How to make USSD call on iOS 15.4 beta

UI Frameworks UIKit
user21 OP
Created Mar ’22
Replies 25
Boosts 0
Views 11k
Participants 28

My App try to call via tel: scheme for USSD, it worked on iOS 15.3 and earlier but doesn't work on iOS 15.4 beta.

let number = "10*10#" // Doesn't work.
// let number = "1234" // This is Okay.

guard let url = URL(string: "tel:" + number),
          UIApplication.shared.canOpenURL(url) else {
    fatalError()
}

UIApplication.shared.open(url, options: [:]) { success in
    print("success: \(success)") // This is true
}

canOpenUrl() returns true, which means now we can call open() method. But nothing happens when we call open(url: options: completion:).

Answered by user21 in 712497022

This issue seems to be resolved with iOS 15.5 beta 4. So, I think we should wait for its release and my user for updating iOS.

Replies  25
Boosts  0
Views  11k
Participants  28
Frameworks Engineer OP
Apple
Mar ’22

You need to percent-encode your string for characters like # to work in a URL.

You can add this extension to String:

import Foundation

extension String {
    func  percentEncoded() -> String? {
        return (self as NSString).addingPercentEncoding(withAllowedCharacters: .urlPathAllowed)
    }
}

Then, you would use it like so:

if let percentEncodedString = "10*10#".percentEncoded(), let url = URL(string: "tel:" + percentEncodedString) {
    // Use url
}
shmakova OP
Mar ’22

I have the same problem
parapakura OP
Mar ’22

we can dial using openURL and using tel://number. the moment we have something like "tel://number;conference%23" it fails, but only on iOS 15.4 beta, this same conference number dialing works without issue on iOS 15.3.1 and previous versions. There must be tickets with their engineers about this issue and out ticket has yet to be replied so likely they will be addressing in the actual release version of 15.4.
Alberto_Romero OP
Mar ’22

Same issue here, waiting for a hotfix :(
aguglie OP
Mar ’22

Same issue, I noticed that it's still working if linked in a WebView but it's not working with UIApplication.shared.open()

Only 15.4 seems affected.
vizulefllry OP
Mar ’22

We are having the same issue. Worked from iOS11 until iOS15.3.
Hexakomb-dev OP
Mar ’22

Same issue here. 15.4 doesn't allow use to use the # character in any dialer therefore our app cannot prompt the dialer. It looks like it just drops the character. Apple please let us know if this is the intended behavior going forward or they will be a hot fix.
Dheerj OP
Mar ’22

I am facing the same issue if you got the solution please comment Thank You
Mikedepo OP
Mar ’22

From the documentation https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/featuredarticles/iPhoneURLScheme_Reference/PhoneLinks/PhoneLinks.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40007899-CH6-SW1 "Specifically, if a URL contains the * or # characters, the Phone app does not attempt to dial the corresponding phone number." It looks like the previous behavior (allowing special characters) may have been the bug and now the normal behavior. Hopefully not.
vsheyanov OP
Mar ’22

We are using this functionality to make an anonymous calls (ReactNative), and starting from 15.4 it became broken (or working properly according to the documentation).

Weirdly enough, clicking a link on the website<a href="tel:#31#1111111111" target="_blank">tel</a> still works...

It would be super helpful if Apple explains if it's a bug or a feature.
marsks OP
Mar ’22

same issue here. it appears only on iOS 15.4 our url of tel scheme looks like this:

tel://+1234567890,,33097278*110213*1#

adding percent encoding does not fix the issue, because it adds encoding to “#”, but it does not add it to “*”

need working solution asap
venkat_ganesan OP
Mar ’22

same issue happens only on iOS15.4, need an alternate solution or a fix from apple
austinserio OP
Mar ’22

Same issue here, and this needs to be addressed ASAP as this interferes with the ability for our clients to quickly dial into a Zoom call.

With Zoom as such an essential piece of everyday work now, custom call-in URLs have never been more important.

Being able to include the # character allows for users to dial directly into the meeting with 1 touch.

Hoping Apple understands the time sensitive nature of this issue for developers.
LuodLibon OP
Mar ’22

Same issue for us, still waiting for a hotfix :(
scalo OP
Mar ’22

Sad to report that the iOS 15.4.1 update didn't address this 😞

Devs: if you haven't done so already, file a ticket with Apple using the Feedback Assistant app.
3mi-dev OP
Apr ’22

Hi. I have the same issue with version 15.4. Unfortunately the recent update to 15.4.1 still did not resolve the issue. I'm starting to think this is done on purpose
helmutchecker OP
Apr ’22

I am facing the same issue when dialing by using WebDriverAgent with url command:

{"url":"tel://0123456"}

[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[NSURL URLWithString:url]];

It used to work with iOS < 15.4. I am not even using special chars, even a normal dial to a normal msisdn is not working anymore.
revox_lbs OP
Apr ’22

This does seem like a pretty critical regression. Are there no workarounds available for this?
efeder OP
Apr ’22

Same issue here. My app functionality is broken for this -- I allow users to make calls with their caller id blocked by prefixing with '67'. I've tried manually encoding by replacing '' with '%2A' but it still does not work. Has anyone opened a Technical Support incident?
azourzou OP
Apr ’22

Is there going to be a fix for this limitation? This impacts a very large amount of users.. The proposed workaround is not a quick solution for multiple sites and would have to be addressed individually??
HumbertoL OP
May ’22

We're running into this issue as well. For us, Chrome users on iOS 15.4.1 can't open phone links that contain the # symbol. Instead, they get a prompt saying "This website is repeatedly trying to open another application". Clicking "Allow" doesn't do anything.

The links work fine on iOS 15.3 and older versions of iOS and they also work in Safari in iOS 15.4.1. Encoding the # symbol as %23 doesn't make a difference.
HumbertoL OP
May ’22

We ran into this same issue on iOS 15.4.1. In our case, tel links that included the # symbol weren't working on Chrome, but they did work in Safari. iOS 15.3 and older don't have the issue.

We couldn't fix the issue directly. However, we eventually settled on a less-than-desirable workaround of copying the phone number to the clipboard and instructing users to paste it into their phone app. We also had to specifically detect that the user was using Chrome in iOS so that other users wouldn't be affected.

I hope Apple fixes this soon.
efeder OP
May ’22

My team's app was also seeing this issue on iOS v15.4.0 and above. I've opened both a Technical Support Incident and submitted the bug via Feedback Assistant.

From the TSI I got the response: "Our engineers have reviewed your request and have determined that you are experiencing a known issue for which there is no known workaround at this time."

Knowing that there was no native option, my team ended up using Twilio to route the call and spoof the callback number (which is an added cost to us versus the user's phone company doing that, but a necessary app requirement).
user21 OP
May ’22
Accepted Answer

This issue seems to be resolved with iOS 15.5 beta 4. So, I think we should wait for its release and my user for updating iOS.
hachther OP
May ’22

I just upgrade iOS to 15.5 and USSD is now working.

How to make USSD call on iOS 15.4 beta
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