How to change default apps for calls, messages, emails, and more on iPhone or iPad
Learn how to change default apps for emailing, calling, web browsing, and more on your iPhone or iPad to use third-party solutions instead of built-in ones.
With iOS 18.2 and later, you can choose default apps for calling, messaging, browsing, and more. This feature is available to everyone, not just iPhone owners who live in the European Union. Earlier iOS versions supported setting default email, browser, and keyboard apps, but iOS 18.2 has added more default apps and a dedicated interface to manage them all in one place.
Before you begin: An app you’d like to set as the default must be installed on your device.
Set default apps on iPhone and iPad
1) Open Settings and choose Apps at the bottom.
2) Tap Default Apps at the top of the list.
3) You will see the following options for default apps:
- Messaging
- Calling
- Call Filtering
- Browser App
- Passwords & Codes
- Keyboards
4) Tap one and then pick from the list of installed apps for that specific use case. I prefer Gmail over the built-in Mail app because it alerts me of new emails instantly, so I hit Email and then select Gmail as my default app.
Note: Apple has opened up the iPhone’s near-field communication (NFC) chip to third-party developers. This was originally a concession to stave off regulatory action in the European Union, but this capability is now available to all iPhone owners worldwide. With this change, developers like PayPal can finally offer contactless transactions from within their apps, separate from Apple Pay and Wallet. After installing a payment app, you may be presented with the option to set it as the default app for contactless payments when double-pressing the iPhone’s Side button.
What happens after you change the default app
Assigning a default app tells the system to use it for the selected action, like browsing the web or managing emails. For instance, setting Gmail as the default email app will make any email links you tap on web pages open in the Gmail app instead of Apple’s Mail app.
Similarly, setting Firefox as the default web browser will make all URL you tap in any app (except Safari) open in the Firefox app. The Siri assistant knows your default apps, which enables it to automatically perform actions in the default app if you don’t mention the specific app to use in your request.
Choice for default apps is limited on iOS
When I first heard about iOS 18’s new way to set default apps, I updated my installed copy of WhatsApp hoping I’d be able to use it as the default calling and messaging app. Much to my disappointment, however, neither WhatsApp (nor Telegram, Signal, or Facebook Messenger for that matter) have been updated with the ability to be the default messaging app.
The same goes for default calling apps; at the time of writing, only Apple’s own Phone or FaceTime app could be set as the default calling app. And even after setting FaceTime as the default calling app, asking Siri to call my wife results in a standard cellular call via the Phone app instead of a FaceTime call.
Default apps don’t always mean picking just one app
You can assign only one default app for emailing, messaging, calling, and browsing the web. However, you can use multiple default apps for Call Filtering, Passwords & Codes, and Keyboards.
Call Filtering
You can enable multiple call-filtering apps on your iPhone. I use two such apps, and the only way to set one as the default is to turn off the others.
Passwords & Codes
You can enable up to three apps to auto-fill your saved passwords when logging into websites and apps. However, you can have only default app for setting up two-factor authentication codes.
Keyboards
iOS allows you to install third-party keyboards and switch between them by holding the globe key. To set a third-party keyboard app like SwiftKey or Gboard as the default, however, you must remove the stock iOS keyboard in Settings > General > Keyboard.
Which default apps are you going to use on your iPhone?
Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/01/08/how-to-change-default-apps-iphone/
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