How To Fix iPhone Calls Going Straight To Voicemail (iOS 14)

iPhone calls going straight to voicemail in iOS 14

iPhone calls going straight to voicemail in iOS 14


You’ve updated to iOS 14 but iPhone calls are going straight to voicemail, without ringing? This issue can be caused by a setting that hasn’t been configured properly, by an iOS 14 bug or carrier-related problems. Phone calls not coming through and going direct to voicemail have been reported for both the iPhone 12 range, as well as older iPhone models.

An iPhone call that’s going straight to voicemail can cause you to miss important news. Affected users claim that they’re notified about a new voicemail being available, although the iPhone is turned ON, has cellular signal and Do Not Disturb mode is disabled, so there is no reason for the device not to ring and display a missed call.

7 Ways To Fix iPhone Calls Going Straight To Voicemail

There are many causes that can route a call directly to voicemail and each of them comes with its own fix. The main reason that redirects a call to voicemail is the lack of cellular signal. Before you start, make sure that your iPhone isn’t running in Airplane Mode and that you’re in an area that has cellular coverage:

  • 1. Reboot iPhone

  • Before you start tweaking settings and apply other more complex troubleshooting steps, we recommend you to reboot your iPhone. A fresh start gut flush out minor glitches and fix calls redirecting straight to voicemail issue.
    How To: Quickly click & release Volume Up, followed by Volume Down and press & hold the Side Button until the Apple logo is displayed on the screen. Be patient until your device reboots. Call yourself from a different number to see if the voicemail bug has been fixed.

  • 2. Do Not Disturb & Do Not Disturb While Driving

  • how to set do not disturb while driving
    When Do Not Disturb mode is enabled, calls will be automatically routed to your voicemail. You have to check that both regular as well as DND while Driving are disabled. This is available in the Control Center, if you previously added the toggles or from the Settings app.
    How To: Browse for Settings -> Do Not Disturb. Tap on Activate under, available under the Do Not Disturb While Driving category. Set for Manually, to eliminate any iOS 14 bug that could accidentally determine that you’re driving and send iPhone calls directly to voicemail!

  • 3A. Check ScreenTime

  • (Updated, January 19)
    WhatsApp voice calls going straight to voicemail might be caused by ScreenTime restrictions. You can check this in:
    Settings -> ScreenTime -> Communication Limits

    Tip: Check the Allowed Communications option and make sure that this isn’t the reason for your calls being redirected to voicemail!

  • 3B. Disable Silence Unknown Callers

  • how to fix iphone calls going straight to voicemail
    iPhone calls from numbers that are not saved as Contacts can be sent directly to voicemail if the Silence Unknown Callers feature is enabled:
    Open Settings and browse for Phone -> Silence Unknown Callers. Turn the option Off.

  • 4. Enable Announce Calls

  • An iOS 14 bug could make iPhone calls to go straight to voicemail unless the Announce Calls feature is enabled. This option uses Siri to speak out the name of the caller when a new call is incoming. The feature is useful when you’re using Headphones, because you know who’s calling without needing to pick up your phone.
    How To: Settings -> Phone -> Announce Calls (Always).

  • 5. Enable Call Waiting

  • Another iOS 14 setting that could force incoming calls directly to voicemail is Call Waiting. Instead allowing an incoming call to wait until you finish your current discussion, the caller will either receive the busy tone or will be instructed to record a voice message.
    How To: Settings -> Phone -> Call Waiting (On)

  • 6. iPhone 12 No Service Issue

  • Some iPhone 12, 12 mini, 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max owners are plagued by the No Service bug, that causes their devices to unexpectedly lose cellular signal. If a call is incoming during this outage it will be redirected straight to voicemail. The quick fix is to enable Airplane Mode and disable it, to force the iPhone to reconnect to the nearest cell tower. For more details about this problem please read here.

  • 7. Carrier Related Issue

  • An iPhone 11 user reported that all incoming calls were going straight to voicemail since updating to iOS 14. He managed to fix the issue only after visiting his AT&T local store to replace SIM card. Apparently, there’s an internal AT&T system setting that was causing calls on his device to go direct to voicemail.
    Tip: To see if your in the same boat, you can eject the SIM card from your iPhone and use it with another smartphone. Are calls still going straight to voice message? Contact your carrier!

  • Extra Fix: Remove Third Party App

  • Using third-party calling and messaging apps such as magicApp could cause your iPhone calls to go straight to voicemail. In this case you have to offload or delete the app in question. Does it work?

Have you managed to fix iPhone calls going straight to voicemail with one of the tips provided above? Use the comments section and let us know. Are we missing something? Don’t hesitate to let us know.

Related: Other common problems occurring in iOS 14 are:
Messages notifications bug that randomly causes alerts for iMessages and regular SMS text to stop working. The glitch also issues a read receipt to the sender, without the receiver even knowing that he got a new message.
iPhone keyboard lag when attempting to type in Messages.
Unexpected app crashes and iPhone returns to Home Screen.
Sound Recognition bug crashes the Settings app whenever the users attempts to edit settings.