How to change side button from automatically hanging up calls in iOS 14.2

When on a call, pressing the power/sleep/wake button hangs up the call. That is built into the hardware and firmware and cannot be altered. All iPhones from the original to the current models have functioned that way.

If a call is coming in, pressing the power button immediately silences the call, and pressing it twice send it right to voicemail. Again, those are hardware features that cannot be altered by the user. And again, they’ve always been that way.

There is an exception to this.. I just tested with my 12 pro.. (and I'm pretty sure my 11 pro did the same thing)

If you click the power button while on a call and you have the phone up to your ear, it does not end the call. It only hangs up when the phone isn't against my ear.

I don't think this changes anything for the OP though, just thought I'd comment

When a call rings, touching the side button once has ALWAYS silenced the call. Since the first iPhone in 2007 to now, that is how the power button has been programmed to function. Touching the side button while in a call has ALWAYS hung the call up.

That is how the power button is programmed in firmware to work with calls.

That has never been the case with any iPhone I have owned since 2008, nor does it apply to my current iPhone XS. When on a call (held to your ear, on speakerphone, using a BT headset) pressing the power button disconnects the call. My understanding has always been that is purely a hardware feature to terminate a ongoing call, under any circumstances.

Pressing the power button IS (and always has been) the hardware control to end any current call.

There is nothing in the current user manual for iPhones and iOS 14 that says that has changed.

interesting.. while apparently something has changed with the newer phones. If something were wrong with my brand new phone I can't see it working in one case and not the other. Wouldn't make sense.

Now I'm curious so I'll test with my brother's phone tomorrow 😁

I’m just saying if it has changed, it does not appear documented in the iPhone iOS 14 user manual, which covers all iPhone models that support running iOS 14.

That hang up feature of the power button has never been a feature of iOS. It’s a firmware control feature, to always allow a call to be disconnected, regardless of interaction with the operating system.

If yours did not do this you need to get it serviced.