A phone call is made from an initiator phone to a receiver phone (200). The receiver phone determines how many people are near the receiver phone, and generates a response based on how many people are near the receiver phone. This response can be, for example, a message that is sent to the initiator phone and can be displayed at the initiator phone, indicating either that no one is near the receiver phone or that multiple people are near the receiver phone. The number of people that are near the receiver phone is monitored, and when just one person near the receiver phone is detected, various different actions can be taken. A message can be sent for display at the initiator phone indicating that there is only one person near the receiver phone, or the receiver phone can prompt the user to call back the initiator phone.