iPhone Xr: Pocket Dial Woes

[Buadhai]

My iPhone 6s suddenly failed so my dear wife ran out and bought me an Xr. Although the 6s was a better size for me, I'm happy with the Xr. Face Recognition is wonderful and I love the way the UI works without a home button.

But….

I'm having a huge problem with so-called butt dialing. I had the 6s for several years and never had a single pocket dial. But, with the Xr I have them all the time. I can't figure out what's different about the Xr or what I'm doing wrong.

The only person the pocket-dial ever calls is my wife. She is one of two emergency contacts listed in the Health app. Yesterday it dialed her seven times between 10:15 AM and 10:20 AM. At this time I was riding my bicycle home after going out for a cup of coffee. My wife was taking a university exam, so her phone was off at the time.

I am in the habit of always locking my phone before I put it in my pocket. I did that with the 6s and with the new Xr.

I do not make and rarely answer telephone calls, so I never use the Phone app.

What am I doing to cause this?

 

[compwiz1202]

Go to Settings>Lock Screen and disable Call Back Functionality.

 

[JPack]

Disable Raise to Wake and Tap to Wake.

Use Raise to Wake on your iPhone - Apple Support

Learn how to use Raise to Wake or Tap to Wake on your iPhone.

support.apple.com

 

[Buadhai]

Go to Settings>Lock Screen and disable Call Back Functionality.

I don't find that specific setting, but Accessibility > Touch > Call Auto Routing > Auto-Answer Calls was already disabled.

Return Missed Calls was also already disabled.

Disable Raise to Wake and Tap to Wake.

Raise to Wake was already disabled. Tap to Wake is in Accessibility > Touch. That's going to be rather inconvenient. I've disabled it anyway.

But, even if the iPhone is pocketed and wakes up because of touching the inside of my pocket, how can it make a call without being unlocked? Or, does the inside of my pocket look enough like my face to unlock the phone?

 

[JPack]

But, even if the iPhone is pocketed and wakes up because of touching the inside of my pocket, how can it make a call without being unlocked? Or, does the inside of my pocket look enough like my face to unlock the phone?

iPhone can make a call to an emergency contact without unlocking.

 

[Buadhai]

iPhone can make a call to an emergency contact without unlocking.

But doesn't that require pressing buttons? Could that happen in my pocket?

 

[JPack]

But doesn't that require pressing buttons? Could that happen in my pocket?

No, and yes.

 

[Buadhai]

OK. I can see how this might happen: My pocket wakes the phone. My pocket swipes up for the login screen. My pocket hits the Emergency button. Or is there a less unlikely way?

Finally, is this a common occurrence?

 

[C128]

OK. I can see how this might happen: My pocket wakes the phone. My pocket swipes up for the login screen. My pocket hits the Emergency button. Or is there a less unlikely way?

Finally, is this a common occurrence?

I bought an iPhone 12 mini to replace my iPhone SE on launch day for the mini and ran into this issue as well. I had to disable tap to wake. Basically iOS doesn’t support locking the phone immediately as android does. It can shut off the screen when it wants to based on if you’re paying attention to it using Face ID. So the screen can turn off the phone won’t be locked. The only way to fix it is to disable tap to wake. I’ve also disabled raise to wake just to be safe. Because in my case it wasn’t calls that were the issue, I actually placed some orders unintentionally from my pocket and it cost me some money. It’s inconvenient to hit the side button to wake the phone but the extra sense of security is worth it. You may not have to disable raise to wake, I just thought I would be extra safe and that feature annoys me sometimes anyway.
For me I don’t know if it’s my pocket that’s doing it but rather my fingers as I am sliding the phone into my pocket.

I do think it’s a common issue to answer your question, but it’s a lot less common than it would be because most people use enormous phones with Jumbotron screens, so they’re pocketing them a lot less than they would with a smaller phone.

My next phone will be a mini that has touch ID again (and USB-C). Otherwise I’ll have to stick with the way this one is configured.

All Apple needs to do to fix this is to allow people to have a phone lock immediately whenever the screen turns off. Basically I think people are fooled when they slide their phone into their pocket thinking that the phone is locked and it’s not for 30 seconds at least.

 

[Buadhai]

After posting this thread I decided to observe my wife's habits a bit as she never has pocket dials. She has an X with raise-to-wake and touch-to-wake enabled. When she's done with her phone she simply pops it into her purse with the screen still on. She never manually turns the screen off or locks the phone. But, no pocket dials.

 

[C128]

That makes complete sense as that's what I was describing with the bigger phones.. people no longer grip them and put them into their pocket. It's your fingers over the screen that does it.. at least in my situation. Tossing it into the purse would be pretty hard to dial. A lot harder than having the whole phone wrapped in your hand as it goes into a pant pocket in a hurry.

Even in her case, having the phone lock immediately after the screen does shut off would help. They need to add that option so there's no chance of this happening to anyone. When I'm in a rush trying to worry about something important, and I see my phone screen is off, I don't think about locking it- I assume it's locked.

 

[Buadhai]

Perhaps I'll buy a purse....

 

[Buadhai]

I've still not solved this problem. Today my wife read me the Riot Act as I had apparently butt dialed her continuously as I rode my bike from home to a coffee shop. She's an attorney and did not appreciate the interruptions.

I need a solution for this. Apparently I'm too old, too uncoordinated and too dumb to be able to train myself to lock my phone before I put it in my pocket. I think that I've locked it, but I haven't.

When I got to the coffee shop this morning and removed my phone from my pocket I was wondering why it was so hot to the touch. I quickly learned that it was from making continuous phone calls for the last half hour while I was cycling.

And, it's not just butt dials. I don't know how many ten minute videos I have of the inside of my pocket.

There must be a way other than being less old, less dumb and less clumsy.

 

[JPack]

Get a folio/wallet case.

 

[Buadhai]

Get a folio/wallet case.

I ordered one from the coffee shop this morning.

 

[anitak1982]

This has been my problem since I got my first iPhone 7 years ago. I ordered a folio case yesterday and hope this helps. Turning off tap to wake makes using the phone awkward (at least for me) I hope the folio case solves my problem. It is embarrassing.

 

[Buadhai]

This has been my problem since I got my first iPhone 7 years ago. I ordered a folio case yesterday and hope this helps. Turning off tap to wake makes using the phone awkward (at least for me) I hope the folio case solves my problem. It is embarrassing.

I feel your pain. I have turned off every way to wake my phone except for the power button. I have no "favorites" in my contacts and no emergency numbers in the health app. If I put my phone to sleep with the power button it stays asleep. No amount of screen tapping or raising will wake it. Until I put it in my pocket and then it routinely wakes up all by itself and calls my wife.

The folio case I ordered never shipped, so I cancelled it and ordered another. So, I don't know if it will work. But, why would it? If tap to wake and and raise to wake are both turned off, then how will a cover over the screen stop it from waking up in my pocket?

 

[now i see it]

Turn off the phone. It only takes 15 seconds to boot up.

 

[Buadhai]

Turn off the phone. It only takes 15 seconds to boot up.

Well, that is the brute force option.

 

[aaadktda]

You did not mention how you are putting the phone in your pocket. I had the exact same problem a few years ago when I was using Android phones. The solution for me was to put the phone in my pocket with the display facing the environment and not my leg. The downside is that if you are the type of person who bumps into things (like table corners) you risk cracking your display.

 

[aaadktda]

So, I don't know if it will work. But, why would it?

Because the way smartphone displays work. They need conductivity. In order to use it you need to touch the display with your skin or something that replicates it (like the special pens). That's why in the winter if you don't have gloves designed for smartphone use you need to remove them in order to swipe on the display.

The cover creates an electric barrier between your skin and the display. Even if the side buttons get accidentally pressed in your pocket while you move, the display will turn on but noting will happen.

The layer of cloth in your pocket is not thick enough to create that electrical barrier, especially considering that by sweating the moisture from the sweat that gets into the cloth and increases conductivity.

 

[Buadhai]

So, you think that somehow the phone gets waked up by having the side button accidentally pressed while it's in my pocket? It's hard for me to see how that's physically possible, but I certainly can't think of any other explanation.

So, with the cover, the phone will continue to wake up in my pocket, but will no longer do anything except get hot and drain the battery.

 

[twdawson]

I got rid of my X for this exact reason. It used to pause music while on a walk and dial emergency numbers.
Enough was enough and I bought my 12 mini.

 

[Buadhai]

I got rid of my X for this exact reason. It used to pause music while on a walk and dial emergency numbers.
Enough was enough and I bought my 12 mini.

Well, I'm glad to know I'm not alone.

Why do you think the X phones are more prone to pocket dials than other models?

The folio case I ordered arrived today. It adds quite a bit of weight and bulk to the phone, which I don't much like. If it stops the pocket dials, perhaps it will turn out to be worth it.

Or, maybe now I have an excuse for a new phone!

 

[twdawson]

I had to use a case to stop it but I hate cases with a passion so just decided to get a new phone.