Why Does My iPhone Calls Go Straight To Voicemail? Here’s The Fix!

While many of us would rather text these days, the truth is that there are many occasions when we need to be aware of who’s calling us.

Whether you’re waiting to hear back from a potential employer, or simply want to talk to a friend, you’ll need your iPhone to ring when someone calls.

But what happens if your iPhone goes straight to voicemail whenever you get a call?

There are several reasons why your iPhone might not ring, and instead send the caller directly to voicemail. If this is happening to you, you might have to go through a few different troubleshooting options.

Below are some reasons why this might be happening, and some solutions to fix the issue.

How to make sure your iPhone won’t go straight to voicemail

Turn off Airplane mode

If Airplane mode is enabled, your calls are sent straight to voicemail. Airplane mode disables the wireless signals on your iPhone. You can easily check this by opening the Settings app. You can touch the Airplane mode slider to change your settings, on or off. Make sure that it’s toggled off.

Sometimes turning this option on and off could be enough to help your iPhone find service.

Check your coverage area

When your iPhone is too far away to connect to cell towers, all calls go straight to voicemail because your iPhone isn’t connected to the cellular network.

If your calls go straight to voicemail, you need to make sure that you’re in an area where your iPhone’s service provider has cell towers to provide you coverage.

Turn off Focus or Do Not Disturb mode

Most of the time, the reason an incoming calls go straight to voicemail is that the user has accidentally turned on Focus (iOS 15 and newer) or Do Not Disturb (iOS 14 and older) feature in Settings.

When your iPhone is in Focus or Do Not Disturb mode, any call you receive will go straight to voicemail, and you won’t be alerted when you receive notifications.

You might not have enabled Focus or Do Not Disturb mode on your iPhone intentionally, but if your device is going straight to voicemail, it’s worth making sure that you didn’t accidentally turn it on.

How Do I Know If A Focus Or Do Not Disturb Is Turned On?

The easiest way to tell if a Focus or Do Not Disturb is turned on is to open Control Center and look in the upper right-hand corner of your iPhone, just to the left of the battery icon. If a Focus is enabled, you’ll see the corresponding Focus icon there. If Do Not Disturb is enabled, you’ll see a small moon icon there.

How Do I Turn Off A Focus?

Open Control Center by swiping up from the very bottom of the screen (iPhones without Face ID) or down from the upper right-hand corner of the screen (iPhones with Face ID).
Tap on the Focus icon to turn it off.

How Do I Turn Off Do Not Disturb?

You can do this in two different ways.

To disable "Do Not Disturb" via the Control Center:

Open Control Center by swiping up from the very bottom of the screen (iPhones without Face ID) or down from the upper right-hand corner of the screen (iPhones with Face ID).
Look for the icon that looks like a crescent moon — this is the Do Not Disturb icon.
The icon should be grayed out, but if it’s illuminated white, this means that you have Do Not Disturb on.
Tap the icon so the white is replaced by gray, and you’ve turned Do Not Disturb off.

You can also check to see if "Do Not Disturb" is enabled through the Settings app.

Tap the Settings app icon on your iPhone’s home screen.
Scroll down to the "Do Not Disturb" option, and tap to open it.
Tap the switch at the top of the page so it turns gray.

On this page, you can also see how Do Not Disturb may have turned on in the first place. Make sure that you don’t have the mode scheduled, and that it isn’t set to turn on automatically when you’re driving.

Check your iPhone’s volume

While your iPhone’s volume being muted won’t keep calls from coming through, it does make it harder to hear calls when you receive them.

To make sure you hear all your calls:

Open the Settings app and tap on "Sounds & Haptics."
Adjust the slider beneath the "Ringtone and Alerts" header to your desired volume — as you slide your finger along, the phone will play a short sound showing how loud the ringer will be.

Turn Off “Silence Unknown Callers”

One reason why your calls are going to voicemail may be because of Silence Unknown Callers feature. If this feature is enabled, calls from people whom you have never been in contact with will be silenced and will be sent your voicemail. If you get calls from people in your contacts, recent calls, or mentioned in a text or email, these calls will not directly be sent to your voicemail, these calls will ring first. To change this setting, follow these steps:

Open your Settings app.
Tap Apps.
Tap Phone.
Turn off the switch next to Silence Unknown Callers.

Check Spam Blocking Apps

If you are using a third-party app to detect spam calls, check the app’s settings so that you are not blocking calls.

Blocked numbers

If only some numbers are sent to voicemail, make sure they are not blocked. You can block numbers. When a blocked contact calls you, they will directly be sent to your voicemail. You can manage your blocked numbers by following these steps:

Open your Settings app.
Tap Apps.
Tap Phone.
Tap Blocked Contacts. If you want, you can remove certain numbers from the list.

Turn Off Call Forwarding

Your iPhone includes a simple call forwarding feature that lets you redirect incoming calls to a different number if you don’t or can’t answer them. There’s also call forwarding unconditional, which will forward your calls without allowing your iPhone to ring or give you the opportunity to answer it. It’s possible your iPhone is going straight to voicemail because of Call Forwarding. Here’s how to turn the feature off:

Open your Settings app.
Tap Apps.
Tap Phone.
Tap Call Forwarding.
Turn off Call Forwarding by swiping the button to the left.

Note: You may not see this setting on your iPhone if your carrier does not support call forwarding.

Restart your iPhone

If you can’t find anything in your settings that would send a call straight to voicemail, your iPhone might simply need to be refreshed. You should try restarting it to work out the kinks. For iPhones without Face ID, press and hold the power button until **slide to power off **appears. For iPhones with Face ID, press and hold the side button and either volume button simultaneously until slide to power off appears.

No matter which iPhone you have, slide the red and white power icon from left to right to shut it down. After 30–60 seconds, press and the power button (iPhones without Face ID) or the side button (iPhones with Face ID) until the Apple logo appears on the screen. Your iPhone will turn on shortly after.

Make sure your iPhone is updated

Again, while running an outdated version of iOS doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll experience this problem, Apple advises that whenever you’re having trouble with your device, you should make sure you’re fully updated.

To check this that you’re updated:

Open your Settings app.
Tap the "General" tab.
Tap "Software Update."

If a new version of iOS is available, you’ll be prompted to download and install it here.

Check For A Carrier Settings Update

If your calls go straight to voicemail, you may need to update the carrier settings on your iPhone. Carrier settings updates can help improve the connection between your iPhone and wireless carrier’s network.

If your iPhone’s carrier settings are out of date, it may have trouble connecting to your carrier’s network, which could cause incoming phone calls to go straight to your voicemail. It’s a good idea to immediately update the carrier settings when an update becomes available.

You’ll typically receive a pop-up on your iPhone when a carrier settings update is available. Tap Update if you see that notification.

You can manually check for a carrier settings update by following these steps:

Connect your iPhone to a cellular data or Wi-Fi network.
Open your Settings app.
Tap the "General" tab.
Tap "About."

If a carrier setting update is available, a pop-up will appear here within fifteen seconds. If no pop-up appears, move onto the next step.

Check with your service provider

If none of the above methods work, it’s worth checking in with your cell service provider to see if they’re experiencing any system-wide issues.

If they are, that might explain why your calls are being sent straight to voicemail. If there aren’t any problems, it might be time to contact Apple for further support.