Your Browser Can Dial Phone Numbers - Here's How

The Gap

There's a gap between, "I see a phone number," and, "I'm on a call."

Phone numbers are everywhere. Not all of them are clickable links.

If you spend time in spreadsheets, CRMs, email, Airtable, or LinkedIn profiles, you know this. Not every number is clickable. Even on websites. They're just text.

To actually call one, you probably just grab your mobile and start dialing. But think about what that really means. You stop what you're doing. You pick up your phone. You manually punch in the digits. You wait for it to connect. Then you try to remember where you were.

That's a context switch. It only takes a few seconds, but do it ten times a day and, it adds up. Over a week, over a month... you're bleeding time you didn't even notice was gone.

The capability to dial from your browser exists. The workflow doesn't.

Let me explain.

The Hidden Feature Your Browser Already Has

Here's something most people don't know: your web browser has had the ability to dial phone numbers for over a decade.

It's called the tel: URI scheme, defined in RFC 3966 by the Internet Engineering Task Force. The concept is simple: just like, https:// tells your browser to fetch a webpage, tel: tells your browser to initiate a phone call.

You can try it right now.

Open Chrome (or any modern browser), type the following into your address bar, and hit enter:

tel:+12125551234

If everything is set up correctly, your system will attempt to place a call to that number.

Voilà! Your browser can dial phone numbers.

But This Doesn't Scale

Here's the problem.

To use this feature manually for any phone number you encounter, you'd need to:

Highlight the number
Copy it
Open a new browser tab
Type tel:+
Paste the number
Manually add the country code if it's missing
Remove any parentheses, hyphens, or spaces
Hit enter
Wait for your handler to respond

That's nine steps. For a single phone call.

Doing this repeatedly, that's like its own full time job!

And if you're making 20, 50, or 100 calls a day? By the time you're dialing, you've either lost time or lost your flow.

The browser created the capability. It didn't create the workflow.

That's the gap.

How the tel: Protocol Actually Works

When you enter a tel: link, your browser doesn't handle the call itself. Instead, it hands off the request to whatever application on your system is registered to handle telephone calls.

On a smartphone, that's usually your native phone app. The number is pre-filled, and you're one tap away from connecting.

On a desktop or laptop, it's more complicated. Your operating system needs to know which application should handle tel: requests. That might be:

Skype
FaceTime (on Mac)
Google Voice
Zoom Phone
Microsoft Phone Link
A VoIP softphone
Or nothing at all

If no handler is registered, clicking a, tel: link does nothing. Or worse, it throws an error.

Setting Up a tel: Protocol Handler on Your Computer

If you want your desktop to handle, tel: links, you'll need to configure a default application. Here's how:

On Windows 10/11:

Open Settings → Apps → Default Apps
Scroll down and click Choose default apps by protocol
Find TEL in the list
Click the current default (or the "+" if none is set)
Select the application you want to handle phone calls (e.g., Skype, Zoom, Microsoft Phone Link, or a VoIP app)

Using Microsoft Phone Link (formerly Your Phone):

If you want calls to go directly to your mobile device:

Install Phone Link from the Microsoft Store (pre-installed on Windows 10/11)
Open Phone Link and connect your Android or iPhone
Enable Calls in the Phone Link settings
Set Phone Link as your default tel: handler using the steps above
When a, tel: link is triggered, your connected phone will ring

On macOS:

FaceTime is typically the default handler for, tel: links
To verify or change it, open FaceTime → Settings (or Preferences on older macOS)
Ensure "Calls from iPhone" is enabled if you want calls routed to your cell
Your Mac and iPhone must be signed into the same Apple ID
Both devices must be on the same Wi-Fi network for handoff to work
For third-party apps like Skype or Zoom, check their preferences for an option to register as the default tel: handler

On Chrome (setting a web app as handler):

Some web-based phone services can register as protocol handlers:

Visit the web app (e.g., Google Voice)
Look for a prompt asking if you want to allow the site to handle, tel: links
Click "Allow"

Chrome will now route, tel: links to that web app.

The Syntax: Formatting Phone Numbers for tel: Links

The, tel: protocol is picky about formatting. For reliable results, phone numbers should be in E.164 format, the international standard:

+[country code][number]

For example:

US number: tel:+12125551234
UK number: tel:+442071234567
With extension: tel:+12125551234;ext=890

Formatting characters like parentheses, hyphens, and spaces are technically allowed, but stripping them out ensures maximum compatibility.

This is another reason the manual process doesn't scale. Phone numbers in the wild come in all formats:

(201) 220-1106
201.220.1106
+1 201-220-1106
201-220-1106
2012201106

Every one of these needs to be reformatted to +12012201106 before the, tel: protocol will work reliably.

The Solution: MDLMN's Dial Feature

MDLMN eliminates every one of those steps.

Here's how it works:

Highlight any phone number on any webpage
Right-click
Click Dial

That's it. Three actions. One second.

Behind the scenes, MDLMN does the heavy lifting:

Detects the number regardless of how it's formatted
Normalizes it to E.164 format: +12012201106
Constructs the tel: URI: tel:+12012201106
Triggers the call through your registered handler

If your system is configured to route tel: links to your cell phone (via FaceTime, Phone Link, or a similar service), the call goes straight through. Your phone rings, you answer, and you're connected.

No copying. No pasting. No reformatting. No tab-switching.

The gap is closed.

Why This Matters

For anyone who makes calls as part of their job, the laptop-to-phone context switch is a silent productivity killer.

You're prospecting in LinkedIn Sales Navigator. You find a lead. Their number is in their profile. To call them, you have to stop what you're doing, grab your phone, unlock it, open the dialer, type in the number, and place the call.

By the time you're connected, you've lost your train of thought. Multiply that by dozens of calls per day, and you're bleeding hours every week.

You're losing minutes every day to something you didn't even know had a fix.

MDLMN bridges that gap. Your workflow stays on your laptop. Your calls happen on your phone, and the connection between the two is instant.

Always Free

The Dial feature in MDLMN is free, forever. No trial period. No credit card required. No catch.

We built this because we believe the basic ability to click a phone number and make a call should be effortless. Premium features exist for power users, but Dial is available to everyone.

Get Started

Visit the Chrome Web Store, and install the MDLMN extension
Highlight any phone number on any webpage
Right-click and click Dial
Your call is placed through your mobile device, initiated right from your laptop or desktop

That's it. The browser-to-phone gap is closed.

Want to explore what else MDLMN can do? Create a free account, and get 10 free actions to test the other features. No credit card. No commitment. Just sign up, and try it.

In exchange for giving you the Dial capability for free, we'd love your feedback. Tell us what's working, what's not, and how we can make this better. We're building this for people like you.

Have a Better Way?

If you've figured out how to bridge this gap yourself, I want to hear from you. How are you getting from, "I see a number," to, "I'm on a call," without the friction?

Drop a comment or reach out. I'm always looking to learn.