Interaction with phone on iPhone

Question

Our company has recent started switching from Blackberries to iPhones and the biggest complaint (such as it is) is that the you can not start a dial sequence (that dials a number, waits for a pickup, dials more numbers, waits for a reply, dials more numbers) etc... which can be used to enter a phone conference such as InterCall.

Can I write a simple app to do this on the iPhone? The part I am most concerned about is accessing the phone dialing mechanism. The rest I can work from contacts, etc...

If such a thing is possible? And, if so, what sort of classes and methods should I research?

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 07 '12 at 22:22

So, I just tried this

- (void)call {
    [[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL: [NSURL URLWithString: @"tel://611,1,1"]];
}

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
    [super viewDidLoad];
    UIButton *telButton = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeRoundedRect];
    telButton.frame = CGRectMake(20, 20, 100, 100);
    [telButton setTitle:@"Call" forState:UIControlStateNormal];
    [telButton addTarget:self action:@selector(call) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
    [self.view addSubview:telButton];
}

and it worked.

The automatically dial next number is achieved by placing a comma , and prompting the user to allow the phone to dial the next number is achieved by placing a semi-colon ;.

Ref 1: http://www.modernsaver.com/pause-wait-blackberry-iphone-droid Ref 2: http://www.iphonedevsdk.com/forum/iphone-sdk-development/85581-make-phone-call-tableview-cell.html#post355401

Whoa!!!! Nice!!! I'm on it!!! It sounds like it can access a conference service that requires an initial dial then at a prompt (or a time limit) then enter a string of digits for a conference ID and then possible enter (after another wait) enter a host PIN. Over the next couple of weeks I'll try it out and then get back to you. Awesome. — joseph ruth, Jan 07 '12 at 22:31
I just tested it and can confirm it's working. That's actually really cool. — Emil, Jan 07 '12 at 22:38

Emil · Answer 2 · 2012-01-07T22:39:08.540

1

I don't think this is possible as it is now, unfortunately. Apple is very strict about 3rd party apps and their access to the core of the iPhone (calling people, etc).

The only thing you can do is to prompt the user to call a number, but that's as far as it goes.

EDIT: I was wrong, there is actually a way to do this. Take a look at Krishna K's answer.

edited Jan 07 '12 at 22:39

answered Jan 07 '12 at 21:31

Emil

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It is what it is. It is funny that the Blackberry users would forget the fact that they can actually read attachments and focus on something fairly small like this. Thanks for you quick answer. – joseph ruth Jan 07 '12 at 22:24
True, the iPhone in its entirety is a lot better, but it lacks a few features indeed. You're welcome :) – Emil Jan 07 '12 at 22:26

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 07 '12 at 22:02

Due to Apple's sandboxing regulations, you can not programmatically access the core phone features of the iPhone. The closest think you could do is to create your on VoIP service which bypasses the telephone capabilities (but that is pretty difficult and you probably should not do that). Sorry.

Interaction with phone on iPhone

3 Answers3