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iPhone: Exploring In-Call Options

When you place the iPhone against your face while making a call, its screen fades elegantly to black, but its advanced phone features remain at the ready. Pull the phone away from your face, and you'll see a series of option buttons in the middle of the iPhone's screen (Figure below). The following sections explain these options.

Mute

If your spouse interrupts a call to ask whom you are talking with, tap this button before issuing any reply along the lines of "That blowhard Charlie." Doing so turns the Mute button blue and allows you to hear what the other party is saying but mutes the iPhone's microphone. To unmute the phone, just tap Mute again.

Keypad

When a call is in progress, tap this button to display a keypad if you want to enter additional digits. This feature comes in handy for automated phone attendants that require you to enter account numbers, menu choices, and/or your second cousin's height and weight before you can Speak To A Representative. To make the keypad disappear, tap Hide Keypad.

Speaker

The iPhone has speakerphone capabilities. To hear the call from the speaker, tap this button; tap it again to listen to the iPhone's headset or receiver port.

Note:
If your iPhone is paired with a Bluetooth device (a headset or handsfree automobile system, for example), this button is called Audio Source. In this case, tapping the button lets you choose among the Bluetooth device, the iPhone (in wired-headset or against-the-face mode), and the speakerphone.

Add Call

If you've ever tried to create a conference call on another phone, you know how complicated it can be. Not on the iPhone. The process works like this:

1. Tap the Add Call button.
   The person you're speaking with is put on hold. (You might warn her first that you're going to do this.)
2. Place another call.
   You can use the keypad (tap the Keypad button to access it) or choose a contact (tap the Contacts button to view your contacts). When that other caller connects, the Add Call button turns into Merge Calls.
3. Tap Merge Calls (Figure below).
   All three of you will be on the same call.
   
   

You can add more callers (a conference can have as many as five total callers, including you) by repeating this procedure.

To boot someone from the call, tap the Conference button that appears; tap the red Hang Up button next to the call; and then tap the End Call button that appears.

If you'd like to commiserate privately with one of the other callers in the conference, tap Conference and then tap the Private button next to that caller's name (Figure below). When you're ready to rejoin the main call, tap Merge Calls.

If you'd like to add someone who's calling in to your conference, tap Hold Call + Answer and then tap the Merge Calls button.

Hold

On an iPhone 3G or 3GS, tap the Hold button. On an iPhone 4 or 4S (which lacks a Hold button), tap and hold the Mute button.

FaceTime

If you know that the person you're speaking with is using an iOS device equipped with a camera (or a similarly camera-equipped computer that's also running FaceTime), and he's connected to a Wi-Fi network (because he told you so), you can switch to a FaceTime call by tapping this button. For more info, see "Getting a Little FaceTime" later in this article.

Contacts

In the "Add Call" section, this button is helpful when you're using the Add Call feature. You can also browse your contacts while you're on a call.

Other buttons and commands

Other buttons can appear during a call, including these:

• Ignore
  If a call comes in while you're on another call, and you'd rather send it to voice mail than speak with the person, tap the Ignore button.
• Decline
  To send an incoming call directly to voice mail, press the Sleep/Wake button two times quickly; press the headset's center button for 2 seconds; or tap Decline on the phone.
• Hold Call + Answer
  To answer that incoming call and put the current caller on hold, tap Hold Call + Answer.
• End Call + Answer.
  For those "Whoops, that's the cheesemonger on the other line. Gotta go!" moments, tap End Call + Answer to drop the current call and answer the incoming call.
• Swap
  You've put the Party of the First Part on hold to speak with the Party of the Second Part. To return to the PotFP and hold the PotSP, tap Swap, or tap the first caller's entry at the top of the screen.
• Emergency Call
  I hope you never have to tap this button. The iPhone, like all mobile phones in the United States, can make emergency calls to special numbers (911, for example) when you're out of range of the network and even if your phone doesn't have a SIM card installed. But if you've locked your phone with a passcode and don't have time to unlock it, bring up the keypad, tap the Emergency Call button, and then tap out the emergency number.