If you own a smartphone, one of the most important things you can do is prevent accident calls from occurring.
A study showed that 30% of 9-1-1 calls made from smartphones were accidental butt dials. Emergency calls aside, you might accidentally call someone late at night and disturb them, or may accidentally have them hear a personal conversation.
The infamous butt dial is an issue that several people deal with from time to time. You owe it to yourself to find some ways to nip it in the bud completely.
These tips will teach you how to prevent butt dialing.
Get a Phone Case or Clip
Investing in a phone case or clip is one of the best ways to prevent butt dialing from occurring. The case stores the phone in a way that covers the screen and doesn’t put it in proximity to be accidentally dialed.
These cases are also protective and can help you prevent screen scratches and other issues. Choose a case that is stylish, durable, and made with quality materials.
Set a Lock Screen
It’s important to set a lock screen to prevent pocket dialing. With a lock screen, you can’t push any buttons on your phone or accidentally access any apps or functions. Consider setting an auto lock on your phone so that this occurs after every 30 seconds to a minute or so go by without phone activity.
When the phone locks itself, you’re safe from placing phone calls to anyone accidentally.
Learn Your Phone’s Mechanisms
If you’re asking yourself, “Why is my phone calling people?”, consider whether or not you actually know how to use your phone.
You’ve probably done some Android or iPhone troubleshooting in the past, but one of the most important forms of troubleshooting is to understand your phone’s functions. Make sure that you can locate the power button, the section where calls are made, and any shortcuts that help you call previous or favorite contacts.
The more familiar you get with these mechanisms, the easier it’ll be for you to keep pocket dials at bay.
Use Security Measures
Keep in mind that you can also add security measures to your lock screen. Rather than just swiping it open, these security measures can require you to punch in a code or other form of authentication to access your phone screen.
This can be done through facial recognition, thumbprint, voice access, and a host of other ways. Not only do these security measures prevent other people from accessing your phone content, but you will also be less likely to accidentally call somebody.
Find your security functions in your smartphone and put credentials in place that only you can access.
Re-Arrange Your Front Screen
You may also owe it to yourself re-arrange the various apps on your front screen. Sometimes, pocket dialing occurs because you accidentally hit a call or previous contact button.
If this is an accident that you’re constantly running into, it may behoove you to put the app on another part of your phone. You might choose to bury it further within your phone’s content so that you don’t accidentally access it. This is particularly helpful if nothing else you’ve tried has worked.
Remove Raise-to-Wake Access
If you’re always accidentally calling people, it could also be because raise-to-wake access is on. When this happens, it removes your phone lock, making it fair game for an accidental call.
Your phone might mistakenly think that you’ve raised it when the phone is in your pocket and the motion of your walking triggers this function. This overrides the lock if you had previously set a passcode, even if you didn’t intend to do so.
Clear Your Recent Calls
Do a little tidying of your call list and it’ll also prevent the likelihood of butt dialing someone. This often happens by calling back someone that you had recently spoken to.
If you clear out your call history then you are less likely to deal with this. Get into the habit of clearing your call history, particularly if it has piled up significantly.
Set Your Phone on the Table
One of the best ways to prevent butt dialing is also one of the simplest things to do — put your phone down. Rather than having it in your pocket, simply set it down on the table beside you and pick it up when you’d like to use it.
This keeps your phone in plain view so that you can use it if you need to, but won’t accidentally access any controls that you aren’t trying to. Be mindful of any voice commands that the phone might also pick up on. For instance, people today talk to “Siri” and “Alexa” when using virtual assistant functions. If you own an Android or iPhone, you know that sometimes the virtual assistant thinks that you are talking to it when you really aren’t.
That can also lead to accidentally calling somebody when you didn’t mean to. Keep your phone screen visible on a table so that you can override one of these situations if they happen.
Learn How to Prevent Butt Dialing
If you’re trying to learn how to prevent butt dialing, the points above are worthwhile. Following these steps can save you some trouble and prevent you from avoidable accidental phone calls.
Fruit Fixed can assist you with any type of phone repair you’re looking into. Find us at any of our Central Virginia store locations to learn more about how we can help you.
