaging App on Your IPhone
With the iOS 18.2 update, Apple gave users a dedicated Default Apps tab , finally allowing us to choose our own default apps for messages and calls. Unfortunately, not many apps have been updated to take advantage of this feature yet. I previously talked about DefaultSMS , which takes the default messaging app and redirects it to WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram, but at least one of them now has an official option you can use instead.
Yes, WhatsApp has finally updated to support the default apps feature. This means you can now make WhatsApp the default calling and messaging app on your iPhone. But does this mean you can stop using the Phone and Messages apps altogether? Not really.
Think of it more as a shortcut. If applicable, you can use this feature to quickly call someone using WhatsApp Audio or start a WhatsApp text conversation right from the Phone app or wherever you see a phone number.
How to make WhatsApp your default app for calls and messages
First, let’s talk about how to achieve this. On an iPhone running the latest iOS 18 build, go to Settings > Apps > Default Apps .
Scroll to the Messages and Calls sections. Here, select WhatsApp as default.
How the standard calling and messaging app functions work on iPhone
The default feature doesn’t mean you can simply replace the Phone app and Messages app. When you receive an incoming SMS or Apple iMessage, it will still show up in the Messages app. And when you get a call, you’ll still see it in the Phone app.
In this context, “default app” means that when you press the Message button or Call button for a contact in the Phone app or Contacts app, it now opens a call or message with them directly through the WhatsApp app. Essentially, it serves as a shortcut rather than a complete replacement for the apps that came with your phone.
Once you change your default calling or messaging app, when you open a contact card and press the Call or Message button for the first time, you will see a secondary menu with WhatsApp as the first default option. If you want, you can select another option to change the default settings. From now on, pressing the Call button will directly call the contact using WhatsApp Audio (or whatever you changed the default settings to) unless you change the default settings again in the iPhone settings.
From now on, you’re done… mostly. If your contact doesn’t have WhatsApp, WhatsApp will simply say that they’re not on WhatsApp, and then you’ll have to manually open the Phone or Messages app to contact them.