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. During the call, tap Show keypad. The number pad appears.
2. Press the digits you need - each press sends a tone the automated system understands, just like on an old telephone.
3. Tap Hide keypad when you're done, to get back to the other buttons.

A helpful habit: press each digit firmly, one at a time, with a small pause between them. If a menu seems to ignore your presses, that's usually a momentary connection wobble - 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.