android-make whatsapp call

Question

I want to make a WhatsApp call to a specific user. I tried this and it doesn't work:

Uri uri = Uri.parse("callto:" + phoneNUmber);
Intent i = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_CALL, uri);
i.setPackage("com.whatsapp");
startActivity(i);

I know how to create a WhatsApp message, the code is similar and it works:

Uri uri = Uri.parse("smsto:" + phoneNUmber);
Intent i = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_SENDTO, uri);
i.setPackage("com.whatsapp");
startActivity(i);

Answer 1

Answer provided by @Adnan Khan works in Android 11, but I wanted to provide the Kotlin version of his answer:

val resolver: ContentResolver = requireContext().contentResolver
val cursor: Cursor? = resolver.query(
    ContactsContract.Data.CONTENT_URI,
        null, null, null,
    ContactsContract.Contacts.DISPLAY_NAME)

while(cursor!!.moveToNext()) {
    val _id: Long = cursor.getLong(cursor.getColumnIndex(ContactsContract.Data._ID))
    val displayName: String = cursor.getString(cursor.getColumnIndex(ContactsContract.Data.DISPLAY_NAME))
    val mimeType: String = cursor.getString(cursor.getColumnIndex(ContactsContract.Data.MIMETYPE))

    Log.i("Intents", "$_id $displayName $mimeType")

Now, the intent in Kotlin goes like this: _id is the value you get from the previous routing

val intent = Intent()
intent.action = Intent.ACTION_VIEW
intent.setDataAndType(Uri.parse("content://com.android.contacts/data/_id"),
    "vnd.android.cursor.item/vnd.com.whatsapp.voip.call")
intent.setPackage("com.whatsapp")
startActivity(intent)

Last but not least add the following to the AndroidManifest.xml:

<uses-permission
    android:name="android.permission.CALL_PHONE"
    androd:maxSdkVersion="30" />
<uses-permission
    android:name="android.permission.READ_CONTACTS"
    androd:maxSdkVersion="30" />

After this, you need to go to Settings -> Apps -> Select your app and mark the two permissions as allowed.

There should be a way that the app ask you the first time it is run, but that is another topic.