9. Make and Receive Calls with an iPhone

Although your iPhone is capable of handling a wide range of tasks, one of its core purposes is to serve as a feature-packed cell phone. Your iPhone makes and receives voice calls using a cellular network that’s operated by the service provider you selected when the phone was activated. The Phone app that comes preinstalled on your iPhone offers a vast selection of calling features that make it easy to stay in touch with people.

After you set up and activate your new iPhone with a cellular service provider and choose a calling plan, the iPhone is capable of receiving incoming calls and enables you to make outgoing calls using the Phone app.

In the United States and throughout Europe, for example, a growing number of cellular service providers offer iPhone compatibility. Unless you acquire an “unlocked” version of the iPhone (which is not tied to any service provider), when you purchase the phone, you must decide which wireless service provider to sign up with. It’s then often necessary to sign a service agreement, which can last up to two years.

If you purchase an “unlocked” iPhone with no service contract, it’s possible to pay a month-to-month fee for pre-paid or pay-as-you-go cellular service. This requires you to pay the unsubsidized price for the iPhone itself, and then pay between $30 and $120 per month for voice, data, and text services.

Choose a wireless service provider that offers the best coverage in your area, the most competitively priced calling plan based on your needs, and the extra features you want or need. When looking at coverage area maps for various service providers, focus on 4G LTE coverage, as opposed to 3G or plain 4G service. Some wireless service providers, for example, offer better international roaming coverage than others, whereas some are more generous when it comes to monthly wireless data allocation.

Keep in mind that the iPhone hardware is slightly different based on which wireless service provider you choose, so you typically can’t switch providers after you’ve acquired the iPhone (unless it’s an unlocked iPhone).

To control the volume of the ringer, press the Volume Up or Volume Down buttons on the side of your iPhone; or to turn off the ringer (which causes the phone to vibrate when an incoming call is received), turn on the Mute button on the side of the iPhone.

There are several ways to answer an incoming call. If you’re doing something else on your iPhone and it starts to ring, the caller ID for the incoming caller appears, along with a green-and-white Accept button and a red-and-white Decline icon (as shown in Figure 9.3). Tap the Accept button to answer the call. If you tap Decline or wait too long to answer, the call automatically goes to voicemail.

If you’re using your iPhone with EarPods, ear buds, or a headset with a built-in microphone, answer an incoming call by pressing the Accept button on the headset.

If the iPhone is in Sleep mode (or on the Lock screen and locked) when an incoming call is received, unlock the phone by swiping your finger from left to right on the Slide to Answer slider, which automatically takes the phone out of Sleep mode, unlocks it, and answers the incoming call (shown in Figure 9.4).

Of course, if your iPhone has a Touch ID sensor built in to the Home button, you’re able to unlock the phone and answer a call simply by placing your finger on the Touch ID sensor.

Notice that the iPhone’s Lock screen displays the Remind Me and Message icons but does not display an Accept or Decline button.

After you answer an incoming call, you have a few additional options. You can hold the iPhone up to your ear and start talking or tap the Speaker icon to use your iPhone as a speakerphone. It’s also possible to use the phone with a wired or Bluetooth (wireless) headset or CarPlay, which offers hands-free operation. The headset option is ideal when you’re driving, plus it offers privacy (versus using the iPhone’s speakerphone option).

When using a Bluetooth headset, you don’t need to hold the phone up to your ear to carry on a conversation. If you’re using a headset, answer the call by pressing the headset’s answer button when you receive an incoming call. There’s no need to do anything on your iPhone.

When you’re in a compatible car (or in a vehicle equipped with an iPhone Hands-Free Kit), take advantage of the vehicle’s CarPlay or Hands-Free compatibility. This enables your phone to link to your vehicle and use the in-dash infotainment system, Siri, and/or the car’s stereo system to make and receive calls, utilizing your vehicle’s built-in microphone and stereo system speakers to interact with the other party. The call is still handled by your iPhone, but the iPhone is operated hands-free (and eyes-free).

To set up this feature, start with your iPhone and launch Settings, tap the General option, and then tap the Handoff option. From the Handoff submenu, turn on the virtual switch that’s associated with the Handoff option. Next, repeat this process on your iPad.

When the feature is turned on, your iPhone automatically maintains a wireless link to your iPad and/or Mac. When an incoming call is received, all connected devices ring, Caller ID information is displayed, and you can accept or decline the call from any connected device.

On the iPad or Mac, the tablet or computer acts like a speakerphone by taking advantage of the built-in microphone and speaker(s). You can also pair a Bluetooth wireless headset to your iPad and/or Mac, or you can connect a corded headset (with built-in microphone) to the tablet or Mac via the headphone jack.

When turned on, a moon icon is displayed on the iPhone’s or iPad’s status bar (at the very top of the screen), and all calls and alerts are silenced.

You can turn on or off this feature at any time, or you can schedule specific times you want Do Not Disturb to be automatically activated, such as between 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. on weekdays. From the Do Not Disturb menu in Settings, determine whether certain important callers are allowed to reach you even when the phone is in Do Not Disturb mode.

Keep in mind that when your iPhone is turned off, all incoming calls are forwarded directly to voicemail, and it is not possible to initiate an outgoing call. Likewise, incoming text messages, FaceTime calls, and other communications from the outside world are not accepted when an iPhone is turned off, in Do Not Disturb mode, or in Airplane mode. Instead, notifications for these missed messages are displayed in Notification Center (depending on how you set up Notification Center), in their respective apps, and potentially on the Lock screen when you turn on the device or turn off Airplane mode.

Here’s a summary of the command icons available to you from the Call in Progress screen during a phone conversation:

Mute—Tap this icon to turn off your iPhone’s microphone. You can still hear what’s being said to you, but the person you’re speaking with cannot hear you. When you’re ready to be heard again, turn off the Mute feature by tapping this icon again.

Keypad—Replace the current Call in Progress screen with the numeric telephone keypad. This is necessary for navigating your way through voicemail trees (for example, when you’re told to press 1 for English, press 2 to speak with an operator, press 3 to track an order, and so on).

Speaker (or Audio)—Tap the Speaker icon to switch from Handset mode (in which you hold the iPhone up to your ear to have a phone conversation) to Speaker mode, which turns your iPhone into a speakerphone. If you’re using your iPhone with an optional Bluetooth headset or CarPlay, a third Headset or CarPlay option (which may be listed as Headset, the name of your vehicle, or the name of your headset) is displayed, and this menu feature is labeled Audio as opposed to Speaker.

Add Call (+)—During a conversation with someone, you can initiate a conference call and bring a third party into the conversation by tapping Add Call, as described later in this chapter.

FaceTime—If the person to whom you’re talking is also using an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, and both devices have access to a Wi-Fi Internet connection, tap the FaceTime icon to switch from a traditional voice call to a real-time video call using the FaceTime app. This is a free service.

Contacts—While you’re conversing on the phone, you can access your Contacts database and look up someone’s information by tapping this option.

End—Tap the large red-and-white End button or press the end call button on your headset, if applicable, to terminate the call.

When a second call comes in, the caller ID information of the new caller is displayed on the screen, along with several command icons and buttons (shown in Figure 9.8). These commands are End & Accept, Send to Voicemail, or Hold & Accept.

If you place the first call on hold and answer the new incoming call (by tapping the Hold & Accept icon), you then have the opportunity to merge the two calls and create a conference call or switch between the two calls and speak with each person individually (while the other is on hold).

While engaged in a conference call on your iPhone, the names of the other parties on the call are displayed along the top of the screen, along with an Info icon. Tap the circular “i” icon to the right of this information to reveal a new screen that enables you to manage any of the parties involved with the conference call.

While you’re engaged in a three-way call (with two other parties), you can tap the Add Call option again to add more parties to the conference call. How many parties you can add to a conference call is determined by your cellular service provider.

On the secondary Conference Call Info screen, associated with each name/Caller ID number is an End button and a Private button. Tap End to disconnect that party, or tap Private to speak with that party privately and place the other party (or parties) on hold. You can then reestablish the conference call by tapping the Back button to return to the previous Conference Call screen, and then tap the Merge Calls icon again.

Dial a number manually using the keypad.

Access a listing from your Contacts database (from within the Phone app), choose a number, and dial it.

Use Siri (which is explained in Chapter 3, “Say It and Make It So Using Siri”). This can be done anytime, regardless of what app is running on your iPhone.

Redial a number from the Phone app’s Recents call log.

Select and dial a phone number from the Phone app’s Favorites list.

Dial a number displayed in another compatible app or iOS 10 feature, such as Maps, Messages, Mail, Safari, Contacts, or the Notification Center window. When you tap a displayed phone number, it dials that number and initiates a call using the Phone app.

Once you initiate a Wi-Fi call, if you leave the Wi-Fi hotspot, your call is automatically transferred to the cellular network’s Voice Over LTE feature, if your cellular service supports this option. Likewise, if you’re using the Voice Over LTE feature and a Wi-Fi signal becomes available, the call is seamlessly transferred to the Wi-Fi network.

If a Wi-Fi network is available, manually initiate calls using the Call Over Wi-Fi feature (rather than over a cellular network) by launching Settings, tapping the Phone option, and then turning the virtual switch associated with the Wi-Fi Calling option.

Using iOS 10’s new Voicemail Transcription feature, you can read text-based versions of your incoming voicemail messages that your iPhone creates for you. As mentioned earlier in this chapter, this new feature works automatically.

1. Launch the Phone app from the Home screen.

2. Tap the Voicemail icon, displayed in the lower-right corner of the screen.

3. In the upper-left corner of the Voicemail screen, tap the Greeting option.

4. From the Greeting screen, tap the Default option to skip recording a message and have a computer voice use a generic message. Alternatively, tap the Custom option to record your own outgoing voicemail message and continue to step 5.

5. Tap the Record option that’s also displayed on the Greeting screen. Hold the phone up to your mouth and begin recording your message.

6. When you’re finished recording, tap the Stop option. You can play back your message by tapping the Play option, or tap the Save option to save your message and activate it.

1. Launch the Phone app from the Home screen, or by swiping a voicemail notification appearing on the Notification Center screen.

2. Tap the Voicemail icon displayed in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

3. Under the Voicemail heading at the top of the screen is a listing of missed voicemail messages. Tap a message to highlight it.

4. After a message is highlighted, tap the small Play/Pause icon (shown in Figure 9.9). The message begins playing. It might, however, take a few seconds for the message to load. Expect a brief pause before the message begins.

5. Displayed immediately below the message’s Caller ID information is a transcription of the message. It appears a minute or two after the message is recorded by the caller.

6. Near the bottom of the voicemail listing is a slider that depicts the length of the message, along with Speaker/Audio, Call Back, and Delete options. As your message plays, the timer slider moves to the right. You can listen to parts of the message again by moving this slider around with your finger.

7. When you’re finished listening to the message, either leave the listing alone (which keeps the message saved on your phone) or tap the Delete option to erase it. You also have the option of calling back the person who left the message by tapping the Call Back option.

8. To exit the voicemail options, tap any of the other command icons displayed at the bottom of the Phone app’s screen, or press the Home button on your iPhone.

To add a contact to the Favorites list, tap the + icon in the upper-right corner of the screen. Select any listing from your Contacts database and tap it. When the complete listing for that entry appears, tap the specific phone number you want listed in your Favorites list. The newly created Favorites listing appears at the end of your Favorites list.

To edit the contacts already listed in your Favorites list, tap the Edit option in the upper-left corner of the screen.

To dial a phone number listed in your Favorites list, simply tap its listing. The Phone app automatically dials the number and initiates a call.

At the top of the Recents screen are two command tabs, labeled All and Missed, along with an Edit option. Tap the All tab to view a detailed listing of all incoming and outgoing calls, displayed in reverse-chronological order. Missed incoming calls are displayed in red. Tap the Missed tab to see a listing of calls you didn’t answer. Tap the Edit option to delete specific calls from this listing, or tap the Info (“i”) icon to view more details about that caller, including their recent call history with you.

Each listing in the Recents call log displays the name of the person you spoke with (based on data from your Contacts database or the Caller ID feature) or their phone number. If it’s someone from your Contacts database, information about which phone number (home, work, mobile, or such) the caller used appears below the name.

If the same person called you, or you called that person, multiple times in a row, a number in parentheses indicates how many calls were made to or from that person. This is displayed to the right of the name or phone number.

On the right side of the screen, with each Recents listing, is the time/date the call was made or received. To view the Contacts entry related to that person, tap the Info icon associated with the listing. At the top of a contact’s entry screen are details about the call itself, including its time and date, whether it was an incoming or outgoing call, and its duration.

To call someone back who is listed in the Recents list, tap anywhere on that listing except for on the Info icon.

If your plan does have a monthly allocation for talk minutes, if you go over your monthly minute allocation, you might be charged a hefty surcharge for each additional minute used.

To choose a default ringtone for all your incoming calls, launch Settings and select the Sounds option. From the Sounds menu screen, scroll down to the Ringtone option and tap it. A complete listing of ringtones stored on your iPhone is displayed. Select the one you want to hear when you receive calls.

1. Launch the Contacts app from the iPhone’s Home screen.

2. From the All Contacts screen, find the specific contact with whom you want to link a custom ringtone. You can scroll through the listing or use the Search field to find a contact.

3. When the contact is selected and you’re looking at that Contacts entry, tap the Edit option in the upper-right corner of the screen.

4. From the Info screen that displays that contact entry’s data, scroll down to the Ringtone field and tap it (shown in Figure 9.10).

5. When the Ringtone screen appears, select a specific ringtone from the list that you want to assign to the contact and tap it. You can choose a specific song (purchased from iTunes) or ringer sound that reminds you of that person (shown in Figure 9.11).

6. Tap the Done icon to save your selection and return to the contact’s Info screen.

7. When that contact calls you, you will hear the ringtone you just linked to that contact (as opposed to the default ringtone).