Respond to Incoming Calls with a Message on an iPhone
To respond to an incoming call on your iPhone with a text message, tap the Message button when receiving a call, then tap the message you want to send. You can tap Custom to write your own message, and you can use the Settings app to set what messages appear.
Contents
[hide]Steps
Responding with a Text Message
- Receive a call on your iPhone. You'll see the option to respond with a text message when you get an incoming call.
- Tap the Message button on the incoming call screen. This looks like a message bubble, and can be found on the right side of the screen, above the Slide to Answer or Accept button.
- Tap one of the preconfigured messages. There are three premade messages you can choose from. Tap one to decline the call and send the message.
- You can change these messages to whatever you'd like. See Changing the Default Message for details.
- Tap Custom to write your own message. This will open the Messages app and allow you to write a custom text message to send the caller.
Changing the Default Messages
- Tap the Settings app. You can find this on one of your Home screens, sometimes in a folder labeled "Utilities."
- Tap Phone.
- Tap Respond with Text.
- Tap one of the message fields.
- Type the message you want to use.
- Tap the X to delete a custom message.
- Tap your new messages when responding to a call. Your new custom messages will replace the original options that appear when you choose to respond with a text. Tapping one will send it immediately.
Tips
- While you can't set a voice message to respond with, you can tap the Decline button to send the caller to your voicemail message.
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