Help with Android incoming call confusion.

murphydavid

My wife has a problem answering incoming calls on her Android phone which results in her loosing calls before she can answer them.
This is because the incoming call screen and action required to answer is inconsistent and she is only able to learn one method.
Is there a way to force the screen to show the same thing every time there is an incoming call?
ie
I rang her phone and it came up with the picture of a pulsating phone. She learned not to tap it but to hold finger on it; producing images of a red phone to the left and a green one to the right. Then slide towards the green.
I then rang her again from the same number having changed nothing and and this time it showed a rectangle at the top of the screen with some information and the words reject and answer. She needed to tap (not hold) on answer. But having learned to hold and not tap she held he finger on answer; only to get a pop up menu appear which did not include an obvious method to answer the call. So from bad to worse.
The other scenario is phone rings. Picking it up results in accidental touching of something resulting in the phone continuing to ring but a completely different app being displayed. Even I in a hurry to answer am unable to easily get the phone app to display itself again.  
For someone with no instinctive learning of techniques and a now learned expectation of lost calls matters become worse and worse due to a tension (kind of stage fright thingy) that now occurs when her phone rings.
Even when the caller calls back and she is pre prepared to do the correct thing the dam screen is different so she does it wrong again.
Practice is not the answer; she is just not able to master it. I need to make the phone consistent.
Any help will be much appreciated.

Exemplar

From what you have stated it sounds like in one instance the phone screen was off and in the second instance on? That 'tends' to be typical Android behaviour. 

[Deleted User]

Make and model of phone would be really useful as Android phones have slightly different screen layouts for answering a call. From what you have said:

Pulsating phone image: This is when the phone is locked and most Androids will also have a green / red button at the bottom of the screens that need to be tapped or swiped.

Rectangle at the top: Phone is unlocked, just tap the green answer button. If it has disappeared due to pressing elsewhere / opening another app, swiping down from the top should show it again.

As I said, exact phone make and model and more help can be given, there are options to change things slightly if needed - on some you can activate voice command answering if that would be more accessible?

murphydavid

Deleted_User said:

Make and model of phone would be really useful as Android phones have slightly different screen layouts for answering a call. From what you have said:

Pulsating phone image: This is when the phone is locked and most Androids will also have a green / red button at the bottom of the screens that need to be tapped or swiped.

Rectangle at the top: Phone is unlocked, just tap the green answer button. If it has disappeared due to pressing elsewhere / opening another app, swiping down from the top should show it again.

As I said, exact phone make and model and more help can be given, there are options to change things slightly if needed - on some you can activate voice command answering if that would be more accessible?

Thanks
Its a 
Blackview Rugged Mobile BV4000 Pro
The two screens I mentioned both appeared with the phone unlocked (ie password already entered before it rings). The first may have been when it was displaying a blank/black screen and the other not; but not locked.
With the pulsating phone image there are no green or red buttons at the bottom of the screen. I wish there were. It would probably be helpful if there were because a lot of the problem seems to be deciding whether to tap or hold finger on screen. As tapping the pulsating image cuts off the call and holding on the word ANSWER causes it to be overwritten with a pop up menu so do it wrong and there is no second chance and call not answered.
I was kind of hoping there would be a setting to make the two be the same or at least have both be a tap or both a hold rather than one of each.
I am at a loss to see any advantage in having it the way it is.
Yes I know what it does (maybe not why it does it) and how to Answer it; but getting my wife to remember if she should tap or hold when she is on her own and the phone is ringing is the problem. 

MattMattMattUK

murphydavid said:

Deleted_User said:

Make and model of phone would be really useful as Android phones have slightly different screen layouts for answering a call. From what you have said:

Pulsating phone image: This is when the phone is locked and most Androids will also have a green / red button at the bottom of the screens that need to be tapped or swiped.

Rectangle at the top: Phone is unlocked, just tap the green answer button. If it has disappeared due to pressing elsewhere / opening another app, swiping down from the top should show it again.

As I said, exact phone make and model and more help can be given, there are options to change things slightly if needed - on some you can activate voice command answering if that would be more accessible?

Thanks
Its a 
Blackview Rugged Mobile BV4000 Pro
The two screens I mentioned both appeared with the phone unlocked (ie password already entered before it rings). The first may have been when it was displaying a blank/black screen and the other not; but not locked.
With the pulsating phone image there are no green or red buttons at the bottom of the screen. I wish there were. It would probably be helpful if there were because a lot of the problem seems to be deciding whether to tap or hold finger on screen. As tapping the pulsating image cuts off the call and holding on the word ANSWER causes it to be overwritten with a pop up menu so do it wrong and there is no second chance and call not answered.
I was kind of hoping there would be a setting to make the two be the same or at least have both be a tap or both a hold rather than one of each.
I am at a loss to see any advantage in having it the way it is.
Yes I know what it does (maybe not why it does it) and how to Answer it; but getting my wife to remember if she should tap or hold when she is on her own and the phone is ringing is the problem. 

The first is the standard when the screen is locked, or no apps are in use, the second is if you are using an app, so that the incoming call does not block the app usage.

If you go into Phone, then click on the three dots on the right then Settings, then the seventh option down (might depend on your specific version of Android) will be an option Call display while using apps. Click on that and you will have three options Full Screen, Pop-Up or Mini pop-up, if you want the same behaviour every time choose Full Screen.

Note that the menu layout might differ somewhat if you use a non-standard dialler. 

In relation to the reason for the difference in behaviour, the slide to accept/decline is designed to stop accidental answering or rejection when the phone is in a pocket, being carried but not used etc. and so more active actions/movements need to be taken, the second option the device is already in use so it can rely on more precision, whilst also not blocking the screen when another app is in use. 

EssexExile

You'll just get it sorted then the phone will update and change the procedure for answering a call.

Stompa

Is there anything under 'Settings>Accessibility' that might enable you to make the two methods of answering more consistent?

For example: https://milagromobilemarketing.com/blog/disable-swipe-to-answer-android/

RumRat

If you go into your accessibility settings, Under, something like Interaction and dexterity, you should find -'Answering and ending calls' - have a look in there and it should give you an option to use the volume key to answer and the power key to end.....Your phone may have it hidden somewhere else, but, that's how you do it on a Samsung.

murphydavid

Thank you for the suggestions.
It would seem that the version of Android she has does not have a full screen option or even a call display while using apps option. There are only 4 phone setting options none of which was any use for what was needed.
However having gone through the list of general settings for the umpteenth time I think I have found a solution.
As follows
settings - gesture motion - Telephony Motion - Answer by swing.
I have tried it and I can now answer an incoming call by shaking the phone no matter what is being displayed.
Seems a thing my wife would naturally do (in frustration) shake the damn thing. Just joking.
I will see how she gets on with it.
Thanks again.