my iphone Xs Max keeps dropping calls

I may finally have the answer! According to a co-worker who was at the Apple Store several times over this issue... Go to settings>Cellular>Cellular Data Options - and make sure the Enable LTE is turned to Data ONLY and not Voice & Data. He said since he has done this a few months ago, it has stopped dropping those 2 second calls. It DOES NOT do anything to your voice calls. I did it yesterday and am still talking just fine on the phone... and, it hasn't dropped one yet.

Good afternoon VictorRG,

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities!

I understand you are experiencing some dropped calls on your iPhone XS Max. The first thing I would suggest is to make sure you have upgraded to the most recent iOS (currently iOS 12.1.2). Check to see if there are any carrier updates needed for your iPhone as well.

Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Update your carrier settings on your iPhone or iPad

Here are some general troubleshooting steps you can try. If the issue still persists, then I would contact your wireless carrier to investigate on their end as well.

If you can't make or receive calls on your iPhone

Take care.

It is not Verizon. It is definitely the iPhone. I have a android Pixel XL (personal phone) setting directly beside my XS max (work phone) at all times and never drop/miss calls with the android.

This has been going on since November for me and I make and receive over 100 phone calls a day. They only permanent fix is to turn off LTE calling in cellular settings. Resetting network settings or rebooting works temporarily.

hop it is a software issue because but I have been waiting for a fix for 4 months and either apple doesn’t care or isn’t aware of the issue.

Quick update on this. I called Apple and apparently these phones (X and newer) have e-sims in them. Basically an imbedded SIM card. I called Verizon and had them swap my number to the e-sim. I now have my number on both the physical SIM card, “primary sim” in settings, and e-sim, “secondary sim” in settings. I turned the physical sim (primary) line off in cellular settings and I am strictly using the e-sim (secondary). So far so good it’s been about 2 days and I am not see the issues with VoLTE and call dropping I was. However, I need more time before I say this is a decent fix for the issue.

Hi,

It's been a while since I last posted. Since I received the Version 2 Sim Card (I'm with Verizon), my phone has worked fine without any dropped calls. I haven't had to mess with VoLTE and adjusting the settings. I was skeptical that this Version 2 Sim Card would work, but so far, I've been lucky. It's been a couple weeks now since I replaced the SIM. I didn't go through Verizon to get the SIM card. I went directly to the Apple Store to voice my concerns and to come up with a solution. I was at the point where I was going to just trade in the phone and go back to my previous phone.

Prior to the Version 2 Sim Card, my phone was dropping calls (like most everyone else that has posted) right after connecting (both inbound and outbound - within about 2-3 seconds). It happened on ~ 70% of my calls (or at least that's what it felt like). So far, so good with whatever this Version 2 SIM Card has changed/upgraded.

You can go into your settings and go to LTE and turn off voice and leave it in data only. The calls come through just fine. I did this months ago and haven’t dropped a call since then. I just can’t use data and be on a call at the same time, but I rarely run into an issue trying to do both.

I had this problem too. Called Apple Tech Support. Changed two settings:

Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options > Enable LTE > set to Data Only

Settings > General > Background App Refresh > Background App Refresh (set to off)

I have not had a single dropped call since. Also the dropouts during calls is gone and the data/iMessage lags are gone.

You may want to play with Background App Refresh setting to ON only for the apps you need but I set it off completely and have not noticed any issues so far.

Hi, after 3 XS Max, and after Apple Care phoning the store, I went into a shop and said that I was rejecting the phone under consumer law. If you’re in the UK, they can offer you a replacement or a repair. There is no point however either of these because I’m not sure whether its a mass hardware or software issue. This issue isn’t resolved by following usual algorithms of service. I did absolutely everything, reset carrier settings, I changed my carrier, reset phone as a new one and still the calls dropped. In the UK I was able to reject the model after it had been replaced and the issue still persisted. I fear that there is a mass issue with this model and they aren’t speaking about it. The Apple store eventually agreed and swapped my XS Max to an 11 Max which is able to perform its function as a phone. They restarted my Apple care from new but I had to pay £50 difference. I probably could have argued this point but At the time au was just relieved. In summary, check out your consumer law and use that. Hope this helps.

The software update to 12.3.1 has fixed this for my wife, my brother-in-law, myself, and several co-workers.

I am not sure what they did but it hasn’t happened to all of us once since updating.

Verizon switched out my SIM card it seems to work while you are at the store right after a reboot but a day or so later you will have the same issue. Verizon even replaced my brand new phone for a refurbished and still have the same issue. Which now that I think about it is BS I had to replace my screen protector. So finally after arguing with a customer service rep at the store and talking to a manager. The manager finally tells me there is a fix which is to eliminate the LTE from the cellular calls. And it’s only an issue with Verizon. The customer service rep had no idea about this issue? Really? So all that after arguing for ten minutes that I bought a new phone and cannot make calls.👏👏👏good job Verizon....

I received a new physical SIM card and activated it on Monday. It was an ordeal and I was on the phone with Verizon for over an hour before we finally got everything working correctly. They took my number off the e-sim and activated it on the new physical SIM card but I had no VoLTE after the first attempt. It was set to Data and when I tried to check the Voice & Data option in settings to turn it on, it would give the error “Cannot Activate LTE calling, please contact Verizon. The Verizon lady couldn’t figure it out because my plan has it and the phone was saying could not activate. She had to push the activation through multiple times and I had to reboot the phone multiple times before it finally started working correctly. I lost iMessage and had to rest that too.

So far the phone hasn’t had the call drop issue since doing this, but I am not convinced this fixed it either yet. I will give it a few more days to see if it happens again.

Maybe be it isn’t necessarily a software issue but an issue with the set up on Verizon network. Some phones get set up correctly when first activated and some don’t. This would explain why some have the issue and some don’t.

I just don’t see how rebooting or resetting network settings would fix a hardware issue. I could be looking at it completely wrong though.

It's been exactly 6 days since I had the SIM Card replaced at the Apple Store. So far, no issues what so ever. The Apple Store Rep said it was a Version 2 SIM Card. I have no idea what that means or what specific changes were made to the SIM card to make it a Version 2, but it has held up so far.

I'm not sold yet this is all over and resolved. There are plenty of reports where it worked for a few days and then the problem returned. I will provide updates as I can in the coming days on if things are still good or if the dropped calls return.

Today Verizon reset my VoLTE provisioning while I was having the issue. I received a pop up message that VoLTE had been disabled, checked and it fixed it immediately.

Kevinden2012, we may have different problems. What is happening to me is very consistent and it persists until the phone is rebooted. The call is made or received and within 2-3 seconds of the person answering the line goes silent and then 15-20 seconds later I receive a call failure notice.

I can confirm the Version 2 SIM card I received from the Apple store has fixed this issue for me. It’s been 4 days and the call dropping issue hasn’t happened. It definitely would have happened already prior to this. I have dropped a few calls due to signal strength, but the call failure after a few seconds is gone. Thank you SV1432 for the suggestion on the Version 2 SIM card.

Hello! I called Apple Tech Support. The helpful lady explained it "may" be something to do with the fact I transferred to the new XS Max by ICloud download. I have since, wiped the phone clean, set up as new iphone then updated via cable into to Itunes.

FINGERS CROSSED IT IS WORKING FINE SO FAR!!

She said it may have been something in the Icloud back up that the phone didn't like!?? I don't care but at least it is, so far, working fine!!

Let me know!