iOS: phone number dialing not working

Question

I'm building an app that lets you call different service centers from Netherlands. The problem is that some of them have a different commercial format (like 0800-xxxx) and the device can't make the call. The code looks like this:

if ([[UIApplication sharedApplication] canOpenURL:phoneURL]) {
    [[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:phoneURL];
}

Do you have any idea how to format the number or to make the phone call, no matter it's format?

EDIT: This is how the phoneNumber is created:

NSString *phoneNumberString = phoneNumber; // dynamically assigned
NSString *phoneURLString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"telprompt:%@", phoneNumberString];
NSURL *phoneURL = [NSURL URLWithString:phoneURLString];

can you show the value of phoneURL? Is it in this format: `@"tel:9190432097420"`? — fguchelaar, Sep 06 '12 at 09:22
The format is like this: NSString *phoneNumberString = phoneNumber; NSString *phoneURLString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"telprompt:%@", phoneNumberString]; NSURL *phoneURL = [NSURL URLWithString:phoneURLString]; — Andra Todorescu, Sep 06 '12 at 09:35
It works fine for a normal, valid phoneNumber format. But for a commercial one it doesn't. — Andra Todorescu, Sep 06 '12 at 09:38
Illegal characters in the number? http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6323171/making-a-phone-call-in-an-ios-application — fguchelaar, Sep 06 '12 at 09:52

score 27 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 10 '12 at 14:22

27

I used this code and it worked:

NSString *cleanedString = [[phoneNumber componentsSeparatedByCharactersInSet:[[NSCharacterSet characterSetWithCharactersInString:@"0123456789-+()"] invertedSet]] componentsJoinedByString:@""];
NSString *escapedPhoneNumber = [cleanedString stringByAddingPercentEscapesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
NSString *phoneURLString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"telprompt:%@", escapedPhoneNumber];
NSURL *phoneURL = [NSURL URLWithString:phoneURLString];

if ([[UIApplication sharedApplication] canOpenURL:phoneURL]) {
    [[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:phoneURL];
}

answered Sep 10 '12 at 14:22

Andra Todorescu

628
10
27

What does the cleanedString accomplish? I am not convinced that it is necessary. – Nick Snyder Oct 01 '13 at 23:03
@NickSnyder I think it gets rid of spaces and other special characters. That way you just have a number which can then be called... I think..... – Supertecnoboff Aug 25 '15 at 11:31

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 06 '12 at 10:19

1

NSString *strm = (NSString *) CFURLCreateStringByAddingPercentEscapes(kCFAllocatorDefault, (CFStringRef)mob, NULL, CFSTR(":/?#[]@!$&’()*+,;="), kCFStringEncodingUTF8);
NSString *strMob = [[NSString alloc] initWithFormat:@"tel://%@",strm];
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[NSURL URLWithString:strMob]];

try this code . This works perfectly for any kind of format.It will convert into perfect calling URL .

answered Sep 06 '12 at 10:19

In this "mob" is for your mobile num which is in NSString format. – Sep 06 '12 at 10:20
I used this code and it worked: NSString *cleanedString = [[phoneNumber componentsSeparatedByCharactersInSet:[[NSCharacterSet characterSetWithCharactersInString:@"0123456789-+()"] invertedSet]] componentsJoinedByString:@""]; NSString *escapedPhoneNumber = [cleanedString stringByAddingPercentEscapesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]; NSString *phoneURLString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"telprompt:%@", escapedPhoneNumber]; NSURL *phoneURL = [NSURL URLWithString:phoneURLString]; [[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:phoneURL]; – Andra Todorescu Sep 06 '12 at 10:24
@AndraTodorescu, if you answer your own question, please place the answer in the answer section. Not in a comment. – Black Frog Sep 06 '12 at 10:29

iOS: phone number dialing not working

2 Answers2