You Can Now Use WhatsApp as Your Default Phone and Messaging App
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Meta’s WhatsApp has become one of the first mainstream messaging apps to take advantage of a new feature in iOS 18 that will let you set it as your default. This effectively means that those folks who use WhatsApp more than Messages can now replace Apple’s built-in texting app with their preferred choice.
Apple added a new Default Apps section in iOS 18.2 to provide a central place to reassign defaults for several key categories of apps. This included setting a default browser and default email app, which has been possible since iOS 14, along with Call Filtering, Passwords & Codes, and Keyboards. These could all previously be found in various other places, but they weren’t as obvious. With iOS 18.2, Apple gave us a one-stop shop to view and set them all.
However, it also surprised us with new categories for Messaging and Calling apps, signaling its intention to let you replace the built-in Messages and Phone apps with alternatives. Another new category for Contactless App was added later, allowing for alternatives to Apple Wallet, and iOS 18.4 will allow you to set a default Translation app when it’s released next week.
While it’s great to see Apple opening things up, these new default app settings come with a catch: developers must update their apps if they want them to appear here. That’s not merely Apple being difficult, as it’s logical to assume that an app needs to add new code if it wants to be called up as a default from other apps. Otherwise, tapping on a number would likely just dump you into a third-party phone app rather than placing the call.
The same thing happened when Apple added support for default browsers and mail apps in iOS 14. It was less noticeable back then since you could only set a new default from an app that supported it. You wouldn’t even see an option to do so until you installed an appropriate app.
The new Default Apps section makes it much easier to see how sparse the list is. Relatively few apps have jumped on board to become new calling and messaging defaults. While I haven’t done a comprehensive search, I’ve checked out a few likely candidates over the past few months, and none present themselves as options. Ironically, a lesser-known VoIP app, Acrobits’ Groundwire, has been the only thing on my list until today.
Thankfully, the most popular messaging app has finally joined the party. With today’s version 25.8.74 update, WhatsApp now appears as a default option for messaging and calling.
There’s nothing about this in the release notes, which only have the typically sparse “bug fixes and improvements” type boilerplate, but WABetaInfo shared the additional details. They noted it was only appearing in the “25.8.10.74” beta, but we’ve confirmed that it’s in the version that’s been published on the App Store.
Once you’ve installed the new version of WhatsApp, here’s how to set it as the default for messaging or calls (or both):
- First, ensure you’re running WhatsApp 25.8.74.
- Once downloaded, open WhatsApp at least once to ensure the new capabilities are presented to iOS.
- Go to the iPhone Settings app.
- Scroll down to the bottom and select Apps.
- Select Default Apps.
- Choose Messaging and select WhatsApp from the list to set it
- Tap Back in the top-left corner to return to the previous screen.
- Repeat step 6 with the Calling section if you also want to select WhatsApp as your default for placing outgoing calls.
Note that it’s not necessary to set WhatsApp as your default to receive calls. Changing the defaults here merely determines which app is opened when you tap a phone number or use the buttons in the Contacts app.
The Contacts app’s Message and Call buttons will still show a pop-up menu with options for all supported apps you have installed. Your default app will be displayed at the top of the list with all the contact numbers and addresses expanded, but you can still tap on an alternative app to expand the numbers and use that instead. However, tapping a phone number directly in a contact card will place a call immediately using whichever app you’ve set as the default.
