Have you been on the receiving end of a “butt dial” or “pocket dial”? Have you been embarrassed to learn you made an inadvertent call like this? What else does your phone do while it’s in your pocket?

How Does a Touchscreen Work?

According to How Stuff Works, your iPhone’s capacitive touchscreen uses a layer of capacitive material to hold an electrical charge. Touching the screen changes the amount of charge at a specific point of contact.

The screen responds to more than just fingertips. Of course, you can use a stylus designed for this purpose. Or, have you ever had your hands otherwise engaged and tried to use your nose instead? Water is another culprit as moisture on the screen can cause touch activity to take place.

Any way your phone’s touch-sensitive screen can get some contact will do, even if that’s your rear end through your stretch pants.

What’s Happening in Your Pocket?

Apart from voice control options, your phone only makes calls when it is unlocked. For most folks, that’s when you’ve used Touch ID, Face ID, or your passcode to unlock the device. (If you don’t use these security features, you leave your phone at greater risk of engaging without you.)

If you stow your iPhone while unlocked, you leave open the possibility that anything inadvertent or unexpected could happen. Doing so also wastes precious power as your iPhone screen will stay illuminated while in the darkness of your pocket.

Lock It Before Pocket

The easiest way to prevent your phone from misbehaving and eliminate butt dialing from its repertoire is to lock it before pocketing it. On most iPhones, just press the Side Button once. This is the button on the opposite edge from the volume buttons.

On a first generation iPhone SE or any earlier model without a Side Button, press the Top Button.

The screen will go dark and you’ll need to wake the screen and/or unlock again to use the device.

Some websites suggest turning off Tap to Wake, a feature of iPhones with Face ID. I don’t recommend this approach, though, because when my iPhone is on a flat surface, tapping the screen is ergonomically easier than pressing the Side Button or even raising the whole device.

If you’re curious to explore, Tap to Wake is in Settings > Accessibility > Touch. Raise to Wake is in Settings > Display & Brightness.

As for me, I’ll just stick with my habit of pressing the Side Button as or just before I slide my phone into my pocket. What about you?