Make Calls

Whether or not you have an iPhone, this chapter will tell you how to make a “phone” call on your device. There are multiple ways to talk with someone in iOS: FaceTime lets you make crystal-clear audio or video calls on any iOS device, and third-party apps like Skype can integrate with the Phone app.

Make a Phone Call

iOS offers a few ways to initiate a phone call. Note that in this modern world, it’s often good etiquette to message someone before calling:

• Call a contact from Phone: The standard way to phone a friend is to bring up the Phone app, go to the Contacts tab, tap a contact, and tap the call button under their name.
• Call a contact from Contacts: Pull up the contact in the Contacts app and tap the call button under their name.
• Call with Siri: Tell Siri something like “Call Fred.” See Speak to Siri.
• Dial a number: You can also make a phone call the old-fashioned way: in the Keypad tab in Phone. Tap the digits of the number you want to call and tap the call icon.

Deal with Incoming Calls

If a contact is calling, iOS lets you know who it is. If it’s a call from someone not listed in contacts, it searches your email to figure out who it might be. FaceTime and third-party voice-over-IP apps like Skype integrate with Phone too, so when you receive calls on those services, they’ll appear like a regular phone call. Here’s how you can deal with incoming calls:

• Accept the call: Tap the Accept icon to accept the call or swipe Slide to Answer (Figure 69) from left to right.

  

• Silence a call: Press the Sleep/Wake icon once to halt ringing; the call continues ringing on the other end and eventually goes to voicemail.
• Decline a call: Tap the Decline button once or press the Sleep/Wake button twice to decline the call and send it directly to voicemail.
• Respond with a text: If you can’t take the call, but want to respond with a text message, tap the Message button. Choose a canned reply, or tap Custom to send your own message.

  Modify your canned replies in Settings > Phone > Respond with Text.

• Set a reminder: To set a reminder to call the party back, tap the Remind Me button. The reminder is stored in the Reminders app.

Use FaceTime

FaceTime lets you place an internet-based video or audio call to anyone running at least iOS 7 or 10.9 Mavericks (FaceTime video is supported as far back as iOS 4 and 10.7 Lion).

On the iPhone, you can initiate a FaceTime call from the Phone app using any technique besides dialing on the keypad, just by tapping the appropriate video or audio icon, or you can call from within the FaceTime app.

On the iPad and iPod touch, there is no Phone app, so you use the FaceTime app for these calls.

If you haven’t done so already, go to Settings > FaceTime and sign in. Then:

1. Open the FaceTime app, and, at the top of the screen, tap either Video or Audio.
2. In the text field below, search for a contact. Or tap the plus button in the upper-right corner to choose a contact. Or tap a recent contact.

   FaceTime tries to initiate the call. If all goes well, the recipient taps the green Accept icon and the call begins. (On the Mac, they see slightly different button.)

3. To end the call, tap the red End Call button.

Check Voicemail

If you miss or reject a call, callers can leave you a voicemail. To see them, enter the Voicemail tab in Phone. Tap a message, and if playback doesn’t begin automatically, tap the Play button. You can also tap Speaker to hear the message without holding the iPhone up to your ear.

iOS attempts to transcribe your voice messages. If it’s not confident about the quality of the transcription, it will ask if the transcription was useful or not.

Tap Call Back to return the call, or Delete to get rid of the message.