How to Conference Calls on iPhone: A Step-by-Step Guide

Are you a freelancer, employee, manager, or business associate, who owns an iPhone, but doesn’t know how to make conference calls and use various conferencing features? If yes, Then, you have reached the right destination.

With the growth of information technology and digital communication, many people might be confused about the conference calling features and how to set them up. 

But, Don’t Worry! In this blog, we will explore the conference call feature on iPhone and a step-by-step process on how you can make conference calls.

Let’s get started ⬇️

What are Conference Calls on iPhone? 

Conference Calls on iPhone are the process of connecting multiple users or recipients simultaneously with the main caller. It’s like a regular phone call with more participants allowing for group discussions, meetings, and collaborations limited to an average of 5 people. But, it depends on the call provider and the type of iPhone Model you choose.

There are various features like Mute, Speakerphone, Add Participants, Merge Calls, Call Waiting, Swap Calls, FaceTime in Conference Calls on iPhone.With these features, you can set up group calls on your iPhone easily.

With Conference Calls on iPhone, you can experience good sound quality, manage the call participants efficiently, and merge calls seamlessly.

What are the Benefits of Conference Calls on iPhone?

Conference Calls on iPhone offer good communication during the virtual call and allow users to have virtual meetings from anywhere with good Wi-Fi signal and network coverage. It provides several benefits:

• Cost-Effective: it eliminates travel expenses and office expenses including a big setup for a large conference room as the employees work from home in a virtual mode. 

• Effective Collaboration: Another benefit of Conference Calls on iPhone is effective collaboration between the team members regarding discussion of ideas, sharing updates, and making real-time decisions. 

• Increased Productivity: iPhone conference calls can streamline communication and increase productivity with call merging and participant management features.

• Accessibility & Scalability: Conference calls can be accessed with proper accommodation of the number of participants making them suitable for seminars, presentations, short meetings, and long meetings.

How to Make Conference Calls on iPhone?

You can make conference calls on your iPhone through the following step-by-step process:

1. Locate the “Phone” App and tap to open it on your iPhone’s home screen.
2. In the Contact List, find the First participant you want to call.
3. Once you’ve found the number of that person, Initiate the call by tapping the green call button.
4. After the call is answered by the first participant, you’ll see the “Add Call” button, tap it to put the first participant on hold and initiate a new call with the second participant.
5. Wait for the second call to be connected, then tap the “Merge Call” button to connect all participants into a single conference call.
6. Tap the “End Call” button after finishing the conference call to disconnect all the participants present in the call.

Best Tips to Make Conference Calls on your iPhone

Here are some of the best tips to make conference calls on your iPhone device.

• Be Prepared in Advance ✨: One of the best tips for making a conference call on your iPhone device is to be fully prepared in advance. What topics are to be discussed in the call should be pre-planned and brainstormed by the main organizer for a smooth conference call.

• Ensure the Network Signal📶 and Internet Connectivity are Good: Another main tip to make a conference call on your iPhone device is to ensure the network signal is good with no glitches and the internet connectivity is better with a good range of networks.

• Manage and Control Participants🧑‍💼: To manage and control the participants’ actions is another tip to make better conference calls for your device. The main moderator can mute and unmute the participants and control the participants’ limits in the conference call.

• Use Huddle Rooms for Better Cloud Communication: Another tip to make better conference calls on your iPhone device is using Huddle Rooms. For better cloud communication, you can talk with your teams, colleagues, and managers through Hybrid Huddle Rooms.

• Use Headphones, AirPods, and Headsets🎧 for improved Call Quality: One of the final tips to make conference calls on your iPhone device is using AirPods, AirPods Pro, Bluetooth Headphones, and Headsets to ensure the call is better with HD quality. 

Best Ways to Make Conference Calls on iPhone

There are so many ways to make conference calls on the iPhone device. The best ways are

• Siri Voice Command: With Siri Voice and a proper prompt command, you can instantly make conference calls without tapping any icon. You can save valuable time without scrolling your entire contact list or dialing numbers.

• Third-Party Applications: With Third-Party Applications like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, you can create a conference virtual meeting with more than 6 people and also create a group chat with your teams and members.

• Phone App: Through the Phone App, you can begin by making a call to your first participant, then after getting connected, you can see the “Add Call” button with a “+” symbol. You can dial the next participant once another call is initiated. Then, you’ll see the “Merge Call” option which lets you combine all the participants in a single call.

• Contact App: Through the Contacts App, you can begin by scrolling the contacts list and selecting those contacts for making conference calls according to your needs. The conference calling process is similar to that of the Phone App.

• FaceTime: Through the FaceTime App on your iPhone, you can start by opening it and tapping the “+” button located at the top right corner of the screen to start a new call. In the To: field, you can enter the names or email addresses of the contacts you want to include in your conference call.

Things to Consider Before Making Conference Calls

There are many things to be considered before making conference calls. Some of the major points are:

• Purpose of the Conference Call 🎊: Having a clear goal and proper set of objectives helps to understand the purpose of the conference call which ensures what the participants can achieve from the call. You should know the main purpose before making conference calls.

• Suitable Time Schedule⏲️ and Availability of all the Participants: Considering the suitable schedule and availability of call participants are the necessary things to be considered before making conference calls. By scheduling the time at that moment when everybody is available, you can avoid miscommunication and optimize proper productivity. 

• Follow Proper Etiquette and Guidelines ☑️: Following proper call etiquette and guidelines ensures that everybody has the chance to speak one by one, listen, and respect each others’ opinions. Maximizing active participation from all the participants leads to fruitful discussions with better outcomes.

• Have a Proper Call Backup Plan 📲: Technical issues like poor network connection, dropped calls, and equipment malfunction can disrupt the conference call. So, having a proper backup call plan by switching to another conference call provider or using messaging applications for text-based communication.

5 Best Conference Calls Providers on iPhone in 2024

There are many conference apps and providers made for iPhones. We have listed the best conference apps based on the following criteria:

• Good User Interface
• Video Quality
• Customer Review
• Features

1. Google Meet

Google Meet is one of the best conference call providers of iPhone in the current market. It offers a good option for iPhone conferencing as it provides a good user-friendly interface.

Features

• Use-in Meeting Chat
• Live Closed Captions
• Screen Sharing upto 25 participants at one go
• Virtual Backgrounds
• Noise Cancellation

Limitations

• Limited upto 1 hour for free plan users with no more than 100 participants
• Older Version of iPhones might not support Google Meet

Pricing

How to Set up Conference Call on Google Meet on iPhone

1. Download the Google Meet app from the App Store.
2. Open the app after you finish the download process then, tap New Meeting at the top of the screen.
3. Start an instant meeting with the pop-up.
4. Share the meeting link or ID with your team members, and colleagues and wait for all of your participants to join the conference.

2. Zoom 

Zoom is another popular conference call provider for the iPhone device. With the basic free plan, you can conference up to 40 minutes with a total of 100 participants. You can get more features with Pro, and Business plans.

Features

• Virtual backgrounds
• Team chats
• Video Recording
• Whiteboard Feature
• Outbound Caller ID

Limitations

• Less Robust Experience Compared to the Desktop Version
• Free version imposing a time limit on group meetings 

Pricing

How to Set up Conference Call on Zoom on iPhone

1. Search the Zoom App in your App Store, then download it.
2. Sign in to your Zoom account credentials, if you don’t have an account, then sign up for it.
3. Tap the “Schedule” button at the bottom of the screen to schedule a new meeting with a date and time.
4. You will be given the option to invite the participants with the number code or room password after scheduling the meeting
5. Tap on the “Meetings” tab at the bottom of the screen, then tap on ”Start” to begin the new conference call.

3. Skype

Skype is another Conference call provider on iPhone. It offers an affordable option for people to connect with their business clients, team members, colleagues, or even families and friends.

Features

• Screen Sharing
• Instant Meeting
• Chat History
• Voicemail
• Live Closed Captions

Limitations

• Users Can’t Multitask with Skype running in the background in the iOS system.
• Limited Integrations with iOS features

Pricing

Depends upon the country you choose

How to Set up a Conference Call on Skype on iPhone

1. Search the Skype App on the App Store, then install it.
2. Sign in to your Skype account, if you don’t have one, Register it.
3. Then, you need to tap on the “Calls” tab at the bottom of the screen and tap on the “+” icon to start a new call.
4. You can add the participants through the To field by adding their numbers, names, or email addresses.
5. You’ll see the option to “Add Call” button after initiating the call. You can add the participants according to your needs.
6. Then You can tap the “Merge Call” button to merge all the participants in one single call. 

4. Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a team collaboration business interaction tool that can interact with up to 1000 phone participants. It is an easy-to-use tool that is mainly used by business professionals to connect with their colleagues.

Features

• Meetings & Webinars
• Collaboration
• File Sharing
• Live Transcription
• Screen Sharing

Limitations

• Teams Chat can have a maximum of just 10 file attachments in the free plan.
• Free Teams offers 5 GB of cloud storage per year.

Pricing

How to Set up Conference Call on Skype on iPhone

1. Download and install the Microsoft Teams app from the App Store if you haven’t.
2. If you have, then log in with your Microsoft account credentials.
3. After logging in, tap on the “+” icon or “New Meeting” to schedule a new meeting mentioning the date and time.
4. Now, tap the “Invite People” field to add participants to the meeting.

5.  GoTo Meeting

GoTo Meeting is another conference call provider where the meetings are done and easily accessible to participants who can join by entering an access code. An online meeting and video conferencing software that allows users to meet with their friends, business clients, and colleagues in real time through the Internet.

Features

• Audio Conferencing
• Customer Support
• Encrypted Audio and Video
• Connect via Phone Call (PSTN)

Limitations

• Lack of Split Screen or Multi-Tasking Feature
• Inability to share content from Virtual Whiteboard

Pricing

How to Set up Conference Call on GoTo Meeting on iPhone

1. Sign up for the GoTo Meeting account.
2. Schedule a meeting with details like title, date, time, and duration.
3. Invite participants and start the meeting by tapping the “Meetings” tab, then find the scheduled meeting.

Conclusion

Conference Calls are an important feature of digital communication. The step-by-step guide above shows you how to set up conference calls on your iPhone.

There are a lot of platforms that provide conference calls on iPhone devices. We have listed the best platforms for conferences including various features like audio and video conferencing, voicemail, screen sharing, etc.

iPhone users can easily manage conference calls with the mentioned platforms like Google Meet, Zoom, Skype, etc, which have free plans as well.

FAQs

How can the iPhone make 3-way calling?

iPhone can make 3 way calling with the following steps

1. Initiate the call to the first participant
2. Use the “Add Call” Feature after successfully connecting with the first participant.
3. Then, Hold the first call and wait for the second call to be connected
4. Tap on the “Merge Call” button, once it’s connected.

How many participants can I include on the iPhone conference call?

Most providers support conference calls for up to 5 participants, but it depends upon what type of carrier you choose.

Can I see who is currently speaking during the iPhone conference call?

No, you cannot see who is currently speaking during the iPhone conference call as the iPhone’s built-in Phone app doesn’t have this feature, but you can see it through third-party apps like Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, etc.

Arun Chaudhary

Arun is SEO Analyst at KrispCall. He has written in extensively in the field of cloud telephony and call center solutions.