Click-to-call

Click-to-call is an interaction that starts a telephone calling workflow when a user selects a button, link or telephone number in an application. It may open a dialling application, ask a telephone system to connect participants or initiate a call through an integrated service. The phrase describes the user action rather than a single protocol or implementation.

Starting a workflow is different from successfully connecting a conversation. The user may still need to confirm the destination, select a device or wait for the other participant to answer. Interfaces should make the consequence clear and avoid unexpected calls caused by an accidental click. Integrations also need to consider authentication, number formatting, permissions and duplicate requests. A telephone link handled by a device behaves differently from a server-side request to create a call. Teams should test both successful and failed attempts, and show a useful outcome without exposing sensitive account information or internal credentials in the browser.