iPhone redirect me to the Instagram app instead of starting a call

Hi guys, the solution is very simple.

The phone gives you a choice to choose which number will you dial when you press phone call button in contacts. It should always be mobile or home, but it is not. But actually this is ok because you can choose if there are more phone numbers in contact.

The contact number (person behind this number) has also a lot of apps that he uses for calling and your iphone recognize them(incuding other apps)… probably.

so…

solution..

go to contacts, choose your contact person… press and hold the phone call button… a new window will appear and than coose the “mobile” number.

it works for me fine, the instagram app doesnt open anymore.

Regards

My wife had this issue and after trying some of these suggestions and poking around a bit I make the following observations with regards to the Phone / Recents screen:

1. If there is a phone number shown, using that correctly initiates a call
2. the "Call" button (with the handset image) keeps a list of (let's call them) "call options"
3. holding the call button pops-up those options and allows you to select one - the top one is the default
4. I noticed at least one situation where two of the options looked the same (showing the correct phone number) but the first opened Instagram and the second worked as expected
5. I suspect that behind these options is a URL which includes the "scheme" for handling the link (that's the "http://" we know from web URLs)
6. whenever you install an app it can provide to the OS a list of schemes it can handle
7. I suspect that some apps are hijacking a scheme that is supposed to be for the phone app
8. apps I have seen mentioned so far: Instagram, FB Messenger, WhatsApp, AliExpress(?!) (All reputable app developers - I'm noticing a pattern...)

The method of fixing this for us was to shutdown the phone and restart with a "hard reset".

For FaceID phones this involves pressing volume-up then volume-down, then holding the "power" button until the logo appears onscreen.

It seems to reset the OS "scheme" cache and removed some (all?) of the spurious links behind the call button.

This also seems consistent with the behaviours observed while removing and re-installing the offending app(s)

What if you try offloading the Instagram app? You don’t have to delete it, just offload it. Go to Settings > General > Storage and click IG app, offload app. I wonder if this would work?

Also be sure to force restart your phone (quickly press volume up, volume down, then press and hold power button until you see the Apple logo).

Let me know if this helps at all.

so…

solution..

go to contacts, choose your contact person… press and hold the phone call button… a new window will appear and than choose the “mobile” number.

it works for me fine, the instagram app doesnt open anymore.

Regards

I also experienced the same and resolved myself.

On contacts, press and hold the call icon and it would pop up multiple options like, mobile , phone, whatsapp, facetime etc. now click on mobile or phone option. This should set your default and resolve the issue.

This is what I did and it resolved the issue. I delete Instagram instead of offload and force restart then reinstall the Instagram and then force restart again and it works. Not really sure what’s happening. I’ve contacted Apple support and they asked me to reset the setting which I declined so I’m not really sure will that work. Hope this helps.

Same problem for me, iPhone SE 3rd generation, iOS 16.5.1 (c)

When I tap on phone tab within Phone app, Instagram app is opened.After I removed Instagram, then Whatsapp is opened. After removing Whatsapp, FB Messenger is opened etc.

It happens only with Phone app. If i Open Contacts app, then I do not see this issue, Phone app dials default phone number as expected.

The problem is relatively new, I did not see this problem before upgrade to 16.5.1, but I do not use my iPhone for calling frequently.

The problem does not exist on iOS 15.7.7 (I have old iPhone SE 1st Generation).

I think I found a workaround, but I don’t know if this works for anyone else, in terms of contacts, try to not use the call button instead, instead, tap on any of the phone numbers on your contact card, such as work, mobile, iPhone, or other custom labels, this will most likely force the phone to use the iOS system phone instead of third-party call kit apps.

remember, the call button before the phone number in the contacts will give you options for third-party apps and this behavior sometimes happens unexpectedly, so try to use the phone number labels Instead, this may solve the problem, but I don’t know if anyone else will have the same problem when using this procedure.

This has happened to me after the most previous update (recently). I so happen to check iPhone’s “Update” menu and sure enough there’s another Update. Ios 16.7.2 and VOILA, they seemed to have fixed this issue. You seemed to have had this problem since May?? Another whacky oddity w/problems arising shortly after an update. Hope its working correctly for you now.

Restarting iPhone helped me fixing this issue.

Issue seems to be fixed after I installed 16.5.1. Thanks Apple, it was a painful fault

If you change their contact phone number type from iPhone to Mobile. That fixed the problem for me right away.

This is for sure still happening. It will either pick WhatsApp or Instagram for me when calling from spotlight search. I have to copy the person’s number and paste it in the phone app to outbound dial. Very frustrating.

I deleted the Instagram app and the problem was solved. Guess I have to choose between having Instagram or being able to make calls. So I chose the calls.

In Safari, you have to clear all your browsing history. This also clears the cache. Clear your cache on iPhone - Apple Support

An added bonus is that this can also speed up iPhones depending on just how much history you have stored. I have mine set to auto-delete I believe every few months and it’s never slowed down on my iPhone 13.