Apple provides the ability to connect iOS devices (and Macs) over Wi-Fi to an iPhone to make regular audio phone calls using FaceTime.
Apple Support - Make and receive calls on your Mac, iPad, or iPod touch
Mostly the scenario for this is if you want all of your devices to "ring" with a call when you're at home.
I had a different scenario, of trying to have a smaller screen phone:
The last iPhone with a 4" screen was the iPhone SE (1st generation), released in 2016 and discontinued in 2018. The newer iPhone SE (2nd generation) has a larger 4.7" screen (the SE 2nd gen case and screen is basically identical to an iPhone 8). It seems unlikely, for the moment at least, that Apple will release another 4" screen iPhone.
This means the only iOS device you can still buy with a 4" screen is the iPod Touch (7th generation), released in 2019 and still available at the time of this writing.
So I wondered, given that you can connect an iOS device to an iPhone over Wi-Fi to make phone calls, and given that an iPhone can make a Wi-Fi personal hotspot, could you in theory carry your iPhone in your pocket or your bag, and use the iPod Touch as your main phone and mobile Internet device? Thereby, for those of us who prefer smaller phones, giving an option that is still available and supported, while Apple continues to make larger iPhones.
The answer in short is yes. This is probably not great for your battery life, and it means depending on the scenario that you choose that you're either going around with a phone advertising itself as a Hotspot, or with devices with Bluetooth on.
You would probably need to carry around a separate battery pack to power this kind of constant Wi-Fi on your iPhone and iPod Touch for any length of time.
Here are the steps from Apple (taken from the support document), and the options at each step:
Set up iPhone Cellular Calls
You can use iPhone Cellular Calls with any Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch that meets the Continuity system requirements. It works when your devices are near each other and set up as follows:
- Each device is signed in to iCloud with the same Apple ID.
- Each device is signed in to FaceTime with the same Apple ID.
There are some complexities with FaceTime if you use Screen Time restrictions.
First, you must enable FaceTime (obviously).
But second, and perhaps less obviously, you must also enable Camera. FaceTime will not run with Camera disabled (e.g. disabled in Settings -> Screen Time -> Content & Privacy Restrictions -> Allowed Apps -> Camera). And not run as in, FaceTime won't even appear as an app on the Home Screen if Camera is disabled; there is no audio-only FaceTime possibility.
- Each device has Wi-Fi turned on.
This starts to get complicated because Apple really assumes you're using this on your home Wi-Fi network.
Hotspot
If you want to be able to use your iPhone as a Continuity phone bridge to your iPod while you're travelling around, you're going to want to use Hotspot (unless you're planning on also travelling around with an additional separate Wi-Fi network creation device).
Hotspot exists in two not-particularly-well-described versions:
The idea with Instant Hotspot is network access without a password, for devices that have the same iCloud account. Instant Hotspot is always on; there's no way to disable it. In order for it to work, you must have both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi enabled on both devices. If you're planning on wandering around with your iPhone and you're security conscious, you may prefer not to have Bluetooth enabled. However, a possible advantage of Instant Hotspot may be that the iPhone is less visible on Wi-Fi, as presumably it isn't advertising its network except to nearby Bluetooth devices?
Personal Hotspot has to be specifically enabled in Settings -> Personal Hotspot -> Allow Others to Join (switch the slider to on). This means that your phone is now advertising its Wi-Fi network so that anyone can connect with the password.
Instant vs. Personal
I think it's a bit of a toss-up which option you might choose. Instant means you have to have Bluetooth on. That means more power use on both devices and any possible Bluetooth vulnerabilities. Personal means you are walking around advertising your phone's Wi-Fi network and anyone can try to connect.
Connecting my iPod Touch to the iPhone Personal Hotspot does work. The iPod Touch automatically connects in "Low Data Mode" which is designed to reduce network data use. You can disable this (if you wish, depending on your iPhone's data plan and what uses you plan) by going into the settings for that specific Personal Hotspot Wi-Fi network on the iPod Touch and disabling Low Data Mode. Phone calls work fine in Low Data Mode.
- On your iPhone, go to Settings > Phone > Calls on Other Devices, then turn on Allow Calls on Other Devices.
It says "when [the devices] are nearby", although I don't know what this means. When they are within Wi-Fi range, presumably? Or nearby may be to distinguish it from Wi-Fi Calling, about which see more below.
You also have the option on this screen under Allow Calls On to select what other iOS devices and Macs can make and receive calls.
- On your iPad or iPod touch, go to Settings > FaceTime, then turn on Calls from iPhone.
And that's basically it in terms of the connection. You can now make calls from the iPod Touch by going to FaceTime and entering a phone number, or by selecting a phone number in Contacts.
When a call comes in, it will ring on both your iPhone and your iPod Touch, and you can answer it on the iPod Touch.
Audio - Mic and Speaker
There is an issue with the iPod Touch in that it is not designed to be a handheld phone. While there is a microphone, it is on the top at the back (the bigger camera side), next to the camera lens, as it is intended to let you record audio along with the back camera's video. The speaker on the other hand is at the bottom.
So if you wanted to use it as a handheld phone, I guess you would have to hold it upside down and backwards, which seems rather awkward.
You're much better off using wired or Bluetooth headphones.
Note that the Apple EarPod headphones that came with the iPod Touch do not have a microphone, so you'll need a different set of headphones (e.g. from an iPhone) that do have a microphone.
Wired headphones with a mic work fine on an iPod Touch, you just plug them into the jack on the bottom.
Your other alternative is to use Bluetooth headphones although this means you lose whatever advantage (including power use) of having Bluetooth disabled on the iPod Touch.
Disconnection Issue
I did find a potentially fatal flaw in this approach, it appears that the iPod Touch disconnects from Personal Hotspot Wi-Fi when idle. I had to go back to the Wi-Fi settings screen, whereupon it automatically reconnected. Presumably this is to reduce power use on both devices.
This means you wouldn't be able to receive a call on the iPod Touch unless you were actively using it, as otherwise it would be temporarily disconnected almost all the time.
Internet
Although this post is mostly about the complexities of making the iPod Touch work as a phone when connected to your iPhone while out and about, the main reason for doing the whole thing is the 4" iPod Touch screen. Otherwise you can just use headphones and never interact with your giant iPhone anyway.
So on that point, just to be clear, with the iPod Touch connected via the iPhone over Hotspot Wi-Fi you are also on the Internet and you can do whatever you want on the screen, although you are using your iPhone's e.g. LTE data, so you need to take whatever limitations of data use (if any) you would keep in mind when using your iPhone on the cellular network. For example if you wouldn't watch Netflix on your iPhone on cellular network due to your data plan, you still can't watch Netflix on your iPod Touch when Hotspot Wi-Fi connected to your iPhone; it's all the same data plan.
Wi-Fi Calling
Note that the above use of an iPod Touch is not the same as Wi-Fi calling.
Wi-Fi calling is a separate feature, and to be more confusing, it's also two things mixed together.
Wi-Fi Calling from your iPhone
First, Wi-Fi calling enables your phone to make regular phone calls over any Wi-Fi network, if the cellular network isn't available and your carrier supports it (in Canada both Bell and Rogers support Wi-Fi calling). To enable this, go to Settings > Phone > Wi-Fi Calling and enable Wi-Fi Calling on This iPhone.
Wi-Fi Calling from other devices
Based on the documentation, it sounds like with Wi-Fi calling, you can make and receive Wi-Fi calls on your device on any Wi-Fi network; you don't have to be on the same network as your iPhone. This would be the difference between "nearby" calling in Allow Calls on Other Devices (other devices must use same Wi-Fi network) and Wi-Fi Calling (other devices can use any Wi-Fi network)?
Apple doesn't make it clear whether receiving and making calls are different.
I assume in order to receive a call, the iPhone must be turned on, and connected to a Wi-Fi network, somewhere.
So I'm guessing for incoming call it goes something like
incoming call -> carrier routes over Wi-Fi network A to iPhone -> iPhone receives call -> iPhone broadcasts the incoming call to other devices on other Wi-Fi networks B, C, D which could be anywhere
It's either that, or the carrier somehow can route directly to the other devices itself, in which case the iPhone could be turned off in a drawer and you could still receive calls. I'm skeptical that this would be the case.
Similarly for outgoing call, does the device make the call directly, or does it have to have an iPhone available somewhere?
e.g. You're at your friend's house on Wi-Fi network B, and your iPhone is at home on Wi-Fi network A.
You make a call on your device using FaceTime and then it routes it.
device on Wi-Fi network B -> iPhone on Wi-Fi network A -> outgoing Wi-Fi call
Again, it's either that or enabling Wi-Fi calling on your devices means you can make Wi-Fi calls from any Wi-Fi network anywhere, with your iPhone turned off in a drawer somewhere.
A scenario where you for some reason want to move around from one stationary Wi-Fi bubble to another without your iPhone might have seemed improbable, but in the era of COVID-19 and isolation and friend and family bubbles, it could actually be possible.
Continuity
For more about other features of connecting Apple devices together, see Apple Support - Use Continuity to connect your Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple Watch.
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