📞 Making Voice Calls in Android – Simple Feature, Real Impact

In many Android apps, from customer service to appointment scheduling, the ability to trigger a phone call can be a small detail that makes a big difference in user experience.

Android gives us two main ways to handle this:

✅ Intent.ACTION_DIAL

Opens the dialer with the number filled in. The user still has to press the call button, which makes it safer and doesn’t require permissions.

✅ Intent.ACTION_CALL

Immediately starts a phone call — but requires the CALL_PHONE permission and proper runtime permission handling.

⚠️ Important considerations:

• Always prioritize user control — ACTION_DIAL is safer in most use cases.
• If you go with ACTION_CALL, never forget to request the runtime permission for CALL_PHONE.
• Be transparent in your UI — explain to users why you’re requesting to make a call.

💡 Pro tip: You can also log call history or track call intent results using BroadcastReceiver, depending on your use case (and permissions, of course).

It’s a simple feature, but implementing it thoughtfully shows you care about UX and security.

Have you built call features into your apps? Share your experience! 👇

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