iPhone Not Ringing? Here’s How to Fix It

If your iPhone isn’t ringing when you get a call, it can quickly become a frustrating—and even serious—problem. You might miss important calls from family, work, or your doctor without even realizing it. Fortunately, there are several simple steps you can take to fix the issue. Whether your iPhone is completely silent, too quiet, or only sometimes rings, this guide will walk you through what to check and how to get your ringer working again.

Let’s start with the basics and work our way through the more advanced fixes.

Note that we previously covered similar topics. This article includes latest iOS features and iPhone models.

1. Start with the Obvious: Mute Switch and Volume

It might sound too simple, but it’s worth checking:

• Mute switch: Make sure the physical switch above the volume buttons isn’t flipped toward silent mode. If you see an orange line, your phone is muted.
• iPhone Models with an Action button: These models replaced the mute switch with the Action Button, which can be customized. Make sure it’s not set to silent mode by going to Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Silent mode. These iphone models include: iPhone 16e with iOS 18.3 or later, and iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max with iOS 18.4 or later.
• Volume: While on the Home Screen, use the volume buttons to turn up the ringer. (The volume buttons only control the ringer volume when you’re on the Home Screen—not while inside apps.)

2. It Rings—But It’s Too Quiet?

If your iPhone rings but you can barely hear it:

• Test your speaker: Go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Ringtone > Classic, then tap Old Phone to play a loud sample. If it works fine, choose a ringtone that’s easier to hear.
• Attention Aware Features: Your iPhone may lower the volume if it notices you’re looking at the screen. Check this by going to Settings > Face ID & Passcode, enter your passcode, and turn off Attention Aware Features if needed.

3. No Ring at All? Check for Missed Calls First

Open the Phone app > Recents. Do you see missed calls?

• If there are no missed calls, the calls may not be reaching your phone at all. This likely means a carrier or network issue. In that case:
  • Contact your carrier like Verizon or T Mobile to check for local outages.
  • Ask them to verify that Call Forwarding or instant voicemail forwarding isn’t active on your line.
  • Some carriers enable features like No Answer Transfer, which forwards missed calls to another number. If you don’t want this, ask your carrier to disable it.

4. If Calls Are Reaching You (But Still No Ring)

If missed calls do show up in your Recents, that means your phone is receiving them—but something else is preventing it from ringing. Try the following:

Silence Unknown Callers

• Go to Settings > Phone. If Silence Unknown Callers is on, any number not in your contacts will go straight to voicemail.
  • If you choose to keep this setting enabled, make sure Dial Assist is turned on. This helps your iPhone match incoming numbers with contacts correctly.
  • Tip: Doctors, banks, and delivery services may not call from their listed numbers. Keeping this setting off can help avoid missing important calls.
  • Some users report that toggling this setting off and back on again can resolve ringing issues.

Call Forwarding

• Still in Settings > Phone, check if Call Forwarding is on.
• Even if it appears to be off, some carriers can override this setting—so it’s worth double-checking with your carrier.

Focus Modes and Do Not Disturb

• iOS 14 and earlier: Go to Settings > Do Not Disturb. Turn it off, and also disable Scheduled.
• iOS 15: Head to Settings > Focus, and make sure all Focus modes are off.
• iOS 16 and later: Swipe into Control Center and turn off the Focus mode if it’s active.

Ringtone Settings

• Go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics and make sure a ringtone is selected. If no sound is assigned, your iPhone won’t ring.

Auto-Answer

• Check Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Call Audio Routing, and make sure Auto-Answer Calls is turned off.

Communication Limits (Screen Time)

• Navigate to Settings > Screen Time > Communication Limits.
• Tap each section and confirm that both are set to Everyone, so your iPhone can ring for all contacts.

5. Final Step: Restart Your iPhone

If everything looks right and it still won’t ring, try restarting your iPhone. A simple reboot often clears up temporary glitches.

• Hold the side button and either volume button until the power slider appears. If your iPhone has a Home button, then only press and hold the side button.
• Slide to power off, wait a few seconds, then press and hold the side button again to turn it back on.

Still stuck? If none of the above solutions work, you can try Reset All Settings by going to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset All Settings. This won’t delete your data but will restore system settings to default. If that doesn’t solve the problem, contacting Apple Support might be your best next step.