Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Charged international phone usage for Whatsapp calls

I have consistently used Whatsapp for years and love it. However, something very odd has happened in the last two months and I got a
 call from my provider (Verizon) saying there have been an unusually high 
frequency of international calls made by my phone and I had racked up $1200 
in charges. I figured it was fraud but then checked my usage online and all calls
 (to two regular numbers I call in Europe) show up as regular 
international calls. This began at the beginning of September (2014) and I
 can't understand what is happening. The rate for these calls is about $1.29/min.


I live in the US and have many contacts in Europe, so like many other people, I have great use for Whatsapp. I was
 especially excited back in the spring of this year when they announced free
 calling, and I used it a lot. It doesn't make sense to me why I was 
successfully making calls for free for the first few months, and then all 
of a sudden in September, they've been going out as if I was calling
 internationally through my carrier. There was no mistake on my part as I haven't changed any of my methods since the beginning of using Whatsapp calling.


Has anybody else had this experience? Is there some setting that got switched in a new iOS update that makes their calls just run normally? (I know, highly unlikely but I don't know what else could have happened).


Thank you very much for any help!

iPhone 5s, iOS 8.1, Up to date Whatsapp version

Posted on Nov 19, 2014 8:13 PM

Reply
22 replies

Mar 17, 2015 10:15 PM in response to sd_phdchem

I sent an email to whatsup. They told me the call icon is only for convinience but that this app is for texting only. I replied to their email asking gor assistance With the phone bill but they never replied. AT&T is my cell provider so I contacted them. They helped me by adding retroactively an international plan that cost $30.00 so Inwould not have to pay for the full bill. I now have terminated that additional service just did it for a month. AT&T explained to me whatsup is causibg a lot of problems by not explaining this feature up front. I am do glad I have AT&T since it is one of the few american companies that still lrovide awesome chstomer service. Goid luck to you if you have a different cell provider. I have dince deleted shatsup which is own by Facebook they have no accountability!!!!

May 18, 2015 9:03 AM in response to mariafromtexas

Hello, and thank you for your posts about this problem. I have a iphone 6 and I used whatsapp extensively for 2 months. I then got a bill from Sprint charging me international rates for all those calls. About $700 worth. Has anyone found a solution to this problem yet? When I was in the states I used my us number to register with whatsapp and I called costa rica. My question is, how can a cell phone company charge for a call made through a internet based service unless the app itself is defective in some way? I am not a developer and do not claim to know, but its really strange. Also, when I arrived in CR, I changed my whatsapp number to my costa rican number and did not recieve any charges from Kolby for calls to the states. So I do not understand this problem. Any feedback is appreciated.

May 18, 2015 11:08 AM in response to julian5000

To all of you...


There were MANY scams about Whatsapp calling... the REAL iOS update was not out in September 2014 but around last month or so. I feel frustrated because of you all issues. There´s a big community of users where I live and just one person reported this problem and got an answer from Whatsapp. The icon IS supposed to call a friend with Whatsapp Calling. Whatsapp is ALSO supposed to provide support on this as they did with me whenever I installed that scam in my phone. Make sure you contact the real whatsapp webpage. The last version of Whatsapp currently in the App Store supports the calling.

Charged international phone usage for Whatsapp calls

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.