Apple reverses course, moves iPhone 'end call' button back to middle in latest beta – CNBC

Apple has moved the end call button back to the middle of the screen in the the newest developer version of iOS 17 released on Tuesday.

The move reverses a change that Apple had been considering over the summer, as CNBC reported last week.

Previous beta versions of iOS 17 had moved the red “End Call” button to the lower right-hand corner, as opposed to centered in the bottom half of the screen, where it had been for years. However, in the most recent developer beta, the red end call button is centered vertically, in the middle of three buttons close to the bottom of the screen.

Apple’s possible user interface change isn’t final yet and is only showing up in Apple’s most recent developer’s beta for now. Apple’s developer and public beta release programs are intended for software makers and early adopters to test out the new iPhone operating system and find bugs before they’re officially released in the fall alongside new iPhones.

Apple’s end call button has been in roughly the same place for years. But in the newest version, it’s revamping its call ID function, with a new feature called “contact posters,” which allow users to pick the photo that shows up when they call another iPhone user. The new photos take up most of the screen during a phone call, so Apple moved the buttons to the bottom.

In the summer of 2021, Apple considered a similar change to Safari that moved the URL bar to the bottom of the page, which is more ergonomic for most people using larger screens. But Apple rolled back some of its planned changes and gave users the option to move the URL bar back to the top of the page before the official software was released. Apple has also moved where push notifications appear to the bottom of the iPhone’s screen in recent years.