iPhone: The Missing Manual, 10th Edition

Chapter 5. Phone Calls & FaceTime

With each successive iPhone model, Apple improves the iPhone’s antennas, circuitry, speakers, microphone, and software. And features like Siri, auto-reply, and Do Not Disturb have turned Apple’s phone from an also-ran into one of the most useful gadgets ever to hop onto a cellular network.

Dialing from the Phone App

Suppose you’re in luck. Suppose the dots in the upper-left corner of the iPhone’s screen tell you that you’ve got cellular reception. You’re ready to start a conversation. To make a phone call, open the Phone app like this:

1. Go Home, if you’re not already there. Press the Home button.

2. Tap the Phone icon. It’s usually at the bottom of the Home screen. (The tiny circled number in the corner of the Phone icon tells you how many missed calls and voicemail messages you have.)

Tip

Using Siri is often faster. You get good results saying things like, “Call Casey Robin’s cell” or “Dial 866-2331.”

Now you’ve arrived in the Phone program. A new row of icons appears at the bottom, representing your voicemail (Visual Voicemail) and the four ways of dialing from here:

• Favorites. Here’s the iPhone’s version of speed dial: It lists up to 50 people you think you call most frequently. Tap a name to make the call. (Details on building and editing this list begin in The Favorites List.)

• Recents. Every call you’ve recently made, answered, missed, or even just dialed appears in this list. Missed callers’ names appear in red lettering, which makes it easy to spot them—and ...