The simple, but surprising reason why iPhone owners can accept calls two different ways

We answer a simple question that everyone seems to have.

My fellow iPhone users: Have you noticed that when you get a call you can sometimes swipe to answer, while other times you’re given the “accept” and “decline” buttons?

The simple, but surprising reason why iPhone owners can accept calls two different ways

Thankfully, the geniuses at Business Insider have the answer.

To find the answer, Maya Kosoff, a reporter had her colleague Jillian, who also has an iPhone, call her.

And a slide appeared!

Then, to see if it would make a difference if the person calling was in her contacts, Kosoff had another colleague call her. This friend wasn’t in Kosoff’s contacts, but did have an iphone.

Still, there was a slider. Next, Kosoff had a non-iPhone user call her. Did it make a difference?

Nope. She got the slider again.

After this, Kosoff wondered if having her screen locked was the answer. Turns out, she was right.

If your iPhone is locked when you receive a call, as mine was, you’ll be shown a slider to answer the call, with no option to ignore it. If your phone’s unlocked, you’ll get the option to either dismiss or accept the call.

Thank you, Business Insider. You’re really Sherlock Holmes, you know that?

Also, big shout out to Maya Kosoff for spending her day cracking the code. Now I can sleep at night.

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