I have recently purchased an iPhone 12 for my dad and set up Assistive Access to keep it as simple as possible, but since doing to new IOS update, when ever he misses a call you can’t call that number back, even when they are a contact in the phone, you have to completely re-type the number in to call it back. It’s extremely frustrating because he receives a lot of calls daily.
iPhone 12 mini
Hi Robinson_552,
welcome to the Apple (user-to-user) Community!
Re: Assistive Access - Missed Calls: I have recently purchased an iPhone 12 for my dad and set up Assistive Access to keep it as simple as possible
Your Dad is fortunate to have your help with his phone needs! Am no expert in this area, yet your post deserves some response. If you already know and use the tips below, please excuse, as we can not guess your experience.
Seems Assistive Access is purposely kept easy-to-use, at the expense of some features.
Understand certain differences in Assistive Access on iPhone - Apple Support
Eg: says:
Calls and messages
When you set up Calls for Assistive Access,
you can choose to allow calls with anyone, all contacts in the Contacts app, or favorite contacts only. If you choose to allow calls to anyone, the person using Assistive Access can call any contact, as well as
enter a phone number to make a phone call, and return calls from anyone who has called them.
If you don’t allow calls with everyone, you must exit Assistive Access to make or receive calls from anyone who’s not an allowed contact.
If suitable: It is not that difficult to enter / exit Assistive Access to interact with the iPhone's phone app
Enter and exit Assistive Access on iPhone - Apple Support
Eg: says:
Tip: You can configure the Accessibility Shortcut so you can quickly enter Assistive Access using the same action you use to exit it (triple-clicking the side button or Home button).
See Quickly open features with Accessibility Shortcut in the iPhone User Guide.
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Re: "when ever he misses a call you can’t call that number back, even when they are a contact in the phone, you have to completely re-type the number in to call it back. It’s extremely frustrating because he receives a lot of calls daily."
If you allow calls to "anyone" ... your Dad may re-type a number for someone who is not in his contacts
Make calls with Assistive Access on iPhone - Apple Support
Eg: says:
Answer a call
To answer an incoming call in Assistive Access, tap Answer. If you don’t want to take the call, tap Don’t Answer, then tap Don’t Answer again to confirm.
If you’ve turned on Show Notification Badges
and the person using Assistive Access misses a call from a contact they’re allowed to call back, the Lock Screen and the Calls app show a notification icon. To see who called, go to the Calls app. If the call is not from a favorite contact, tap Recents.
Also wondering if the settings described in the iOS 18 article below can help, or you may already be using them:
Eg: You can list your Dad's "favorites" so he can easily tap to call them, if he missed a call from them.
See Apple support's article: Set up Calls for Assistive Access on iPhone - Apple Support
The list of "Calls options" in the article includes the settings for your Dad to receive and return calls to "anyone".
There are settings for whom your Dad can call ... who can call him etc., and how to add "Favourits" or Contacts
If you allow calls to anyone, the person using Assistive Access can call any contact, as well as enter a phone number to make a phone call, and return calls from anyone who has called them.
Finally, here's a link to the Assistive Access User Guide, a useful resource, in case you haven't discovered that yet:
Assistive Access User Guide - Apple Support
All the best :-)
Assistive Access - Missed Calls
