Apple reverses decision to change ‘end call’ button’s placement in iOS 17

Apple’s iOS 17 update, announced at its annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in June, didn’t usher in many controversial changes. That is, apart from relocating the end-call button to the bottom right-hand side of the call screen gird.

However, the Cupertino company has now reversed that decision, shifting the end call button back to the center-bottom — similar to where it was in iOS 16. People probably didn’t like the change in the position of the end call button because they might be used to tap that part of the screen to end a call without looking.

Apple previously placed the end call button below the icon grid on the call screen on iOS 16. With the iOS 17 beta version, the company initially updated the call screen UI to accommodate the Contact Posters features. The changes placed the icon grid almost at the bottom of the screen, but moved the end-call button to the bottom right.

Placement of the end call button in iOS 16 Image Credits: Screenshot by TechCrunch

While that change had been around since the first set of iOS 17 betas was rolled out in June, the change started to garner more attention in the past week.

It’s likely that Apple received negative feedback about the end-call button’s new position, and the company has decided to move it to the bottom-center with the latest set of betas — developer beta version 6 and public beta version 4. With the icon grid shifting down, the button is back in a place that will be familiar to iOS 16 users.

The tech giant will likely reveal the new iPhone at an event next month, at which point it will make the iOS 17 update available to all eligible devices.