WhatsApp has become one of the most popular messaging apps, allowing users to exchange texts, photos, videos and make voice and video calls easily. While the calling feature can be useful, sometimes you may want to turn it off temporarily or permanently. Luckily, WhatsApp provides options to disable calls.
Can you turn off incoming WhatsApp calls?
Yes, it is possible to turn off incoming WhatsApp calls so your contacts can’t call you on the app. There are a couple of ways to do this:
- Put your WhatsApp account on “Do Not Disturb” mode. This will mute all incoming calls and notifications so you won’t be disturbed by WhatsApp calls.
- Block a contact. By blocking a contact, they won’t be able to call or message you on WhatsApp.
- Disable your WhatsApp account. Deactivating your account temporarily will prevent any calls from coming through.
The Do Not Disturb option is the easiest way to silently decline calls from everyone on WhatsApp. Just go to WhatsApp Settings > Notifications > Do Not Disturb and enable it. You can customize the duration as well.
How to turn off outgoing WhatsApp calls
You can prevent yourself from making outgoing WhatsApp calls by:
- Turning on Airplane Mode on your phone. Since there will be no internet connection, you won’t be able to make WhatsApp calls.
- Disabling your phone’s calling feature. Go to Settings > Apps and disable the Phone app.
- Restricting background data usage for WhatsApp. Go to Settings > Apps > WhatsApp > Data Usage and enable ‘Restrict background data’.
The easiest option is to enable Airplane mode when you don’t want to make WhatsApp calls. Remember to disable it when you want to make calls again.
How to disable WhatsApp calling on iPhone
Follow these steps to disable WhatsApp calling on your iPhone:
- Open WhatsApp and go to Settings.
- Tap on ‘Account’ and select ‘Privacy.’
- Under ‘Groups & Calls’, toggle off ‘Call Notifications’ to disable call notifications.
- Toggle off ‘Calls’ to disable calling capability entirely.
This will prevent you receiving call notifications or making/receiving any calls on WhatsApp. You can toggle it back on anytime to re-enable calling.
Can you disable WhatsApp calls on Android?
Yes, the process is quite simple on Android phones as well:
- Open WhatsApp and go to More Options (three dots menu).
- Tap on ‘Settings’ and select ‘Notifications’.
- Tap on ‘Calls’ and disable ‘Incoming call notifications’ to mute call alerts.
- Alternatively, go back and select ‘Account’. Tap ‘Privacy’ and disable ‘Calls’ to restrict calling.
This will disable all incoming/outgoing calls on WhatsApp on your Android device. Remember to manually turn it back on when required.
How to stop WhatsApp calls on specific contacts
If you only want to stop calls from certain annoying contacts, here are a couple of options:
- Block contacts: Open your chat with the contact, tap More Options (three dots) > More > Block. This blocks them outright.
- Mute notifications: Long press the chat, tap More options > Mute notifications. This mutes calls and messages.
Blocking is the more permanent option to stop calls and messages from a particular contact on WhatsApp.
Can you reject a WhatsApp call?
When you get an incoming WhatsApp call, you have three options:
- Accept – Answer the call normally
- Decline – Reject the call and sender will get a ‘busy’ signal
- Message – Reject and directly send an automated message
The ‘Message’ option allows you to reject and instantly send a text response indicating you can’t answer right now. The default messages are ‘I can’t talk right now’ and ‘I’ll call you later’.
So in summary – yes you can reject or decline an incoming WhatsApp call instead of answering it.
Does turning off WhatsApp calls disable all calls?
No, turning off WhatsApp calling only disables calling capabilities within WhatsApp. Your normal phone calling functionality using your mobile network or WiFi remains unaffected.
Some key points:
- Disabling WhatsApp calling doesn’t affect your phone’s calling features or any other app’s calling capabilities.
- You can still make normal calls through your dialer app even after turning off WhatsApp calling.
- Incoming and outgoing normal calls will still work when WhatsApp calling is disabled.
So feel free to selectively turn off WhatsApp calling if needed – the rest of your phone’s calling will remain enabled.
Can you automatically reject WhatsApp calls?
While WhatsApp doesn’t have a built-in feature to auto reject calls, there are some workarounds:
- Put your phone on Do Not Disturb mode to automatically silence incoming WhatsApp calls.
- Use ‘Do Not Disturb’ apps from the Play Store that offer call blocking features.
- Download apps like Calls Blacklist that allow auto-rejecting calls from specific contacts.
- Block unwanted contacts who frequently call you on WhatsApp.
So using a third-party app or the blocking feature is the easiest way to automatically stop calls from certain contacts on WhatsApp.
Can you hide your call and status from contacts?
Yes, WhatsApp has an option to hide your status, profile photo and current activity from specific contacts:
- Open WhatsApp Settings > Account > Privacy
- Tap ‘Last seen & online’ and select ‘My contacts except…’
- Choose the contacts you want to hide your status from.
This will prevent these selected contacts from seeing when you were last online, currently online or typing on WhatsApp.
You can also hide your profile photo and/or status updates from these contacts for extra privacy. This offers more control over what certain contacts can see about your WhatsApp activity.
Conclusion
Turning off WhatsApp calling is easy and can be done right from the app’s settings. You can disable incoming and outgoing calls on both iPhones and Android devices. Specific contacts can also be blocked or muted if needed. Just toggling the ‘Calls’ option is enough to fully disable WhatsApp calling when required.
Remember that only WhatsApp calling is affected – your device’s normal phone calling and other apps’ calling capabilities remain unaffected. With this knowledge, feel free to restrict WhatsApp calls selectively and enjoy uninterrupted messaging!