How To Change The Way You Answer An Android Phone

There are actually a few different ways you can answer an incoming call on an Android phone, one or more of which you may find suits you better than the current method of accepting, rejecting and ending phone calls. 

To learn how to change the way you answer an Android phone, see our step-by-step tutorials below. For everything else, check out our FAQ section at the end of this article.

How to change the way you answer an incoming Android call (Method #1)

1. On your Android device, tap the ‘Phone’ app icon which should be located along the bottom of your home screen
   
2. Next, tap the three vertical dots in the upper-right of the app to bring up the menu for the Phone app
   
3. From the drop-down menu, select ‘Settings’ to take you directly to the Phone app-specific settings menu
   
4. Next, scroll down until you reach ‘Answering and ending calls’ and then tap on this option
   
5. You now have a few different options:
   1. To make your Android automatically answer any incoming call after a set amount of time when a Bluetooth device or headset is connected, toggle ‘Answer automatically’ to ON (blue) instead of OFF (gray)
      
      
   2. Next, tap the option itself, and select whether you want your Android device to automatically answer calls in this manner after 2, 5, 10 or a customizable amount of seconds

How to change the way you answer an incoming Android call (Method #2)

1. On your Android device, tap the ‘Phone’ app icon which should be located along the bottom of your home screen
   
2. Next, tap the three vertical dots in the upper-right of the app to bring up the menu for the Phone app
   
3. From the drop-down menu, select ‘Settings’ to take you directly to the Phone app-specific settings menu
   
4. Next, scroll down until you reach ‘Answering and ending calls’ and then tap on this option
   
5. You now have a few different options:
   1. To assign ‘Answer’ to the Volume Up button, toggle the button next to ‘Press Volume up to answer’ by tapping it from OFF (gray) to ON (blue)
      
      
   2. When a call comes in from now on, you can answer it by pressing the Volume Up button once

How to change the way you answer an incoming Android call (Method #3)

1. On your Android device, tap the ‘Phone’ app icon which should be located along the bottom of your home screen
   
2. Next, tap the three vertical dots in the upper-right of the app to bring up the menu for the Phone app
   
3. From the drop-down menu, select ‘Settings’ to take you directly to the Phone app-specific settings menu
   
4. Next, scroll down until you reach ‘Answering and ending calls’ and then tap on this option
   
5. You now have a few different options:

3. To assign ‘End’ or ‘Reject’ call to the Power button, toggle the button next to ‘Press Power key to end’ by tapping it from OFF (gray) to ON (blue)
   
   
4. When a call comes in from now on, you can reject it or end it by pressing the Power key once

How to change the way you answer an incoming Android call (Method #4)

1. On your Android phone, search for and tap on the ‘Settings’ app
   
2. Scroll down to and then tap on Accessibility to take you to the accessibility settings
   
3. Next, select ‘Interaction and dexterity’ by tapping on this settings option
   
4. Locate and tap on ‘Answering and ending calls’
   
5. Tap on the toggle button next to ‘Single tap to swipe’
   
6. When an incoming call is received by your Android device, you can now simply tap the answer or reject icons once (instead of swiping them) to answer or reject the call
   1. Note: This method only works on Android devices using Android OS version 9

That’s all there is to answering your Android phone in a multitude of different ways. If you still have further questions, or would like more info on the subject, please check out our FAQ section down below.

FAQs

What is the default way to answer an incoming call on Android?

As default, when you receive a call on your Android smartphone (whether it’s a Google Pixel, a Samsung Galaxy, or another device) you’ll see a screen showing the caller’s name, as well as two options: answer or reject, signifies by a green phone icon and a red phone icon with an ‘X’, respectively.

To answer, you typically have to swipe the appropriate icon (either the answer or reject icon) toward the center of your screen. This is the default means of answering an Android phone when you’re called, and is usually accessible and easy to use. However, there are some users who find that the tap and slide is inconvenient, and would rather have alternative means of answering their Android phone.

To find out how to change the way you answer your Android phone calls, simply follow our step-by-step tutorials above.

How many different ways are there to answer an incoming call on Android?

There are ostensibly three different ways to answer an incoming call on Android. There’s the default option – tapping and sliding the answer/reject icon to the middle of the screen – as discussed above. Then there’s the ability to answer an incoming call with a single tap of the appropriate icon, rather than a tap and slide. And finally, there’s the option to answer an Android phone call using the Volume Up and Power buttons on the side of the device.

What’s the best way to answer an Android phone?

The best way to answer an Android phone call depends entirely on your preferences for ease of use and accessibility. If you struggle to control the movements of your hands, then a ‘single tap’ of the answer and reject icons may serve you better, especially when compared to the comparative dexterity required to tap and slide these icons.

Alternatively, prescribing answering and ending an Android phone call to the Volume Up and Power buttons respectively allows you to easily answer, reject, and end calls with the press of a button without having to see the screen. This can be especially useful for those of us who keep our phones in our pockets whilst wearing headphones, or who use their phones for music and calls whilst driving (and thus shouldn’t look at the screen, for the sake of road safety).

Will normal answering options still work if I change call settings on my Android?

Yes and no. If you set the Volume Up and Power buttons to act as call buttons, then you will still also be able to swipe the answer and reject icons in order to answer or reject an incoming call on your Android device. However, if you set your Android device to change the ‘swipe’ of the incoming call icons to a ‘single tap’, then swiping will no longer work for you so long as you have this setting enabled.