butt dialing on an iphone12

Well, the short answer is don’t carry your $1,000 phone in a back pocket where it has a high probability of being sat on or otherwise broken. But if you insist on living dangerously, here’s what you can do:

• Have a passcode on the phone
• Lock the screen before you put the phone in your pocket
• Go to Settings/Display & Brightness and turn off Raise to Wake
• Go to Settings/Face ID & Passcode and turn on Require Attention for Face ID
• When you put the phone in your pocket, have the screen facing away from your body

This last may be counterintuitive, but if the screen is damaged it can be replaced easily and relatively inexpensively (especially if you have AppleCare+). If the glass back of the phone is damaged the whole phone has to be replaced.

Sorry to "butt" in but there is now a back screen repair cost ($349) which is a tad cheaper than total replacement ($449)

I would also turn off Tap to wake in Accessibility settings [edited]