Swiping up on the handset icon next to “slide to answer” when receiving a call gives you messaging response options.

In iOS 6, Apple introduced a helpful set of options to respond to an incoming call when your phone is locked. This comes in handy when you are in a meeting or can’t take a call for some other reason. Here is how to activate this feature:

1. Whenever you have an incoming call, you will see the little shape of a phone handset next to the “slide to answer” box. Simply swipe up on this phone handset icon to reveal response options.

2. After you swipe up on the handset icon, you have two options – “Reply with Message” or “Remind Me Later”. Tapping on “Reply with Message” gives 4 options. There are 3 preset responses and then a button that allows you to type in a custom response on the spot. Tapping any of the top 3 automatically sends the call to voicemail and texts the caller the message you selected.

3. The other option is “Remind Me Later”. Selecting this option gives you a couple choices depending on where you are: “Remind in 1 Hour” or “Remind me when I leave” or “Remind me when I get home”. As long as you have locations set up in your contacts list (See a how to on setting up locations in this post: Create Location Based Reminders), tapping the “Remind me when I get home” option will automatically set a reminder for when you arrive at your house.

If you don’t like the preset text message responses to incoming calls, you can customize the preset ones. Go to “Settings” and tap on “Phone”. In the Phone settings you will see a button that says “Reply with Message”. Tap on that to reveal the 3 preset messages. Tap in any of those fields to customize the message to whatever you want. The next time you receive a call, you will see your customized message(s) as a preset option.

Customize text messages to respond to incoming calls by going to “Settings” “Phone” and then “Reply with Message”