Announce the caller's name
Android can say the name out loud when the phone rings. Helpful for anyone who cannot look at the screen in time or sees poorly.
Android Settings → Accessibility → Spoken assistance → Announce caller ID
For the person setting up the phone
The admin menu, row by row
You do not need to be technical. 20–30 unhurried minutes and the phone is set up and ready to hand over.
See the full setup from the start
How to open admin mode
Tap ten times in a row on the menu bar at the very top of the calling screen — the admin menu opens.
It is deliberately something you would not do by accident: ten taps in a row on the top bar. The person using the phone never ends up here unintentionally and never needs to see this view. When you are done you back out, and the phone returns to locked mode with the six faces.
- No code or login is needed — just the ten taps.
- Everything you change saves immediately — nothing to confirm or sync.
- You can come back any time, for example to change a number.
The screen you land on
Every row, in plain language
This is what the admin menu looks like on the phone. Here is what each row does and when you need it.
The admin menu on the phone is in English, so the row names below match exactly what you see on screen.
Android Settings
The phone's ordinary settings: wifi, volume, brightness. Go here to join the home network or if the ringtone is too quiet.
Open Contacts App
The phone's address book. Add names and numbers here first — then you choose which six people appear on the calling screen.
Open SMS App
Read and send texts. Rarely used by the person with the phone, but handy for you during setup, for instance to check that the SIM works.
Calls History
Who called and when. Useful if someone wonders why a call did not get through, or simply to see that the phone is being used.
Show Emergency Button
The red button at the bottom of the calling screen. On means it is visible. Turn it off if you would rather have all six tiles as ordinary contacts.
Enable Phone Speaker
Turns on speakerphone automatically when a call connects. Recommended for anyone who struggles to hold the phone to their ear or wears a hearing aid.
Call Confirm Dialog
An extra question — do you want to call? — before the call connects. Protects against mistaps. Turn it off if it feels like one step too many.
Disable screen off
Keeps the screen on at all times. Handy when the phone sits in its dock on the kitchen table and the faces should always be visible. Uses more battery when it is not charging.
Refresh Contacts
Reloads contacts from the address book. Tap this if you added a number and it does not show up when picking a person.
Emergency Contact
Who the red button calls. Pick the person who actually answers — not necessarily the closest relative. It dials the emergency services only if you set it to.
Contact 0–5
The six faces on the calling screen. Tap a row, pick a person from the address book and choose a photo. The order in the list is the order in the grid — put the most-called person first.
Worth turning on
Four settings that make a real difference
None of these are required for the phone to work — but most people want them on.
Speaker on straight away
The call starts on speaker, so the phone does not have to be held to the ear. Good with a hearing aid or a weak grip.
Admin menu → Enable Phone Speaker
Screen never goes dark
The faces stay visible in the dock, so nobody has to work out how to wake the phone.
Admin menu → Disable screen off
Confirm before the call goes out
One extra tap before the call connects. Helps anyone who brushes the screen often.
Admin menu → Call Confirm Dialog
Remember: Open Contacts App only works after the phone has been restarted once following the install. If no contact list opens, the missing restart is almost always the reason.
Photos
Photos of the six people
It is the face, not the name, that tells someone who they are calling. So you need one clear portrait of each of the six people. The photo is picked from the phone's gallery when you build the grid in the admin menu — which means it has to reach the phone first. Here are three ways that work, even if the person lives far away.
Take the photo with the phone itself
Is the person there, or nearby while you set the phone up? Take the picture with the phone's own camera. Straight on, a bright room, the face filling the frame. Simplest of all, and almost always the best result.
Photograph a picture shown on another screen
Does the person live far away? Ask them to send you the photo, show it large on a computer screen or on your own phone, and take a picture of that screen with the phone you are setting up. Hold it straight on, avoid glare from windows and lamps, and crop tightly around the face afterwards. The result is surprisingly good.
Send the photo to the phone, or copy it over USB
With the SIM card in place you can send the photo as a picture message to the phone's number and save it to the gallery. With no SIM yet, connect the phone to a computer with a USB cable and drop the photos into the phone's pictures folder.
The phone your relative will use does not browse the web or sign in to Facebook, Instagram or cloud services. The photos therefore always come from the phone's own camera, a picture message or a USB transfer.
What makes a good photo
- The face should fill most of the frame — crop the background away.
- Daylight or a bright room. Avoid backlight.
- One person per photo. Group shots make it hard to know who you are calling.
- No sunglasses or hats — the face should be recognised instantly.
- A photo that looks like the person today beats a flattering one from years ago.
- Add every photo before the phone is locked — after that you reach them through the admin menu only.
First run
The choices Android asks about — and what to answer
The first time the phone is used, a couple of system questions appear. They look technical but have simple answers.
- 1
Default calling app
Android asks which app should handle calls and offers CallByFace alongside the phone's own dialler. Choose CallByFace and then Always — not Just once. Choose wrong and the ordinary dialler opens now and then, showing the keypad we want to keep out of the way.
- 2
Calling account (handles)
The phone may have several accounts to call through: the SIM card, and sometimes internet calling or an app account. Choose the SIM card. That is what sends the call over the mobile network, shows the right number to the person receiving it, and keeps working when wifi is down. On a dual-SIM phone, pick the slot the card is in.
- 3
The permissions it asks for
Contacts — to show names and numbers. Phone — to make and answer calls. Camera and photos — to pick a picture for each face. Say yes to all three; without them the calling screen cannot do its job. None of it leaves the phone.
- 4
If you picked the wrong option
Go to the admin menu → Android Settings → Apps → Default apps → Phone app and choose CallByFace. The calling account is changed in the same place under Calling accounts. You do not have to redo the setup.
If something is not right
- The contact does not appear when I pick a person
- The number is not in the address book yet, or the list needs reloading. Add it via Open Contacts App, then tap Refresh Contacts.
- Calls open in the wrong app
- The default calling app is set to the phone's own dialler. Change it under Android Settings → Apps → Default apps → Phone app, and choose Always.
- The photo came out blurry or dark
- Retake it in daylight and crop tighter around the face. A photo taken straight on from a computer screen is almost always sharper than one of an old print.
- Calls do not connect
- Check that the SIM card is in place and activated, and that the right calling account is selected. Send a text from Open SMS App — if it arrives, the card works.
Cannot find the answer? Ask in the forum — we answer there, and the answer stays up for the next person.
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