You are cooking with both hands covered in flour, your phone is charging on the other side of the room, or you are behind the wheel — and it starts ringing. If you cannot reach it in time, the call goes to voicemail. What most iPhone owners never discover is that iOS can answer calls for you, automatically, after a short delay that you choose yourself.
The feature is called Auto-Answer Calls, and it is still there in iOS 13. What changed is where Apple keeps it: Accessibility became a top-level Settings section instead of sitting under General. Old tutorials pointing to Settings → General → Accessibility are outdated — here is the correct path.
Why old guides send you to the wrong place
Up to iOS 12, the setting lived at Settings → General → Accessibility → Call Audio Routing → Auto-Answer Calls. iOS 13 promoted Accessibility to its own entry on the main Settings screen. The feature works exactly as before — only the address changed, so you simply skip the General step now.
How to turn on auto-answer in iOS 13
- Open Settings → Accessibility. In iOS 13 it sits near the top of the main Settings list, between General and Wallpaper.
- Tap “Touch”. This section holds touch-related options such as AssistiveTouch.
- Tap “Call Audio Routing”. This screen also decides whether calls default to the earpiece, the speaker, or a Bluetooth device.
- Tap “Auto-Answer Calls” and switch it on. A second row appears below the toggle: the answer delay.
- Set the delay before answering. iOS offers 3, 5, 10 seconds and more. Three seconds is the sweet spot for most people: fast enough that the caller does not hang up, slow enough that you can still reject the call yourself if you want to.
- Pick the call audio destination while you are here. Choose between Automatic, Bluetooth Headset, and Speaker. Wearing AirPods all day? Pick Bluetooth Headset and auto-answered calls land straight in your ears — true hands-free calling. Apple documents these routing choices in the iPhone User Guide, so you can confirm the behavior on your iOS version.
From now on, every incoming call is answered automatically after your chosen delay — regular cellular calls, and most VoIP calls that route through the iPhone’s phone interface.
If it still doesn’t work
Answered calls with no sound usually mean a wrong audio destination: with Call Audio Routing set to Bluetooth Headset while no headset is connected, the audio goes nowhere — switch it back to Automatic or Speaker. Also check that Do Not Disturb is not silencing the ring entirely, and that a Focus mode used for managing calls is not suppressing calls before auto-answer ever sees them.
9to5Mac has covered how handy this trick is for drivers and accessibility users alike — it is one of iOS’s best-kept secrets.
Frequently asked questions
Can I auto-answer calls only from certain contacts?
No — Auto-Answer Calls is all-or-nothing; it answers every incoming call after the delay. If you want only chosen people to ring through, combine it with Focus: our guide to allowing calls only from a specific SIM card in Focus mode covers call management that pairs well with auto-answer.
Will auto-answer work with my car’s Bluetooth?
Yes, as long as the car kit is connected when the call comes in. Set Call Audio Routing to Bluetooth Headset and the call is both answered and routed to the car. Like other set-and-forget iOS options — for example the iPhone startup sound toggle — you configure it once and it just works.
Conclusion
Auto-answer turns missed calls into answered ones, whether your hands are busy or reaching the phone in time is hard. iOS 13 moved the setting to Settings → Accessibility → Touch → Call Audio Routing, but the feature itself is unchanged. To switch it off later, return to the same screen and flip the toggle — your Call Audio Routing choice stays as you left it.
