Does Cricket Wireless support Wi-Fi calling?

Early on, prepaid carriers tended to avoid extra features like international or Wi-Fi calling, but that’s less of an issue in 2023. Many prepaid carriers now have Wi-Fi calling but is Cricket one of them? Yes, it does, but Cricket Wi-Fi calling does have a major caveat that I experienced personally.

Cricket has limited support for BYOD Android Wi-Fi calling

I actually switched away from Cricket Wireless a few years ago because Wi-Fi calling wasn’t supported on many unlocked phones. The only way to ensure Wi-Fi calling was to get a phone directly from Cricket. This hasn’t officially changed. A quick look at Cricket’s official support list highlights tons of phones that play nice with Wi-Fi calling, but it mentions up front, “For Wi-Fi Calling capable phones not purchased at Cricket, Wi-Fi Calling will not work on Android. It will work on iOS.”

Based on my own research, it seems some folks have had success getting BYOD Android phones working by complaining to customer service, but obviously, there are no guarantees. There is a Cricket Wi-Fi calling hack that can modify your unsupported phone to use Wi-Fi calling, but it’s a gray area at best and could end in termination of service. For that reason, we won’t get into details here, though you can always look it up at your own risk.

How to enable Cricket Wi-Fi calling

Providing you have an iPhone or supported Android device, setting up Wi-Fi calling is simple. For the iPhone:

1. Go to iPhone Settings > Phone.
2. You’ll then select Wi-Fi calling.
3. A pop menu will appear with a slider. Press it.
4. You’ll also need to go into Settings > Update Emergency Address to put in your exact location for emergencies.

Android devices will vary, but the most common method is the following:

1. Go to Settings > Wireless & Networks. From there, you’ll see another menu.
2. You may need to click on More Settings to see the option Enable Wi-Fi calling.
3. You’ll likely be asked to confirm your address as well, for 911 emergencies.

Cricket Wi-Fi calling not working?

If Cricket Wi-Fi calling isn’t working properly, there are a few steps you can take to hopefully fix the problem:

• Ensure your phone is properly connected to your Wi-Fi.
• Make sure Airplane mode wasn’t accidentally turned on.
• Ensure your software is up to date.
• Ensure Wi-Fi calling is turned on in the settings.
• Make sure your device is actually supported. Remember, only Android phones purchased from Cricket will play nicely with Wi-Fi calling, though some BYOD Android phones will work with a few extra hoops. The iPhone family also will work even if it’s in unlocked form.

If you’ve checked the following and are still having issues you’ll likely want to contact customer support through their website, via their 1-800-CRICKET number, or even in-person at one of their brick-and-mortar locations.