In case you keep you Windows Phone password protected or otherwise, this may help to know what you can still do, when your phone is locked?
1) Emergency calls:
From the lock screen, just swipe up until you see the keypad, tap Emergency call, and then dial the emergency phone number for your locale.
2) Ringer Control:
If you don’t want your phone to ring (in case you’re in a movie theater or a meeting), wake up your phone by pressing the Power button. Then press up or down on the Volume buttons, which brings up the volume bar.
- Press and hold the Volume Down
button (until the numbers in the upper-left corner reach 00 or your phone switches to Vibrate 
) to turn off the ringer. - On Windows Phone 8.1, tap the arrow
to expand the volume bar, then tap 
, 
, or under Ringer + Notifications and 
or 
under Media + Apps to mute or unmute your phone. - On Windows Phone 8, tap Ring
(or Ring + Vibrate ) to set your phone to Silent 
(or Vibrate 
) mode.
3) Silencing a Call:
Press the Power 
button to silence an incoming call and turn off the screen.
4) Action center:
On Windows Phone 8.1, you can access certain settings and notifications by swiping down from the top of your phone’s screen to view action center. From action center, you can turn Wi-Fi on and off, as well as Bluetooth, Airplane mode, and more.
To show notifications in action center when your phone is locked, go to Settings —-> Notifications + actions, and then select the Show notifications in action center when my phone is locked check box.
5) Cortana and Speech:
You can decide whether to allow Cortana or Speech above the lock screen. Make your choice using the Allow speech above lock check box in Settings——> Speech—–>Uncheck, use speech when phone is locked. If you allow Cortana over Lock Screen, here’s what all she can do:
- If you’re on Windows Phone 8.1 and you have Cortana turned on, press and hold the Search
button and Cortana will begin listening. From there, you can make calls, send texts, set alarms and reminders, take notes, add and update calendar appointments, search the web, find out more about a place, and ask about your upcoming schedule or the weather. . - If you’re on Windows Phone 8.1 but Cortana is turned off or not available in your locale, you can press and hold the Search button to bring up Speech. With Speech, you can still call or text a contact when your phone is locked.
- If you’re on Windows Phone 8, you can use Speech by pressing and holding the Start
button. It has the same functionality as Speech on Windows Phone 8.1, plus the ability to take a note with OneNote Mobile.
6) Camera:
> Settings and make sure the Press and hold camera button to wake up the phone check box is selected.7) Music and podcasts:
You can press the Power button and you can rewind, fast forward, pause, or play whatever you’re listening to right from the lock screen.
8) Phone calls:
If a phone call comes in, you can see the incoming number and decide if you want to answer it. (If it’s someone you know and they’re in your contact list, you’ll also see their name and picture.)
- If you want to answer the call, swipe up and tap Answer.
- If you don’t want to answer the call right now, swipe up and tap Ignore to send the call to voicemail.
9) Date, time, and appointments
You can always check the date and time on the lock screen. You can also see your next appointment at a glance when you’re using your calendar as your detailed status notification—to change it, just go to Settings —> Lock screen, and then, under Choose an app to show detailed status, choose Calendar.
10) While you were busy:
If you haven’t taken a call or checked your phone for a while, take a look at the quick status notifications at the bottom of your lock screen to see what’s been happening. These can show you how many new text messages, missed calls, emails, voicemails, and more have arrived since the last time you checked. In addition, you can view a detailed status notification with a summary of a calendar event, email, text message, missed call, or other app notification.
Most of these Windows Phone 8.1 How to’s are covered by us already. Check our Guide to niravana or we have everything about Lumia Cyan and Windows Phone 8.1 which includes:- Full Changelog, Hands-on demo videos and all above Tips & Tutorial articles on our dedicated Lumia Cyan and Windows Phone 8.1 page.
