Androids are amazing, yes but they do have their own quirks. At times, these quirks might affect the most basic functionality of your phone, calling. 

Sometimes you might get a call ad when you’re trying to answer it just like you always do, nothing happens. This can be rather frustrating. In this article, we’re going to talk about how you can fix this issue and get talking on your phone again.

Also read: How to get Android notifications on Windows?

Restart your phone

The first step of troubleshooting any device is restarting and it stands for our smartphones as well. If something is acting up, chances are rebooting your phone can fix that. 

Toggle the Airplane mode

Toggling the Airplane mode on and back off again has roughly the same effect on your device as restarting except it affects the network more than the device. 

If you’re having trouble with phone calls, pull down the notification shade to access the Airplane mode setting. Toggle it on, wait for all the connectivity to drop dead, and then turn it back on again. 

Remove SIM card

Even though the issue is most likely with your phone, giving the SIM card a breath doesn’t really hurt. If you’re having issues with calls on your phone, try taking the SIM card out, cleaning it with a soft cloth and putting it back in again.

Also read: How to check and recover clipboard history on Android?

Clear data and cache for the phone app

Clearing data and cache can fix a bunch of seemingly random issues that might have been caused by buggy files in the cache or app storage.

• Open your phone settings and head over to Apps & notifications.
• Tap on Show all apps.
• Find your phone app in here. Tap on it to get to app settings.
• Tap on Storage & cache.
• Tap on Clear cache and Clear storage. 

Update the phone app

If there’s a widespread issue with an app the developers react rather quickly and send out updates to patch the issues. If you’re having issues with your phone calls, try looking for updates to your Phone app on the Google Play Store. 

Generally system apps like these updates themselves, but it doesn’t hurt to check.

• Open the Play Store and tap on the hamburger menu icon in the top left.
• Tap on My apps and games.
• You’ll be able to see all apps that require an update here. If you see the phone app, update it and your issue should be resolved.

Also read: How to transfer contacts from Android to Android?

Check Third-party calling apps

If you use any third-party calling apps on your phone they might be interfering with the way calls work on your phone. You can either disable the app temporarily or make the stock dialer app as your default phone app in the settings. 

• Head over to your phone’s settings and tap Apps & notifications.
• Tap on Default apps.
• Make sure your stock phone app is selected under Phone app.

Check the theme

Some android themes provide next-level customisation and might flip or change the position of the call pick and reject buttons on your phone. Try disabling any themes that you might be running to see if they’re causing the issue. 

Reset app preferences

As a last resort, you can try resetting app preferences. This doesn’t delete any app data but rather makes sure all settings go back to their factory options. Here’s how you can do this.

• Head over to your phone’s settings and tap on Apps & notifications.
• Tap on Show all apps.
• Tap on the three vertical dots in the top-right.
• Select Reset app preferences from the context menu. 

Note that there are alternative ways that you can use to pick phone calls up. The easiest of them all is plugging in a pair of headphones or using Bluetooth ones and then use the buttons on them to answer a call. This isn’t a permanent solution but will help you get around the issue for a while.

Also read: How to check screen time on Android?