During a call, all it takes is 1 click to mute your microphone and play a wave of music to keep your contact company. You can then speak freely with full confidentiality to whomever is in the room with you. As a human being, your brain limits your ability to hold more than one conversation at a time. Your phone’s brain, however, lacks such a limitation. It’s entirely possible for an Android phone to handle more than one call at a time. Putting someone on holdIt’s easy to place a call on hold using your Android phone — as long as your cellular provider hasn’t disabled that feature. Simply touch the Hold icon. To “unhold” the call, touch the Hold icon again. The icon may change its look, for example, from a pause symbol to a play symbol. Fret not if your phone lacks the Hold icon. Rather than hold the call, mute it: Touch the Mute icon on the call-in-progress screen. That way, you can sneeze, scream at the wall, or flush the toilet and the other person will never know. Receiving a new call when you’re on the phoneYou’re on the phone, chatting it up. Suddenly, someone else calls you. What happens next? Your phone alerts you to the new call, perhaps by vibrating or making a sound. Look at the touchscreen to see what’s up with the incoming call, similar to what’s shown here. You have three options: Answer the call. Touch the green Answer icon to answer the incoming call. The call you’re on is placed on hold. Send the call directly to voicemail. Touch the Ignore icon. The incoming call is sent directly to voicemail. Do nothing. The call eventually goes into voicemail.
When you choose to answer the call and the call you’re on is placed on hold, you return to the first call when you end the second call. Or you can manage the multiple calls. Juggling two callsAfter you answer a second call, your phone is working with two calls at once. In this situation, you can speak with only one person at a time; juggling two calls isn’t the same thing as participating in a conference call. Some Android phones feature a multicall screen, similar to what’s shown in the following screen. The screen lists the calls you’re working on and lets you easily switch between them in a visual manner. Your options for dealing with multiple calls include the following: Swap/Switch Calls: To switch between callers, touch the Swap or Switch Calls icon on the touchscreen. Every time you touch that icon, the conversation switches to the other caller and the current person is put on hold. Merge Calls: To combine all calls so that everyone is talking (three people total), touch the Merge Calls icon. This icon may not be available should the merge feature be suppressed by your cellular provider. End Call: To end a call, touch the End Call icon, just as you normally do. After one call ends, the conversation returns to the other caller. You can then proceed to talk — discuss the weather, the local sports team, whatever — until you hang up or another call interrupts you. The number of different calls your phone can handle depends on your carrier. For most subscribers in the United States, your phone can handle only two calls at a time. In that case, a third person who calls you either hears a busy signal or is sent directly into voicemail. If the person on hold hangs up, you may hear a sound or feel the phone vibrate when the call is dropped. When you touch the End Call icon using an Android phone on the Verizon network, both calls may appear to have been disconnected. That’s not the case: In a few moments, the call you didn’t disconnect “rings” as though the person is calling you back. No one is calling you back, though: The phone is simply returning you to that ongoing conversation. If you’re not sure why you’d want to put an iPhone call on hold, don’t worry. I wasn’t either. ‘Isn’t holding calls just something people did on landlines in 80s coming of age films?’ I thought, perhaps naively. ‘The kind of thing that only call centers actually do nowadays?’ As it turns out, no, and putting someone on hold on iPhone still very much has its uses. Admittedly, some of those have been usurped by the mute button, like stopping a caller hearing your end of the line. But if you need to call a friend while already talking to another one, to organize plans for example, simply sticking one on hold while you dial the other one separately (or even add them to the call) is super useful. Anyone running their own business will naturally still appreciate call holding too, utilizing the function to deal with multiple customers or clients via their iPhone. But how do you do it? Before learning myself, I was familiar with putting someone on hold when given the option to do so — this happens when you receive a call while already on one — but had never known how to just stick someone on the back burner whenever I felt like it. As it happens, it’s surprisingly simple, so here’s how to put someone on hold on iPhone.
In addition to our range of helpful tutorials, we also have a wide range of expertly crafted buying guides to help you make the right choice. So, if you're in the market for a new Apple device, make sure you check out our guide to the best iPhones.
How to put an iPhone call on hold1. Open the Phone app and find a contact or dial a number. (Image credit: Future)2. While on the call, hold the mute button to put the other caller on hold. (Image credit: Future)3. Your call is now on hold, denoted by the "HOLD" text under the name or number of the other person. To add someone else to the call, tap the add call button and choose a contact or dial a number to add to the call. To start a separate call with the first one on hold, tap contacts and then choose a contact or dial a number. (Image credit: Future)4. If you've started a separate call, the second one will appear underneath the first in the bar at the top. Tap the swap button to switch between calls. (Image credit: Future)Now you know how to put someone on hold on iPhone. It's a feature that's been around for a while, but despite using iPhones for over a decade, I never knew about! Now that you have the power of call holding within your palm, remember to us it wisely. Going on a power trip and putting everyone on hold just because ends in arguments. Trust me. While that call is on hold, though, why not check out a quick and easy guide to getting the most out of your iPhone? If you want to increase your Apple phone's charge time, you should definitely read how to save your iPhone's battery life. If you're keen on identifying the world around you, read how to identify plants on iPhone and how to identify a dog's breed on iPhone. If you'd like to stop those annoying junk text messages then make sure to check out how to stop spam texts on iPhone. And if you'd like to make sure you don't miss calls, find out how to change your iPhone's ringer volume. If you're looking for other hidden features in the apps you use, start by learning how to make Spotify louder and how to use the Spotify music equalizer.
Can you put a call on hold and call someone else?
If you're on a call and need to make another one, you can put that call on hold and make a different call (kind of like having a two-line phone).
What happens when you put call on hold?
Everyone in the call will be notified that they've been put on hold, and you can continue your call by clicking Resume. People on hold (including you) won't be able to see or hear anyone else on the call. Screen sharing is temporarily suspended, too. Everything will return to normal once you resume your call.
Can I be in 2 calls at the same time?
Call Stacking allows you to receive multiple calls at the same time, even if you run your business from a single phone. Your callers will wait on hold until your phone becomes available to receive the next call. Now you no longer need multiple lines to receive multiple calls!
What happens if you get 2 calls at the same time?
The call that the switching center perceives as the first call will ring second one will ring busy or go to voicemail. If the call waiting waiting feature is enabled it might beep in the ear of answering party signaling they have another call.
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