3 Reasons Your iPhone Go Straight To Voicemail – 13 Fixes

What if you expected an important call from a potential client or an old-school friend, but your iPhone didn’t ring? The other person rang you, but your iPhone went straight to voicemail. Isn’t it frustrating when your iPhone goes straight to voicemail when you want it to ring? It indeed is, and here are some solid fixes to sort this issue out. 

iphone go straight to voicemail

First of all, you should know what exactly voicemail is?

In layman’s terms, voicemails are recorded audio mails. If the recipient of your call can’t answer the call anyhow, you can always leave your message in a voicemail. And they’ll get that message whenever they check their received voicemails. It’s important with this; you won’t forget to convey an important message. 

That’s it about the meaning. Let’s now jump into the main issue here, i.e., why does an iPhone go straight to voicemail

3 Reasons Why Does Your iPhone Go Straight To Voicemail

If you’re fed up with your iPhone going straight to voicemail instead of simply ringing, look for your iPhone’s following three reasons/settings. 

1. No Signal

No Signal is the common reason why your iPhone goes straight to voicemail. If you’re currently in a no-network zone, i.e., where there are no signals, your device won’t ring or receive messages. One reason behind this can be there are no cell towers nearby. To avoid this situation, all you need to do is enter a service zone where the service tower is accessible. 

Or sometimes, when the SIM is not inserted properly in your iPhone, you also won’t receive calls. Remove the SIM and reinsert it to clear the issue.

2. The Airplane (Or Flight) Mode Is ON

Airplane Mode

If you’re in a signal-rich zone but still unable to hear your phone ring, check if the airplane mode is ON or OFF. Above all its other functions,  the airplane mode suspends your cellular network. In other words, it becomes just like you never inserted any SIM in your iPhone. 

Due to this, your phone calls will directly go to voicemail due to the unavailability of signals. To turn OFF the airplane mode if it’s ON follow the given steps. 

  • Open the Settings on your iPhone.
  • Select the Airplane Mode option.
  • If it’s ON, toggle it OFF. 

If you don’t turn it OFF, your phone won’t be connected to the cellular network. 

Note: You can also turn the airplane off by tapping on the Airplane Mode button from the Control Center of your iPhone.

3. Do Not Disturb (DND) Is Enabled

If your iPhone isn’t in airplane mode, then the Do Not Disturb mode might be why your iPhone goes straight to voicemails. Do Not Disturb, popularly known as the DND mode, disables notifications, noises, vibrations, and every other thing that might disturb you.

In other words, when enabled, you won’t receive calls, messages, or any notifications whatsoever when your iPhone is LOCKED. It’ll send all the calls you receive on your iPhone directly to voicemail. To disable the DND mode in your iPhone, follow the below steps. 

  • Open Control Center in your iPhone by swiping up from the screen’s bottom (or top-right corner), depending on your iPhone model. 
Open Control Center
iPhone
  • There’ll be a lot of options; search for the crescent moon icon. If the moon in the icon is filled, the mode is ON.
  • Tap on the icon to turn it off.

So, these were the potential reasons why the iPhone goes straight to voicemail. Now that we have discussed all the possible reasons, the next step is to know what can be done to prevent the iPhone from going straight to voicemail.

13 Best Fixes To Prevent Your iPhone From Going Straight To Voicemail

Here are the 13 great fixes you can try if your iPhone goes straight to voicemails

  1. Restart Your iPhone
  2. Turn OFF Do Not Disturb Mode
  3. Turn Off Airplane Mode
  4. Update Your iOS Software
  5. Check Your iPhone’s Volume
  6. Check With Your Service Provider
  7. Turn Off Call Forwarding
  8. Turn Off The “Silence Unknown Callers” option
  9. Check If There is Any Carrier Settings Update
  10. Customize Call Settings For Focus
  11. Check The Announce Calls Settings
  12. Confirm That You Haven’t Turned On The Silent Mode
  13. Contact Apple For Tech Support

Let’s discuss these solutions below and solve the iPhone calls going to voicemail problem. 

1. Restart Your iPhone 

This is a hack for all the problems, whether an iPhone or any other device. Restarting the phone is the best and safest option as it won’t create any further problems. And in most cases, it’ll solve your problem easily. Follow the steps mentioned below to restart your iPhone:

For iPhone X, 11, 12, or 13:

  • Press and hold the side button and volume down button/up button for a couple of seconds or until you see the power-off slider on the screen.  
Restarting
  • Drag the slider to the right side of the screen.
  • Wait for a few seconds until the device shuts OFF.
  • Next, press the power button and hold until the Apple logo appears on the screen for a few seconds.
  • Your device should restart normally after this. 

For iPhone SE (2nd or 3rd generation), 8, 7, or 6:

  • Press the side button and hold it for a few seconds. 
side button
  • Hold it till you see the power off slider on the screen. 
  • Drag the slider to the right side of the screen. Your device will turn off within 30 seconds. 
  • Next, press the side button and hold it for seconds until the Apple logo appears on the screen.
  • Your device would restart normally after this. 

For iPhone SE (1st generation), five or earlier:

  • Press the top button (on the top-right corner) and hold it for seconds. 
1st generation
  • Hold it till you see the power off slider on the screen. 
  • Drag the slider to the right side of the screen. Your device will turn off within 30 seconds.
  • Next, press the top button and hold it for seconds until the Apple logo appears on the screen.
  • Your device would restart normally after this. 

2. Turn OFF Do Not Disturb Mode

As explained in why your iPhone goes straight to voicemail, you must turn it off to receive calls if you have enabled the DND mode. Follow these steps to disable the Do Not Disturb mode on your iPhone.  

  • Open the Control Center on your iPhone. The swipe action would depend on the exact model you own. 
  • You’ll see a lot of options. Look for the crescent Moon icon. 
  • If the icon is white, this means the mode is ON.
  • Tap on the icon to turn that OFF. It’d be gray now. 

Another way of turning the DND mode OFF is through the iPhone settings. 

  • Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
  • Tap on the Focus option.
  • Here, you can check if DND mode is ON or OFF.
Do Not Disturb Mode

3. Turn Off Airplane Mode

Again, airplane mode can make your cellular networks disappear. It’ll further make the calls go directly to the voicemails. Follow the steps mentioned below to disable airplane mode. 

  • Open the Settings on your iPhone.
  • Select the Airplane Mode option.
  • Turn the mode OFF by tapping on it if it’s ON. 

Or you can do it with the help of the Control Center. 

  • Open the Control Center.
  • Look for the Airplane icon. 
  • If the icon is white, tap on it. Wait for a few seconds.
  • It’d become colorless now to indicate that the mode is OFF.

4. Update Your iOS Software 

If your phone is not updated with the latest version of iOS, this problem can also haunt you. Thus, you need to check if the latest update is available on your iPhone. For this, you need to follow the steps mentioned below. 

IOS software update
  • Select the General option.
  • Tap on the Software Update version.
  • If any iOS update is available, tap on Install to install it.
General option

And after this, your iPhone should work properly. We recommend turning on Automatic Updates on the same page. This will automatically install the available updates on your device.  

5. Check Your iPhone’s Volume 

If you have lowered your iPhone’s volume, you won’t receive the notification of any incoming calls. Thus, it’ll go straight to voicemails. To make sure this doesn’t happen, follow the steps mentioned below. 

  • Go to the Settings on the iPhone.
  • Tap on the Sound and Haptics option.
  • Here, adjust the sound of your notifications with the help of the slider under the Rings and Alerts option.
  • You can get an idea of the sound as the phone will play the volume level as you move the slider. 

Tip: You can check whether your iPhone is silent or not.

6. Check With Your Service Provider

Sometimes, the problem is with the service provider that you don’t receive any calls and instead get voicemails. This can be an irritating issue as no matter what you do with the phone; it won’t resolve until the problem with the service provider gets over. 

To ascertain, you can check with your friend having the same service provider if they are getting this same issue or not. 

Or you can get in touch with your service provider to know more about this. If there’s, they will tell you when it’ll get resolved. By this, you won’t be worried about your device being broken or something. If that’s not the case, proceed to the next solution. 

7. Turn Off Call Forwarding

Call forwarding is a built-in smartphone feature that will allow you to forward your call to another number on the same or different device. This way, you can avoid getting calls from people you don’t want or if your number has network-related issues. And this can be another reason why your iPhone is going straight to voicemail

To turn off call forwarding, follow the steps mentioned below. 

  • Go to the Settings of the phone.
  • Tap on the Phone option on the screen.
  • Select the Call Forwarding option.
  • You can see whether this feature is turned ON or OFF.
  • Turn it OFF if it was ON.

Just keep in mind this option won’t be on the device that does not support Call Forwarding.

8. Turn Off The “Silence Unknown Callers” option

The Silence Unknown Callers feature, when enabled, silences the calls from the number not present in your contact list and sends them straight to voicemail instead. It’s helpful when you don’t wish to pick up the calls from unknown callers. You can always check the number later on under the Recent tab of the Phone app on iPhone.

To turn off the Silence Unknown Callers option, follow the below steps. 

  • Go to the Settings of the iPhone.
turn off the Silence Unknown Callers
  • Tap on the Phone option on the screen.
settings
  • Check if the option is ON or OFF. If ON, turn this OFF by tapping on its toggle.
Silence Unknown Callers

If that’s not the case, you can again turn it off through the above steps. 

9. Check If There is Any Carrier Settings Update

The carrier settings allow you to connect to your carrier’s network. With this option, only you can call or contact people. If your iPhone’s carrier settings are not updated, it may cause a problem in receiving the call normally. And your calls will go directly to the voicemails. 

To check the updates of carrier settings, follow the steps mentioned. 

  • Open the Settings on your iPhone.
  • Select the General option.
  • Tap on About.
  • If there is any update available, a prompt will appear on the screen. If not, there is no update available.

10. Customize Call Settings For Focus

New models of the iPhone provide a feature called Focus. With this, your calls won’t go to voicemails. For this, you need to follow the steps mentioned below. 

  • Open the Setting app on your phone.
  • Tap on Focus on the screen.
  • Tap on the Phone Calls option.

Under the Phone Calls option, you get multiple sub-settings. For example, allow calls from Everyone, No One, or Favorite contacts. You can select any of these three options. 

11. Check The Announce Calls Settings

People have observed that by enabling the Announce Calls Settings, the issue of why your iPhone go straight to voicemails can be solved. And they started receiving calls normally without them going straight to the voicemails. You need to enable this first and then, later on, disable the settings and check if the phone is working normally or not. 

Follow the steps below to enable the setting. 

  • Open the Settings on your phone.
  • Tap on the Phone Option.
  • Tap on Announce Calls and select the Always option.
  • After you notice the problem is fixed, you can turn OFF the option again.   

12. Confirm That You Haven’t Turned On The Silent Mode 

This is also a common mistake you might make and won’t receive the call. If your phone is on silent mode, you won’t receive the notification. As a result, your calls will go straight to voicemail. 

You can turn off the silent mode by following the below steps. 

  • Open the Control Center.
  • Check for the Sound icon. Make sure it’s not set to Silent. 
  • You can adjust the volume of the ring as well.

13. Contact Apple For Tech Support 

After tweaking the settings mentioned earlier on your iPhone, you need to contact Apple for tech support if the issue still exists. There might be something deeply wrong with the software, and you need to take the device to the store.

Conclusion

So, here you go. It’s not difficult to tackle the issue of your iPhone going straight to voicemail. There are several reasons why this happens and quick fixes as well. While sometimes, the absence of networks is the main fault, if you have enabled the DND and Airplane mode on your handset, the issue can arise again.  

Hence, you’d immediately turn off these modes to start getting calls back. Besides, this article further explores the other quick fixes if your iPhone goes straight to voicemails despite having the DND and Airplane modes off. 

Let’s know your comments below and if you’ve had any other solutions for this problem, feel free to share them with us. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Why does my iPhone go straight to voicemail without ringing?

There are mainly three reasons why your iPhone goes straight to voicemails without ringing. There is no service on your iPhone, Airplane Mode is ON, or if the Do Not Disturb mode is enabled. You can look up the article for the solution to these issues. 

How do I turn off call forwarding on my iPhone?

Follow the steps below to turn off call forwarding on your iPhone. 
– Open the Settings on your iPhone.
– Tap on the Phone option.
– Select the Call Forwarding option.
– Turn OFF the Call Forwarding option on the screen.

How did Do Not Disturb Get turned on in the first place? 

If the Automatic DND option is ON, then Do Not Disturb will get turned ON without your knowledge for the selected time. You can check it by following the steps mentioned below.
– Open the Settings on your phone.
– Tap on the Focus option.
– You can check whether this option is ON or OFF on the screen.

What is the Silence Unknown Callers feature?

The Silence Unknown Callers feature will help you avoid unknown calls. This feature ON will block the calls you receive from unknown numbers, the numbers you have never received before, or the ones not saved in your contact lists. This can be another reason why your iPhone goes straight to voicemails