can't hang up phone calls

I’ve got the same problem although mine happens almost with every call on my iPhone XS. In order to truly hang up I have to reboot the phone - not at all happy with this because it just happens again.

There’s another non obvious trick to get back to your proper phone call demon/thread window: there’s a small phone symbol in the upper left hand of the screen when you’ve exited the phone app. Tap that and it will also take you back to your active phone call with a hang up option. Discovered that by accident.

(Apple - you’re moving away from the elegant intuitive interface choices that made you successful. And leaving bugs in your primary phone functions. This portents poorly.)

I have a temp work around: I'm on an iPhone 12 Max Pro - and IOS 14.3 and have this same problem. Not sure if this problem is universal for everyone with my same hardware/software build (it was also a problem with IOS 14.2). I assume Apple will fix it soon??!! It seems the bug occurs when you exit the phone app to use for the phone for other purposes while still in a phone call, and then try to return to the call via the standard built in green Apple IOS Phone app. When you return via that route, the phone doesn't seem to even know you are on a call and you can't hang up, and it is NOT obvious how to hang up at that point. (Aka, you get the 'green button' instead of the 'red button'.)

The solution is to SWIPE UP (or double tap home button on some older models) to enter the APP SWITCHING function, and to return to the active call -that- way. There you will get your red hang up button back.

(Apple: FIX this ASAP! This is a basic critical iPhone function and security risk for your users. And NO-reboot doesn't NOT solve this issue.)

Hey Lurker:

No - promise I’m not misunderstanding the issue - I came to this thread with my partial solution because I was having the same Exact problem. Any confusion is just the fog of to many ways to describe a complex issue.

Basically Apple changed the code such that there can be more than one instance of the phone app being open. And you can open a fresh phone app that isn’t aware of the currently still happening phone connection. So yes - when you open that new phone app occurrence/thread/demon/window, it gives you a green call button as though there is no actively open phone call. This is a huge problem if the person or device on the other line doesn’t or can’t hang up.

I tried to see out of curiosity if you could make a three way or new call with this naive green buttoned Phone App window but you can’t. It ignores any attempt to call out. It’s a rather major terrible bug and should be at the same priority as a major security issue but who knows what Apple is smoking these days. I get the impression it’s a bit chaotic in some of their QA departments these days.

I’m assuming this ridiculous and major bug will be fixed in iOS 15 / 14.4. But who knows.

And as a reminder - I have found two solutions to the problem: one is to use the app switcher to get back to the phone app instance with “the red hang up phone” option...

And the other is to tap the GREEN highlighted time in the absolute top left of my iPhone screen. That green is an indication of an active open phone call and always reliably brings me back to the active phone app where I have my hang up red phone icon option.

Hey there Lurker316,

Thanks for reaching out. We'd like to see how we can help with your Phone app issue. Having a reliable phone is key, so let's see how we can get that back up and running properly.

We'd first like to confirm some troubleshooting. Have you restarted your iPhone yet? Check out this link if you haven't yet: Restart your iPhone

If you have already, we'd like to see if you have force quit the Phone app and restarted the app. If not, here's how: How to force an app to close on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Let us know your findings. We look forward to continue working with you.

Cheers.

I just had this happen for the first time today on my iPhone 12 mini, iOS 14.3.

I was on a call with a BT headset Bose NC 700 and another call came in. I declined the other call as I was listening to a menu system on the first call. After that I couldn’t hang up the phone with the headphones or the iPhone. I turned off the headphones and the call switched to just the iPhone, but I still couldn’t hang up. I tried the app switcher but when connected to the phone app I only had the green button and no red button to hang up. The only way to end the call was to turn the phone off. Not ideal!

This happened to me as well. I couldn’t hang up, the green initiate call button was visible, switching apps did not help & I had to shut down my phone. (And why iPhone 12 Pro Max needs 2 buttons to shut down, I’ll never understand.) But BEFORE I shut down, the volume on my phone for videos was also greatly reduced as if other apps or the phone was using most of the sound until I restarted. I had to put in my headset to hear a video on Twitter. That’s when I knew the sound manager from the phone was experiencing some major bugs. But totally not cool to have open phone lines unable to hang up.

I have the same problem and it’s really a problem. I don’t want someone to get a voicemail from me when I think I’m disconnected and start talking to someone else. This is really bad. Sometimes I can’t even get the phone app to reappear when I take the phone away from my ear to hang up. It’s just a black screen! Apple 🍏 you really have to fix this!!!

I have been experiencing this problem relatively frequently on my Iphone 10 with the latest OS. It is intermittent. Frequently the only way that I have been able to disconnect the call is if the other party explicitly ends the call. In my case on occasion the other party appears to get a call back from me re-initiating the call. As this problem has existed for some months now, I am astounded that this has not been elevated in the Apple Support community to a highest priority bug requiring an all-hands-on-deck approach. That Iphones don't perform THE basic function of a phone correctly is jaw-dropping.

Same issue with iPhone 12 mini. In addition to the green phone when there should be a red, I am unable to hit any key prompts as it doesn't recognize I am on a call.

Ok so now we have to force stop a call to hang up AND turn Airplane mode on and off before we can make a call or send a text?!? This just needs to be fixed.