iPhone Goes Straight to Voicemail And Easy Ways To Fix It
Calls on your iPhone are being diverted to voicemail and don’t know why? Here’s how to stop missing calls and find out why your iPhone is going straight to voicemail.
The iPhone is a line of smartphones produced by Apple Inc. which uses Apple’s own iOS mobile operating system. It is the world’s second-most widely installed mobile operating system, after Android.
Voicemail is also called a digitally recorded message as it allows users to leave recorded messages in a digital voice mail mailbox when the person they are calling is unavailable to attend the call.
You can always access these messages, store and listen to them multiple times. Along with recording and playing sounds back, you can receive voicemail messages from many callers at the same time.
Visual voicemail allows you to check your voicemail without having to listen to everything. It allows you to choose from a number of options like re-listen, delete, and move, which would be impossible or difficult with normal voicemail.
Why is my iPhone Going Straight to Voicemail?
There are a number of reasons why your iPhone directs all calls to voicemail. The most common issue might be a problem with the network in your region, or if you’ve enabled the Do Not Disturb function or Airplane mode.
Any change in setting may disrupt calls from being received. However, there are easy fixes to stop calls from being diverted to voicemail.
Solutions to fix iPhone going straight To Voicemail.
1. Check service coverage.
If you are in an area with limited or no cell coverage, your calls may go straight to voicemail. Check the top-left corner of your phone screen to see if your cellular service is active.
If you are, then you should be able to see an icon with some step-shaped bars. If there aren’t any bars or just a couple of bars that means your calls are going straight to voicemail. In which case,
- You can fix the issue by moving to an area that has cellular service. If the problem persists, you can try restarting your iPhone.
- There might be a possibility that your cellular settings aren’t set up correctly. You can contact your service provider and set up your cellular settings.
2. Turn off the “Do Not Disturb” feature.
The Do Not Disturb feature was created by Apple starting from Apple’s iOS 6. This silent mode enables you to stop notifications, calls, and alerts from making any noise, vibrating, or lighting up your phone when it is locked. You will receive a silent notification as a missed call.
How to find out if “Do Not Disturb” is Activated On My iPhone?
You can easily find out if Do Not Disturb is turned on if you look near the battery indicator in the top-right corner of the iPhone screen. The icon looks like a crescent moon, and if it is visible Do Not Disturb is on.
Turning Off Do Not Disturb
- On your phone screen swipe your finger upward starting at the bottom of the screen. The Control Center menu will pop up, where you can just tap the crescent moon icon. This will activate or deactivate Do Not Disturb.
You can also go to the settings in your phone to turn the Do Not Disturb feature on and off as well.
- Open Settings on your phone
- Tap on Focus
- Click on Do Not Disturb
- Tap the toggle switch to turn “Do Not Disturb” off.
3. Disable Airplane mode
Airplane Mode is designed to disable cellular, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth to prevent signals from phones, laptops, or other mobile devices from interfering with the aircraft’s system during a flight.
When Airplane Mode is enabled, you will not be able to receive phone calls, and they will be directed straight to voicemail.
There are 2 ways to disable Airplane mode on your iPhone:
- You can either go to “Settings” and disable the Airplane mode by toggling the switch to OFF.
- Swipe your finger upward starting at the bottom of the screen to display the Control Center. Check if the icon that resembles an airplane is orange (if it is grey then it means Airplane Mode is off). Tap the orange airplane icon to turn off Airplane Mode.
4. Turn off Do Not Disturb While Driving feature.
Recent updates of iOS include a new feature that will put your phone in Do Not Disturb mode while you are driving. It has the ability to detect when you’re traveling in a vehicle, so it may prevent calls from coming through. You can disable this automatically using the following steps:
- Open Settings on your phone.
- Tap Focus.
- Tap Driving.
- Tap Manual.
- Swipe up on your screen to display the Control Center.
- Tap on Focus.
- Tap Driving to disable it.
or
- Go to Settings > Focus > Driving.
- Scroll down and tap on “While Driving“, then choose “Manually” from the list.
- Also, turn off the “Activate with CarPlay” option.
5. Turn off Announce Calls feature
When you Announce Calls, feature is enabled on your iPhone, Siri announces the incoming calls by calling out the contact’s name or phone number. Siri can also announce notifications from apps like Messages and reminders on your headphones and when using CarPlay. You can answer incoming call or reply using your voice without saying “Hey Siri”.
If your iPhone is not set to always announce calls, your incoming calls may go straight to voicemail.
Use the following steps to make sure your iPhone always announces your calls:
- Open Settings on your phone.
- Tap on Phone icon.
- Tap on Announce Calls.
- Tap Always.
6. Check for Carrier Settings update
Sometimes your phone might still have the old carrier setting, in which case your calls are diverted straight to voicemail. This issue arises may be related to the settings being outdated which doesn’t allow your device to connect effectively with a wireless network. To resolve this, you need to update your carrier settings to the latest version.
To do this, first check if your iPhone is connected to Wi-Fi, then
- Open Settings on your phone
- Tap on General
- Tap on About
Check if an update is available. If it is, then an alert will appear on your screen, and you can update your carrier settings.
How to troubleshoot if the issue persists
There are 2 ways how you can fix this issue if the problem persists:
1. Contact service provider for assistance
The most common reason why your phone might be going straight to voicemail is if your network is down or the signal is low. If the carrier you’re using has poor service in your area, you may consider switching carriers for a better service. However, before contacting the service provider for assistance you can try the steps mentioned above to see if it fixes the voicemail problem.
2. Reset network settings
Resetting Network Settings is different from a factory reset, it will only affect your network-related information. When you reset the network settings, your iPhone erases all your customized network options and brings it to its original settings. This fixes your phone’s network connections.
To reset your phone’s network settings,
- Open Settings
- Tap on General
- Tap Reset
- On the “Reset” screen, tap “Reset Network Settings.”
- Enter your iPhone’s passcode
- The settings will be reset, and your phone will restart. When your phone powers back on, you can connect it back to your Wi-Fi network.
The following changes take place when you reset network settings on your iPhone,
- Data + data roaming is off and removes data usage stats.
- Wi-Fi- network SSID’s are removed.
- Bluetooth display names are changed to default settings.
- VPN is turned off and login credentials are erased.
Check your settings for Silence Unknown Callers
In iOS 13, a new feature called Silence Unknown Callers directs all calls from people who are not in your Contact list to go straight to unknown caller on voicemail.
The call will show up in the Recents tab in the Phone app even though it goes straight to voicemail.
you can fix this by opening the Settings app > Phone and scrolling down to Silence Unknown Callers.
If this is switched on and the calls that are going straight to voicemail is from someone who is not in your contacts, you can add them to your contacts and solve this issue.
