Not receiving all phone calls

When I get a call from someone not in my contacts ( ane sometimes even in my contacts) it goes straight to email. I do not have "silence unknown calls" on. How can this be fixed?


Posted on Nov 7, 2022 9:31 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 9, 2022 8:40 AM

FIRST: Are there missed calls in Phone/Recents on the phone? If they are not the problem is in the network, because the calls aren’t getting to your phone. Contact your carrier: 

  • check with your carrier that they don’t have a local outage, and that you didn’t have any settings that would have immediately invoked voicemail, such as call forwarding.
  • check up on them at Down Detector - outages


If they are in Recents here’s what to check:


  • Check the MUTE switch on the left side of the phone, above the volume buttons. It should be towards the screen
  • Check the volume setting. With the Home screen displayed, press the VOLUME UP button on the left side of the phone. It’s above the VOLUME DOWN button.
  • Go to Settings/Phone. There’s a switch for Silence Unknown Callers. If it is on any calls from numbers not in your contacts will go directly to voicemail.
  • Also in Settings/Phone: Make sure Call Forwarding is off.
  • iOS 14 & older: Go to Settings/Do not Disturb. Turn it off if it is on. Also turn off Scheduled. With both off none of the other switches there matter.
  • iOS 15 or later: Go to Settings/Focus, and verify that all focus settings are disabled.
  • Go to Settings/Sounds & Haptics. Make sure there is a sound assigned to Ringtone.
  • Go to Settings/Accessibility/Touch/Call Audio Routing and make sure Auto-Answer Calls is off.
  • Go to Settings/Screen Time/Communications Limits. Tap each of the 2 entries and make sure both are “Everyone"
  • Restart your phone-->RESTART your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support
  • If all else fails, talk your carrier into replacing your SIM card (thanks to ASC user DShelbyD)


2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 9, 2022 8:40 AM in response to patty388

FIRST: Are there missed calls in Phone/Recents on the phone? If they are not the problem is in the network, because the calls aren’t getting to your phone. Contact your carrier: 

  • check with your carrier that they don’t have a local outage, and that you didn’t have any settings that would have immediately invoked voicemail, such as call forwarding.
  • check up on them at Down Detector - outages


If they are in Recents here’s what to check:


  • Check the MUTE switch on the left side of the phone, above the volume buttons. It should be towards the screen
  • Check the volume setting. With the Home screen displayed, press the VOLUME UP button on the left side of the phone. It’s above the VOLUME DOWN button.
  • Go to Settings/Phone. There’s a switch for Silence Unknown Callers. If it is on any calls from numbers not in your contacts will go directly to voicemail.
  • Also in Settings/Phone: Make sure Call Forwarding is off.
  • iOS 14 & older: Go to Settings/Do not Disturb. Turn it off if it is on. Also turn off Scheduled. With both off none of the other switches there matter.
  • iOS 15 or later: Go to Settings/Focus, and verify that all focus settings are disabled.
  • Go to Settings/Sounds & Haptics. Make sure there is a sound assigned to Ringtone.
  • Go to Settings/Accessibility/Touch/Call Audio Routing and make sure Auto-Answer Calls is off.
  • Go to Settings/Screen Time/Communications Limits. Tap each of the 2 entries and make sure both are “Everyone"
  • Restart your phone-->RESTART your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support
  • If all else fails, talk your carrier into replacing your SIM card (thanks to ASC user DShelbyD)


Nov 9, 2022 8:36 AM in response to patty388

Hello patty388,


Being able to receive all incoming calls is important and we're glad you had the chance to rule out "Silence Unknown Callers" as a potential contributor to the issue. In addition to checking that setting, have you verified that these contacts and numbers aren't blocked? If not, follow the steps listed below to verify these contacts and numbers aren't blocked. You can also find these steps outlined in the following article.


  1. Tap Settings.
  2. Tap Phone.
  3. Tap Blocked Contacts


If you see the contacts or numbers here, tap Edit towards the top-right of the display, followed by the red circle and minus sign, then tap Unblock. This will unblock the contacts and numbers, and should allow for these calls to come through without issue.


Block phone numbers, contacts, and emails on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch


In addition to checking if the contacts are blocked, you may find the steps in the article below helpful. While the article references not receiving any calls, these steps can still be helpful when not receiving some calls.


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


Let us know how that goes!

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Not receiving all phone calls

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