16 Fixes For Voicemail Not Working On iPhone

Voicemails are highly convenient when you are a busy person. It makes it easier for the sender to share information with you, even when you do not pick up the call, in your leisure time.

It can get very inconvenient when voicemails do not work for you. If you own an iPhone, you will know that their voicemail service is astounding. But quite recently we noticed that we were facing some issues with it, so we made an article with solutions to fix it.

Here’s everything you need to know about the iPhone voicemail not working issue and how to get rid of it.

Why Can’t I Get Voicemails On My iPhone?

Only two logical reasons can be responsible for the voicemail not working issue on your iPhone.

  1. There has to be some form of cellular connectivity issues for your SIM card. This is a fault from the service provider’s end.
  2. The iPhone has some bugs that prevent you from receiving or sending voicemails.

If these factors exist, you should be able to experience different symptoms related to the Voicemail system on your iPhone. Some of the problems you can face are –

  • Voicemail messages may not show up on your iPhone.
  • After the Voicemail/iOS update, you may be unable to set up voicemail.
  • No voicemail notifications or alerts will be received.
  • You may not be able to access your received voicemail.
  • There are multiple copies of the same voicemail.
  • The interface calls or dials a random voicemail, instead of allowing you to look at it.
  • You could receive an unknown voicemail message that you can’t hear or listen to.
  • You will be unable to record a voicemail message.
  • You may not be able to delete a received voicemail message.

If your iPhone displays any of the above signs, we have the working solutions for you.

Solutions To Fix The Visual Voicemail Not Working On iPhone Issue

These are the solutions we are going to be using, in this article, to fix the malfunctioning or problematic voicemail issue on your iPhone. These solutions are targeted to fix this issue on almost all models of the iPhone. If there are any specifications, you’ll find them mentioned along with the steps.

  1. Reboot Your iPhone
  2. Remove And Reinsert Your Sim Card
  3. Make Sure That Your iPhone Has Voicemail Set-Up
  4. Enable Visual Voicemail
  5. Call Your Voicemail
  6. Kill And Launch The Phone App
  7. Turn Cellular Data On And Off
  8. Turn Off Wi-Fi And Turn It Back On
  9. Disable And Re-Enable Airplane Mode
  10. Disable Call Forwarding
  11. Download iOS Updates
  12. Download Carrier Settings Updates
  13. Change The Date & Time Settings And Time Zone
  14. Refresh The Network
  15. Talk To The Service Provider
  16. Talk To Apple Support

Fixing The Consumer Cellular Voicemail Not Working On iPhone Issue

Reboot Your iPhone

Rebooting the iPhone is the best way to troubleshoot any aspect of the iPhone. This will delete temporary files and also, get rid of most bugs.

If your iPhone model is new (iPhone X, 11, 12, 13 and their variants), use the steps below

  1. Press and hold the side button and one of the volume buttons until the slider appears.
  2. Now, touch and drag the red slider to shut the iPhone down.
  3. Count to 30 and push the power button until you see the Apple icon on your screen.

Use these steps for older iPhones (iPhone 8 and earlier models).

Voicemail Not Working On IPhone
  1. Press the top button and hold it till the slider appears.
  2. Slide it and wait for the iPhone to shut down.
  3. Restart the iPhone by pressing the power button and holding it, till the screen lights up.

Remove And Reinsert Your Sim Card

Removing and re-inserting the SIM card is another simple method for making the voicemail work on your iPhone. This is a highly delicate procedure because the phone and SIM card are at risk of damage. Use these steps, carefully, to remove and reinsert the SIM card on your phone.

  1. The SIM card is placed on a tray that slides into the phone’s side. Use an Ejector pin to pop it out. If you don’t have an ejector pin, you can pop the tray out with a safety pin or a thumbtack pin.
  2. Remove the SIM carefully and place it back again.
  3. Now, push the tray back into the slot.
  4. Reboot the iPhone and check if the voicemail feature works without issue.

Note: The ejector pin is located on a card included in the phone case. This pin is a delicate metal rod that is easily lost. To remove the tray, only use other types of pins. Toothpicks should not be used since a shattered splinter can become caught in the port, making it impossible to reach the tray.

Make Sure That Your iPhone Has Voicemail Set-Up

The iPhone requires the voicemail feature to be set up before you can start sending or receiving voicemails. New iPhones do not have this feature activated, and those who wish to use this have to enable this. If you do not know if you have voicemail activated for use or not, here’s how you can verify it.

Go into the iPhone Settings > Phone. On this page, you should be able to see the Change Voicemail Password option. This option is available only when voicemail is enabled. If you haven’t got voicemail set up, the below procedure is all yours.

Enable Visual Voicemail

If you have a new iPhone and have to set the voicemail feature up, you will need these steps.

  1. Tap the Settings gear icon on your screen.
  2. Go to the Phone Settings and locate the Voicemail option.
  3. Tap on the Voicemail option and choose Set Up Now.
  4. Set a new password for the voicemail feature.
  5. On the next page, set a greeting. You can set a customized or a pre-recorded greeting.

Custom greetings in your voicemail are more fun and can help you connect with the caller at a personal level.

Call Your Voicemail

This is a very simple workaround. Try calling your voicemail to see if you can send one. Borrowing a friend’s iPhone works. You should be able to listen to yourself greet the caller, which is also you. If you don’t, proceed to the next method.

Kill And Launch The Phone App

Some bugs could tamper with the voicemail feature on your iPhone. You can try ending the Phone process abruptly and relaunching it.

Swipe up on your iPhone screen for it to show all the running applications. Swipe right or left to navigate the apps until you find the Phone application. Now, swipe up on this application to end it.

This application can be opened through the main screen and sometimes when you receive calls.

Turn Cellular Data On And Off

For some reason, voicemails have been disrupted when cellular data is active on iPhones. You can try switching cellular data off and back on, on your iPhone. You can do it either through the settings or through the Control Center.

To draw the notification shade, you must swipe down from the top of the screen. We suggest you place your phone aside for about a minute before toggling cellular data back on.

Turn Off Wi-Fi And Turn It Back On

If the internet is the factor that is an obstacle to the internet, there is no way it can be detected. You can only try disabling sources of internet connectivity to your iPhone.

The second in line is the wireless network or Wi-Fi. You can simply toggle it off in the notification shade or the settings. Optionally, you can also try resetting the network by pushing the tiny reset button on the back of the modem.

Disable And Re-Enable Airplane Mode

Airplane mode is a stand-alone feature that can instantly disable all methods to connect with a different person. When this is enabled, the mobile cannot access cellular data, wi-fi, or send messages and make calls. This also includes voicemail. Maybe refreshing the connectivity services on their iPhones can help with it.

This feature can be enabled and disabled like Wi-Fi and cellular data in the notification shade and iPhone settings. The iPhone checks for available connections or connectivity sources when flight mode is turned off. This means that the connections get refreshed.

Disable Call Forwarding

Call forwarding and voicemail together have caused a lot of problems. If you think this could be the possible reason for this issue, you may have to compromise with the call forwarding feature. This is your procedure to turn off call forwarding on an iPhone.

  1. Open the iPhone settings.
  2. Locate the Phone setting and go into it.
  3. Now, tap the Call Forwarding option and toggle it off, if activated.

Download iOS Updates

Updating the iOS to a newer software version can help eliminate many issues if they carry the fixes. Even if this does not fix the target issue, you may get new features and fixes for other solutions. This is the method to download and install updates for your iOS.

  1. Go into Settings and touch the General settings.
  2. Now, tap on the Software Update option. Here, you will be able to download the update.
  3. Reboot your iPhone to install the updates.

If you wish for your iPhone to download updates automatically, you can enable it through the Automatic Updates option on the Software Update page.

Download Carrier Settings Updates

The Carrier Settings are a set of iPhone configurations that manage intricate settings. These settings usually host updates for iPhone APNs and MMS settings. New Carrier updates bring new features or performance improvements when downloaded and installed.

The latest version of these settings offers your iPhone maximum functionality and productivity. These updates are not the same as iOS version updates. If you do not know how to update the carrier settings, use the below steps.

Launch the iPhone settings and go into General > About. Here, if available, you will see the option to download carrier updates. When you download updates, a prompt dialog box appears for confirmation.

Touch the Update option to download the updates. Once the download is complete, you will have to restart your iPhone to install the new carrier updates.

Change The Date & Time Settings And Time Zone

An incorrect date, time or both can be responsible for many network and communication-related issues. This is to avoid the confusion caused by forcing the phone to communicate with a device that does not go simultaneously. You can manually change the time on your iPhone and also align it with a specific timezone and this is how you can.

  1. Launch the iPhone Settings and move to the General option.
  2. Tap the Date & Time settings.
  3. On this page, you will be able to change the time and the date for your iPhone. If you wanted your iPhone to connect to the internet and set the time and date with core from your time zone, choose the Set Automatically option.

Refresh The Network

A few solutions ago, we suggested resetting the network itself. This can be done with the help of the reset button or by turning the modem off and back on. That is not the same as this solution, where we will refresh the network. While the previous solution would have changed all the network configurations, this one wouldn’t.

Open the Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings. You will be asked to enter the network password. Then, you must choose the second Reset Network Settings option for the process to start. This takes no time to reset. You might have to enter the security password again to connect back again.

Talk To The Service Provider

The cellular service provider can also be responsible for your voicemail to provide poor quality when there are issues from their side. This is because voicemail also falls under the cellular service jurisdiction.

Most errors from the service provider can be connected with a faulty or unavailable signal. You can do nothing about this except wait for the issue to be dealt with.

Service providers, generally, warn their users before such issues. If you haven’t received such information, talk to the service provider’s customer support. They could be able to give you instructions and other information regarding this voicemail issue.

Most of their suggestions are to check the signal and move to a spot with good cellular coverage.

Talk To Apple Support

The Apple Support web page has an exclusive section set up for voicemail, offering solutions to queries asked by people. If you have a genius bar near you, you can always take your iPhone to them.

We recommend doing so, as facing the issue can give them a practical understanding of your issue. When we faced this issue, we spoke to Apple support, whose executive advised us to use most of the solutions above.

If it is a hardware problem, you have no option but to hand your iPhone to an authorized service center for repairs.

These are the solutions you can use to fix when the voicemail is not working or is of poor quality. We got this solution from an authorized Apple technical executive.

Some forums had solutions that offered some working solutions to this issue but not all of them were legit or did not work for us. We hope you can send and receive voicemails normally, without any technical hindrance.