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This seems like a simple feature that must exist, yet I can't find it in settings or by googling. I want this behavior:

The screen should never lock while I'm on a voice call, no matter how long I'm talking.

After the call is over, it should return to its normal behavior, locking after X minutes of inactivity or when I click the top button to turn the screen off.

Can this be achieved?

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  • 1
    It is unfortunate, but I've never seen a feature like this as of iOS 7.
    – bassplayer7
    Commented Jan 25, 2014 at 21:53
  • thanks, though i was hoping that wouldn't be the answer. it seems kind of crazy to me. except for people using bluetooth headesets perhaps, it seems silly to lock the phone while you're talking on it, since it's in your hand or pocket and hence secure.
    – Jonah
    Commented Jan 25, 2014 at 22:55
  • Apple sometimes does not allow access to certain features in its products one of such kind is this auto lock feature....you do not have an option to turn of this auto lock feature because when you are talking on the phone you might press a key accidentally when the phone is close to your cheek or ears...
    – bachman
    Commented Jan 26, 2014 at 4:45
  • @NiranjanRavichandran, That's not a satisfying explanation, since the screen turning off when next to your ear is an orthogonal issue to locking. They could easily keep the (imo desirable) feature of the face sensor turning the screen off when it was at you ear, and yet have it remain unlocked (if you were still on call, or had just hung up) when you removed it from your ear. This is, imo, a simple bad design decision, and a pretty surprising one considering iphone gets so many of these kinds of details right.
    – Jonah
    Commented Jan 26, 2014 at 6:05
  • @jonah yes I do agree but this is the case in all the smart phones….may be you can wait for the next release from apple…;)
    – bachman
    Commented Jan 26, 2014 at 8:49

4 Answers 4

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To summarize in an actual answer: no, this feature has not been included in iOS - as of iOS 7.

As you are aware, the proximity sensor disables the screen when the phone is close to your ear (to avoid accidentally selecting options on the screen, and reduce battery drain), and you can choose to have the phone auto-lock after X number of minutes, but these two features do not work together at all.

Perhaps a somewhat plausible workaround would be to have your passcode, if applicable, only engage after a set amount of lock-time. That way, at least you wouldn't have to enter in your passcode to resume activity on the device after a phone call.

Otherwise, unfortunately, like many other things on iOS, there is remarkably little "hacking" or workarounds that are available unless you decide to jailbreak your phone.

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  • thanks for the official answer. unfortunately, i'm not crazy about the workaround because i like to have my phone lock to passcode after a short interval as a general policy. i just want to make "talking on the phone" an exception to that policy.
    – Jonah
    Commented Jan 27, 2014 at 18:18
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    I understand. You could always tell Apple your thoughts. You never know if they would change something unless you try.
    – bassplayer7
    Commented Jan 27, 2014 at 20:02
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This bugged me for a while. I just found out that (on my phone anyway) if you slide your finger from left to right on the name of the caller, you will see your call menu again.

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    On my iPhone 6 with iOS 10, it's a tap (rather than swipe) on the caller's name on the lock screen that brings the call screen back. Much faster than unlocking with touch ID and then touching the menu bar. Thanks!
    – linesarefuzzy
    Commented Jan 13, 2017 at 15:49
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I agree with the frustration. If I am on a conference call on mute, and someone asks me a questions, I have to unlock my phone first before I can unmute. During such time, I hear people on the other end of the call asking I am still on the line.

Mentioning that the lock/passcode and time limits is enforced by my employer - this is a company owned phone. I cannot change the settings.

It would be ideal to have the phone lock during a call but no passcode protected.

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    The conference call - mute - awkward pause use case was the reason I posted this and noticed how frustrating it was.
    – Jonah
    Commented Feb 13, 2014 at 8:11
  • I find this very annoying as well for conference calls where I am on mute as @user70257 mentioned. I find that a work around is to set the auto-lock to "Never", make the call, mute the call (for conference call when not talking), and then tap the home button to get to the home screen. When I do this it does not lock again and to mute I can hit the top bar to return to the call page and tap the mute button. It is not ideal but only requires 2 taps and no unlocking. I think this works because the autolock settings are in effect instead of the sensor mechanism that works when in the Phone app
    – Stefan Avey
    Commented Mar 9, 2016 at 15:51
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I've just updated from iOS5 to iOS7 and this is a major drawback. A 3 swipe process to hang up a call is fundamentally flawed IMO.

You can hangup by hitting the power button. This doesn't help if you're on 'mute' in a teleconference though.

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  • I don't see how this is the answer to the question above?
    – Rob
    Commented Apr 7, 2014 at 8:23

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