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How To Stop or Prevent your iPhone from Pocket Dialing

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Have you ever retrieved your iPhone from your pocket only to discover that it is on a call, or that it had made an accidental call? This is known as pocket dialing, what many of us call butt dialing, and it is a common but easy to prevent occurrence.

In this article, I’ll show you some basic techniques and procedures you can try to stop your iPhone from pocket dialing. Now you can prevent unintentional calls while your phone is in your bag or pocket.

How to stop iPhone from Pocket Dialing

4 Ways To Prevent iPhone from Pocket Dialing

The ultra sensitivity of touchscreens on Apple devices is useful in most circumstances, it can be problematic for you when your device is in a confined space. Accidental touches and swipes on your phone’s touchscreen when it’s in your pocket or purse can sometimes result in humiliating situations. Imagine dialing your boss’s number unknowingly and having them listen to all that background noise for nothing. 

Thankfully, the different sets of instructions below can help you stop your iPhone from pocket dialing. So follow these steps if your iPhone keeps making calls while it’s in your pocket.

Set the Auto-Lock to 30 Seconds

Setting your iPhone to automatically lock after 30 seconds of inactivity may be helpful if you constantly forget to lock it before placing it in your pocket or bag. When you don’t engage with your iPhone for 30 seconds, it will darken its display and finally lock. To do so and therefore stop your iPhone from pocket dialing, navigate to Settings > Display & Brightness > Auto-Lock.

On the other hand, doing so may cause your iPhone to lock in instances where you don’t want it to, such as while reading on your phone or navigating using Maps. To get around this, you can temporarily set the iOS Auto-Lock option to Never while you’re actively using your phone. Change the setting back to 30 seconds once you have completed the activity.

Set a Passcode

If you leave your iPhone unprotected by a password such that it can unlock without needing your authorization, pocket dialing usually happens. When your iPhone is unlocked, any accidental touch might initiate a call while it is in your pocket.

So, to stop your iPhone from pocket dialing, go to Settings > Touch ID & Passcode/Face ID & Passcode to set up a passcode on your iPhone. Then, to generate and verify your new passcode, press Turn Passcode On.

Disable Raise to Wake

The iPhone’s Raise to Wake function is useful when you need to use your phone, but it can also cause your device to misinterpret any movement as a signal to wake up.

When you walk with your phone in your pocket or purse, the movement action of your legs might wake the lock screen and cause you to make emergency calls unintentionally or even capture images.

The simple approach to stop your iPhone from pocket dialing in this case is to disable the Raise to Wake function. To accomplish this, navigate to Settings > Display & Brightness > Raise to Wake.

Turn Off Lock Screen Access

Even when your iPhone is locked, the iOS Lock Screen allows you to easily access frequently used functions. Replying to messages and returning missed calls are examples of these features. Despite how useful this tool is, this is a significant drawback.

By default, your iPhone may return calls without first unlocking it, making your passcode useless against pocket dialing. You can therefore stop your iPhone from pocket dialing by disabling Lock Screen access. Follow these instructions:

  • Launch the Settings app.
  • Go to Face ID & Passcode or Touch ID & Passcode, depending on the model of your iPhone.
  • Scroll to the bottom and look for the list of features under the Allow Access When Locked tab.
  • Search for the Return Missed Calls option and turn it off.

To prevent your iPhone from sending unwanted messages to your contacts while it’s in your purse or pocket, I also advise disabling the Reply with Message option.

All in all, I’d say that pocket dialing is more common among users that don’t use a passcode on their iPhones. Sometimes, though, it may still be an issue even if your phone has a passcode. Nonetheless, I’m sure you’ll find one of the tips in this guide useful to prevent pocket dialing.

If you’re unable to stop your iPhone from pocket dialing with the instructions above, there might be a problem with the touchscreen. In such a case, take it to the closest Apple Store for assistance. You can also try out our dedicated tips to disable touchscreen input on your iPhone.

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