In-Call Controls: Mute, Speaker, and Keypad

Once your call connects, the call screen shows a small set of buttons. They're the same on the website and in the app - the buttons just sit in slightly different spots. Here's what each one does, and when you'd use it.

Mute - so they can't hear you for a moment

The microphone button silences your side of the call. Tap it once and the other person can't hear you at all - useful when you need to cough, answer someone in the room, or shuffle papers. Tap it again to be heard again.

Two things to know: you can still hear them while muted, and muting doesn't pause the cost - the call is still connected and billed per minute.

Speaker - hands-free listening

• In the app: tap the speaker button to switch the sound from the earpiece (held to your ear) to the loudspeaker (phone on the table, hands free). Tap again to switch back.
• On the computer: sound simply plays through whatever your computer normally uses - its speakers or your headset. To change that, use your computer's sound settings. One warm recommendation: use a headset or earphones if you can. It prevents echo, where your speakers feed sound back into your microphone - see Fixing Microphone and Audio Issues.

Keypad - for "press 1 for..." menus

When you call a company, a bank, or a clinic, a recorded voice often asks you to press numbers to choose options. Here's how:

1. Wait until the call actually connects. The keypad only becomes available once the other end is on the line - the app greys the button out until then, and the website tells you the keypad becomes available after the call connects. This is deliberate: while a call is still ringing, there is no menu listening yet.
2. Open the number pad - tap Show keypad on the website, or the Keypad button in the app.
3. Press the digits you need. Each press is sent to the menu as its own separate signal, alongside the audio rather than as a beep inside it, which is why presses generally land on the first try. In the app, the digits you press appear at the top of the call screen in place of the name, so you can see what you have entered so far.
4. Tap Hide keypad when you're done, to get back to the other buttons. In the app the name comes back, and opening the keypad again starts a fresh entry.

A helpful habit: press one digit at a time, with a small pause between them - rapid-fire sequences are what fail most. A normal tap is enough; pressing harder or holding a key down makes no difference. If a menu seems to ignore your presses, the usual reason is that the call had not connected yet - see Phone Menu Not Registering Key Presses.

The timer and cost - always visible

While you talk, the screen shows two reassuring numbers: how long the call has lasted, and what it has cost so far. Nothing is hidden and nothing accumulates behind your back. Remember that time is billed in whole minutes (a 3-minute-20-second call counts as 4 minutes) - explained fully in Understanding Rates and Per-Minute Billing.

Saving the person as a contact

Dialed a number by hand and want to keep it? Use Save contact right on the call screen - give it a name and it joins your contact list, so next time it's one tap. You can even do this during the call. More in Managing Your Contacts.

Hanging up

Press End Call on the website, or the red hang-up button in the app - same as any phone.

One thing worth knowing: if your balance can't cover the next minute, the call ends by itself. If that ever catches you mid-conversation, auto top-up makes sure it never happens again.