How to Fake a Dropped Call on iPhone

Have you ever been on a phone call you want to get off of but you can’t figure out a way out of the conversation? Dropped call to the rescue!

With iPhone, you can fake a dropped call from poor service by quite literally forcing the phone call to drop from a cellular connection or network connection. In other words, the call dropping is real, but the reason it drops is because you initiated it, not because of bad cell service or a network issue. Sneaky, eh?

Forcing a dropped call or call failure is achieved by using AirPlane Mode in a strategic manner, which disconnects all communication, wi-fi, cellular, Bluetooth, etc, on the iPhone, for as long as it is enabled.

How to Fake a Dropped Call on iPhone via Control Center

The trick here is to activate AirPlane Mode while on the phone call you wish to drop, this will cause the iPhone to hangup and mimic a dropped call, or a ‘call failed’:

1. When you’re on the call you want to drop, swipe down from the top right corner of the display to open Control Center
2. Tap on the Airplane icon to activate AirPlane Mode
3. Turning on AirPlane Mode will drop the iPhone call and place the phone in a state where it is unable to make or receive calls
4. Toggle AirPlane Mode back OFF again to reconnect the iPhone to cellular and wi-fi networks

How to Force a “Call Failed” Dropped Call on iPhone via Settings

You can also activate AirPlane Mode from the Settings app, if that is easier for you:

1. Open the “Settings” app on iPhone
2. Toggle the switch for AirPlane Mode to the ON position while on the phone call to drop it
3. Toggle the switch for AirPlane Mode to the OFF position to reconnect the phone to cellular and wi-fi networks (this will NOT automatically reconnect the dropped call)

It does not matter how you activate AirPlane Mode, the results are the same; any active call will be dropped.

Whether or not you just let the call be dropped and never talk to the person again, or you call the person back and say “oh I’m sorry the call dropped, let’s talk another time” or whatever other excuse you come up with, that’s up to you.

AirPlane Mode disconnects all cellular and network connections on the iPhone, and it’s called AirPlane Mode because of how airplanes make you turn off your electronic devices when preparing for takeoff and landing on most airlines. Doing so also has a side effect of clearing DNS cache on the iPhone which can be useful for web developers and sysadmins in particular.

You can also fake incoming calls to iPhone if you want to, which can also be helpful to get out of some situations whether to get off of an existing phone call, or out of a situation in-person.