iPhone calls going straight to voicemail

contacts on my phone like doctor offices and business contractors are going to my voicemail. They are not blocked. They are added to my contact list, but they appear in red instead of black.

iPhone 14 Pro Max, iOS 16

Posted on Aug 17, 2023 5:10 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 17, 2023 5:15 PM

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 - Crowdsourced outage checker


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.
    • If you keep it on, in Settings/Phone make sure Dial Assist is enabled; it is needed to accurately match an incoming call to a contact.
    • Remember that banks, doctors and other professionals may not call you from the same number that you have in your contacts for them.
  • 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: Go to Settings/Focus, and verify that all focus settings are disabled.
  • iOS 16: Open the Control Center and turn off Focus.
  • 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)


93 replies

May 21, 2024 9:21 AM in response to MLKAHANE

iPhone 11 Pro Max goes straight to voicemail when anybody tries to call me. Some of the people are in my contact list, and some are even on my favorites list. I do not even get notified that they tried to call me all of my do not disturb Settings are off and actually have never been turned on. Airplane mode is off and yet I still don’t get calls. It’s obvious my all the comments that this is an ongoing problem for iPhones. When is the ETA to fix this?

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iPhone calls going straight to voicemail

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