Ever received a call from someone you don’t want to chat with at the moment, stared blankly at the screen, and wondered why theDeclinebutton always seems to disappear at the worst possible time? Don’t worry, your iPhone isn’t playing favorites or forcing you to answer that one call you’ve been avoiding.
iPhones Have Two Ways to Answer Calls
While there have always been memes joking about Apple sometimes letting you decline calls and other times forcing you to talk, Apple intentionally designed two different interfaces for the iPhone’s incoming call screen.
When you receive a call on an iPhone (or even an iPad), you’ll either seeDeclineandAcceptbuttons, or aslide to answerslider. Both are self-explanatory. On the first screen, you’re able to press either button to perform your desired action. When you see the slider, simply drag it to the right to pick up the call.
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A lot of people think the slider is Apple’s way of forcing you to answer a call you’d rather ignore, but that’s not the case. The screen you get when you receive a call depends on whether your iPhone is locked or unlocked.
It’s relatively easy to accidentally press theAcceptorDeclinebuttons, especially if your iPhone is in your back pocket! So to prevent you from accidentally picking up or rejecting a call, you’ll only see theslide to answerscreen when your device is locked.
Even if you have Touch ID orFace ID enabled on your iPhone, as long as you’re still on the Lock Screen, you’ll see the slider until you unlock your device and start using it. This makes it almost impossible to accept or decline an incoming call by accident.
On the other hand, when you’re actively using your iPhone, you’ll see the options to accept or decline calls. Depending on the option you’ve set underSettings > Apps > Phone > Incoming Calls, you’ll either see aBanneror the call will take up theFull Screen.
With the former option, incoming calls initially appear as a small notification at the top of the screen, with a red X and blue tick icon. When you tap the call notification, it expands into a full-screen page, where you’ll see theAcceptandDeclinebuttons.
You Can Still Decline Any Call
As we’ve seen, theslide to answerinterface that appears when your iPhone is locked isn’t meant to force you into answering; it’s intentionally designed to prevent accidental call pickups or declines. Since this screen only shows a slider to accept the call, many people assume there’s no way to decline it and end up letting the phone ring until it stops on its own.
Fortunately, you can silence or decline an incoming call even in this case. To silence the call, simply press your iPhone’ssidebutton or eithervolumebutton. To decline the call, press thesidebutton twice quickly. That’s it! Depending on your location, declining the call will either send it straight to voicemail or immediately disconnect it.
Even as someone who’s been in the Apple ecosystem since the iPhone 5s days, I still get frustrated sometimes when I can’t easily decline a call—especially when someone decides to call while I’m fast asleep! Thoughyour iPhone not receiving incoming callsis arguably worse.
