How to Make Your Phone Busy When Someone Calls (iPhone and Android)

Key Points

• You can set your iPhone or iPad to forward calls to voicemail when you’re busy, without the caller knowing.
• Android devices don’t have a built-in feature to put your phone on busy mode, but you can disconnect the caller immediately by turning on airplane mode.
• Both iOS and Android devices have features like Do Not Disturb that can make your phone permanently busy.
• You can customize the Do Not Disturb feature on iOS devices to mute calls, reject calls, and mute notifications at specific times.
• On Android devices, you can set up call forwarding to forward calls to a specified phone number.

Have you ever received a call that you don’t want to take at the moment, and then realized that you can’t use your phone until the caller ends the call? Well, there’s a much smarter solution so you can still use your smartphone while the call is in the background.

In this article, we’ll show you how to set your phone to be busy when someone calls, but also how to set your phone to be automatically busy for all or certain calls. Let’s break it down!

How to Make Your Phone Busy When Someone Calls

If you don’t have time to let the phone ring until the caller hangs up, there’s a clever way to reject the call as busy on both iOS and Android devices.

iOS Devices

If you get a call on an iPhone or iPad, the good news is that there is a built-in feature in the iOS system that helps you avoid the call. The next time you get a call, press the lock button once to mute the call or press the same button twice to reject the call.

The caller won’t know you declined the call since the iOS device will forward it to voicemail if you have one set up with your provider. From there, the caller can leave a voicemail and the call won’t prevent you from using your phone anymore. Apple has thought this through and made it so easy to notify someone that you’re busy since you just have to double-tap the lock button when you get a call.

There’s even an SMS reply that’s on the call screen. This lets you reject the call and send a message to the caller. You can choose one of several default messages or write your own.

Android Devices

Android devices don’t have a built-in shortcut to put your phone on busy mode or to tell the caller you’re busy, but there is a trick you can use. When you get a call, simply roll down the Control Center and turn on Airplane Mode. This will shut down the network and disconnect the caller immediately while giving them a busy signal.

There are also several solutions you can set up in advance to prepare yourself for unwanted calls on Android devices. One of the most popular options is call barring. It’s a built-in feature in most Android devices that helps you avoid unwanted incoming calls by blocking them for a certain period. All you need to do is turn the option on. The only downside of this feature is that you block all incoming calls and can’t reject calls from specific callers individually.

What are Other Ways to Make Your Phone Permanently Busy?

On iOS devices, you can play with the Focus feature, which is available on all iOS devices. This feature allows you to set specific actions, such as muting calls, rejecting calls (or sending them to voicemail), and even muting notifications at specific times. This feature is ideal for driving, personal time, sleep, and work hours.

You can also use the default Do Not Disturb feature and adjust the settings to your liking. When you customize the Do Not Disturb feature, you can activate it from the Control Center with a tap to keep your phone permanently busy until you turn the feature off again.

On Android devices, there is a feature called Do Not Disturb. This feature blocks all calls and ensures that your phone is permanently busy. You can also set up a call-forwarding feature that will forward your calls to a phone number you specify. This is great for work and for letting your assistants take calls without your phone physically being in their office.

Wrapping Up

Finding a way to send the call to voicemail or tell your caller that you can’t take the call is tricky at the moment. Knowing how to quickly set your phone to “busy” when someone calls can be your salvation, especially when you’re on the go. There are several options built into your smartphone and it only takes a few minutes to set them up and learn how to use them. But the good news is that regardless of your phone, you can have at least one quick way to ensure your phone is busy when you can’t receive a call.

The image featured at the top of this post is ©chalermphon_tiam/Shutterstock.com.