How to use iOS 8 and iPhone 6 continuity (and turn it off)

With iOS 8, one of Apple’s goals was to tightly integrate all of its products, so that they can use and share features between them. As a whole, this set of features is called Continuity, although the feature that most people will recognise from this is for making and receiving phone calls from any device.

In the future, the feature will also work with OS X Yosemite (currently in beta). The plan is to extend support to SMS messages as well, so you’ll be able to send and receive regular text messages from your iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite devices. This latter feature will have to wait until iOS 8.2, however. In the meantime, we’ll explain how to use Continuity for phone calls in this article.

1. SIGN ALL OF YOUR DEVICES INTO iCLOUD

The first and most important requirement for Continuity is that you’re signed into the same iCloud account for all of your devices. You can check by going to Settings -> General -> iCloud. If you’re not signed in, tap the Sign In button and enter your account details. If you’re signed in to the wrong account tap Sign Out and then sign in with the correct details.

2. JOIN THE SAME WI-FI NETWORK

Next, all of your devices must be connected to the same Wi-Fi network to work. This is so that Continuity phone calls only work with devices that are within reach of each other. After all, having your iPad ring at home when you’re at work isn’t particularly useful.

3. RECEIVING CALLS WORKS AUTOMATICALLY

The great thing about Continuity is that it’s completely seamless and works immediately. So, when someone calls your phone, your iPad (or other iOS) device will wring automatically. You can pick up a call from any device by tapping the Accept button. When answering, your iOS device will switch to the most appropriate mode for the call: your iPad, for example, will answer in hands-free mode. Calls like this are sent from your phone to your other device over your home network, so there’s a small delay.

If you want to switch to your phone, just pick up your iPhone and tap the green ‘Touch to return call’ bar at the top of the screen. You’ll now be able to use your phone as normal.

4. MANAGING DO NOT DISTURB

Do Not Disturb is a great feature that lets you leave your phone on, muting calls and texts. All devices obey the Do Not Disturb rules that you set on your iPhone, so if you get a call in the middle of the night, your iPad won’t ring if your phone’s set to silent. Any callers that you manually set to allow through Do Not Disturb override the rules. Similarly, if you leave the default ‘Only while the iPhone is locked’ option, your iPad will ring if your phone’s unlocked.

5. MAKING A PHONE CALL

If you want to make a regular phone call from another device, just open the FaceTime app. Next, you can use the Video or Audio option; it doesn’t matter which. Enter the telephone number you want to call (you can also search contacts on your device), and tap the phone icon, then select your iPhone from the dialog box. Your phone call will be routed through your iPhone. If you want to move to your phone, you can tap the Green bar at the top of the screen to take over the phone call.

6. HOW TO TURN CONTINUITY PHONE CALLS OFF

If you don’t want to use this option on one of your devices, go to Settings -> FaceTime and turn iPhone Mobile Calls off. Continuity phone calls will be disabled on this device until you re-enable it. Note that all of your other devices will continue to work as normal.

7. TURN ON TEXT MESSAGES

All of your Apple devices running iOS 8 or OS X Yosemite can send and receive messages via your iPhone. Unlike with phone calls, your devices don’t have to be on the same network, as your iPhone will upload incoming SMS messages to the cloud, so that all your devices can receive them. When you send an SMS, it’s uploaded to the cloud, where your iPhone picks it up and transmits it via its mobile network.

Just start the Messages app on any of your Apple devices and you’ll get a pop-up message asking if you want to enable sending and receiving text messages on this device. Select Turn On. You’ll get a new window with a code in it, which you must enter on your iPhone, tapping Allow to give the new device access to your SMS messages. If you don’t get the pop-up message, follow Step 7 below to force the prompt. You can now send and receive all standard text messages on that Apple device; repeat for all the devices that you want to have access.

8. DISABLE MESSAGES ON A DEVICE

To stop a device from being able to send and receive messages, go to your iPhone and select Settings -> Messages -> Text Message Forwarding. Use the slider switches to choose which devices you want to enable messages on. To re-enable a device, just turn the slider back on. This will pop-up a message containing a code on the device; enter that code on your iPhone to turn on messaging again.