How To Use Your iPad To Place/Receive Calls (via iPhone)

Touted as the biggest iOS update ever, Apple’s latest offering, iOS 8 brings with it a number of exciting new features, with many of them integrating seamlessly with the soon-to-be-released OS X 10.10 Yosemite for Macs. But still, while having the latest OS running on your device is nothing short of great, you should know how to use all their features to your advantage.

One such feature is the ability to make and receive cellular calls on your iPad or iPod Touch via an iPhone, provided they are running on iOS 8. The feature, called Continuity, also allows you to send text messages from your iPad via your iPhone. To do this, you need to make sure that Facetime is enabled on both devices, and both devices are connected to the same iCloud account.

Answering a call automatically turns on the speakerphone on your iPad/iPod, allowing the iPod’s/iPad’s microphone and speakers to handle the call. Continuity requires an iPhone 5 or later, fourth-generation iPad or newer, iPad mini, or fifth-generation iPod touch.

The ability to just pick up your iPad or click a button on your Mac to answer a call is really, really convenient, and I bet many of you find yourself wanting to do so a lot.

Currently as OS X 10.10 Yosemite isn’t out, we’ll only be showing you how to get this up and running on your iPad/iPod. We’ll be sure to similarly explain this to you for your Mac once Yosemite is out.

So, simply follow the steps below on your iPhone and iPad to enable this feature:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone, and navigate to Facetime. Here, make sure “iPhone Cellular Calls” is enabled.

2. Now, on your iPod Touch or iPad, follow the same steps as above,and ensure that “iPhone Cellular Calls” is also enabled.

3. Make sure that both devices are connected to the same WiFi network before proceeding. You can now open up the Contacts app on your iPad or iPod Touch, and from there, you’ll be able to dial anybody and make calls via your iPhone.

On the other hand, receiving a call is simply a matter of tapping on “Accept” on a connected device when an incoming call occurs.

Sure, the Wi-Fi compulsion is a real pullback, but at least we have such a feature to use with our iOS devices/Mac, courtesy of Apple. To disable the feature on a specific device, simply repeat Step 1, but instead toggle OFF.