When users click on a phone number link (a "tel" link) on your Zibster website using Safari on a mobile device, the browser may respond differently compared to other browsers. This guide explains what happens when users interact with these links in Safari, particularly if they repeatedly cancel the call prompt.

Safari on Mobile Devices displaying "This website has been blocked from automatically starting a call"

When a user clicks on a phone number link in Safari on a mobile device, the browser will display a prompt with options to "Call" or "Cancel." Here's how Safari handles the situation if the "Cancel" option is selected multiple times:

• First Click/Tap: The user is presented with the "Call" or "Cancel" prompt.
  
  
• Second Click/Tap: If the user clicks "Cancel" again, Safari will still show the same prompt when the number is clicked.
  
  
• Third Click/Tap: If the user cancels three times in a row, Safari interprets this as the website potentially generating unwanted call requests. To prevent this, Safari will display a message saying, "This website has been blocked from automatically starting a call," indicating that the browser is blocking the automatic call prompt.
  
  
• Resetting the Block: If the user clicks "Allow Call" when the block message appears, Safari will reset this block and return to showing the "Call" or "Cancel" options on subsequent clicks.

This behavior is designed to protect users from inadvertently initiating multiple calls, which could be annoying or disruptive. The screen shot below shows an example of Safari displaying the blocked message.