Apple releases iOS 8.3 and allows wifi calling

EE was breaking out the bubbly this evening and no doubt inundating Tim Cook with smiley emojis after Apple released the iOS 8.3 software update. The patch fixes a litany of minor glitches but, crucially for EE, also enables wifi calling, which the operator itself only launched this week.

Prior to the iOS 8.3 release wifi calling was only available to EE customers who had either one of the  Samsung Galaxy S6s or the Lumia 640, so this development dramatically increases the reach for the new EE service as is enables it on all the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 5s and 5c devices.

An EE spokesperson informed us this means around 5 million UK subscribers will have access to wifi calling once they install the update and enable it on their phone, and added “Starting today, iPhone customers on EE can make and receive high quality calls over WiFi and send text messages, using their own phone number with no need to use an app – great for when a mobile signal is unavailable.”

Note the emphasis on making a distinction between this and an OTT app such as WhatsApp. As the comments section of our original story on EE wifi calling illustrates there is still a fair bit of confusion over the significance of the service and how it is materially different to all the other ways you can use wifi, rather than a cellular connection, to communicate via your phone.