Open Radar

 
These days most people text more often than call. Tapping phone numbers (found via data detectors in iOS) presents a modal alert that only allows for calling the number. This presents a usability problem where many people end up calling the number (possibly resulting in fees or erroneous "missed calls" on the receiving end), immediately hang up, and navigate to the phone app to message the number. Other workarounds including copying the number to paste into the Messages app. Both methods take numerous cumbersome steps.

3D Touching phone numbers presents a full range of options when it works (see rdar://35013043) but is not very discoverable. A potential solution would be to hint at the 3D touch interface/interaction in a way similar to how notification actions can be accessed via 3D Touch or swiping by displaying the 3D Touch interface after tapping the number. Not only might this serve as a way to teach people about the 3D Touch action but it helps reduce the use of blocking modal alerts. Another solution might be to show a modal alert with both a "call" and "message" option but these larger alerts are likely less desirable.