A number of iPhone owners were relaying a recent issue about incoming call alerts that seemed to appear late on their respective devices. The so-called incoming call delay issue has plagued users of the iPhones running iOS 11 or later platforms. What happens is that when an incoming call arrives, the call alert display comes after some delay like a few seconds.
As a result, many people would miss to answer some important calls. It then turned out to be an iOS bug or attributed to some system glitch, which can be remedied by performing some tweaks at home. To give you some inputs, I’ve lined up some of the most effective solutions for you to try on. Read on to learn what to do in case you’ll be facing the same problem on your iPhone XS Max, wherein incoming call alerts come later as intended.
If you have other problems however, visit our troubleshooting page as we’ve already addressed some of the most common issues with this device. Browse through the page to find issues that are similar with yours and feel free to use the solutions we suggested. If you still need our help, fill up our questionnaire and hit submit to contact us.
How to troubleshoot iPhone XS Max with incoming call delay problem
Before doing anything, check and ensure that your iPhone is getting a strong cellular network signal. Intermittent or weak network signal can likewise trigger occurrence of the same symptoms. If your iPhone signal is weak or not stable, you will need to deal with network or cellular problems first for phone calls to work as they should. Otherwise, start troubleshooting software errors with these subsequent solutions.
After performing each method, place a test call to your iPhone XS Max using a different device to find out if the problem is fixed or not.
First solution: Soft reset or Force restart your iPhone XS Max.
If this is the first time you encounter the incoming call delay symptom on your iPhone XS Max, then it’s likely just a random glitch transpiring on the phone apps or iOS. The simplest solution to this would be a soft reset or system restart. If that fails, then you can do the alternative force restart instead. Here’s how a soft reset is done:
- Press and hold the Side/Power button and either Volume buttons simultaneously for a few seconds.
- Release the buttons when the Slide to Power Off command appears.
- Drag the power off slider to the right.
- After 30 seconds, press and hold the Power/Side button again until the phone reboots.
To force restart your iPhone XS Max, simply follow these steps:
- Press and quickly release the Volume Up button.
- Then press and quickly release the Volume Down button.
- Finally, press and hold the Side/Power button until the Apple logo appears.
Both these restart methods wipe junk files stored as cached on the phone memory including corrupted temporary data that might have triggered the phone app to glitch.
Second solution: Install the latest iOS version available for your iPhone.
Should this problem be attributed to software bugs and malware, installing the latest iOS update on the phone will likely fix it. Software updates usually contain fix patches to get rid of bugs that caused different symptoms and troubles on the phone. You can manually check for over-the-air (OTA) updates if your iPhone is connected to the Internet.
- To check for new over-the-air (OTA) iOS updates, go to Settings-> General-> Software update menu.
If a new iOS version is available, you will see an update notification containing the software version and other relevant information.
Before updating, secure all your important files by backing them up to iCloud or iTunes. Once you’re done creating backups, select the option to Download and Install new update on your phone. Don’t forget to reboot after the update installation to ensure all new system changes are properly implemented and likewise to prevent apps from acting up.
Third solution: Reset all settings on your iPhone XS Max.
To rule out invalid settings and incorrect configurations from the underlying cause, clear all customized settings on your iPhone XS Max and then restore the default options and original values with these steps:
- From the Home screen, tap on Settings.
- Tap General.
- Scroll down to and tap Reset.
- Select the option to Reset all settings. This erases all customized settings and options without affecting any saved information.
- If prompted, enter your device passcode.
- Then tap the option to confirm all settings reset.
You will know if the reset is finished when your iPhone reboots by itself. After it boots up, all default options and original settings are loaded. Enable the features you need to use on your phone including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and the like.
Fourth solution: Reset and restore factory default settings on your iPhone XS Max.
The problem you’re dealing with must be very complex that the symptom recurs after applying prior methods. This therefore denotes the need for tougher solutions. At this point, your next option would be a full system reset or master reset. But before doing so, create copies of your critical files so you can still recover and use them later. Note that a master reset wipes everything from the phone system hence all added contents are deleted. Once you’re all set, follow these steps to master reset or factory reset your iPhone XS Max:
- Tap Settings from the Home screen.
- Select General.
- Scroll down to and then tap on Reset.
- Select the option to Erase all content and settings.
- Enter your device passcode when asked to proceed.
- Then tap the option to confirm factory reset.
Wait for the phone to finish resetting and restoring factory default settings then reboots automatically. When it finished booting up, follow the initial setup wizard to set up your iPhone XS Max as new.
Fifth solution: Restore your iPhone XS Max in recovery mode through iTunes.
If a factory reset still failed to address the problem and the incoming call delay symptom persists, you can troubleshoot your device further and this time try restoring iOS in recovery mode. This will put your device in a recovery state, to repair and restore the operating system to its normal and working state using iTunes. Here’s how to perform a recovery mode restore on your iPhone XS Max:
- Connect your iPhone XS Max to your computer using the Apple-supplied USB/Lightning cable.
- While it’s connected, press and quickly release the Volume Up button.
- Then quick press and release the Volume Down button.
- Next, press and hold the Side/Power button and continue to hold as it restarts. Don’t release the Side/Power button when the Apple logo appears as you need to put the device in a recovery state.
- Release the Side/Power button when you see the Connect to iTunes logo on the screen.
- On your computer, navigate to iTunes then you should see a message saying that your connected iOS device is in recovery mode and prompts options to update or restore.
- Select the Restore option to wipe everything from the phone system and then restore iOS through iTunes.
Wait for iTunes to finish restoring and downloading the latest software available for your phone. Once the system restore is complete, you can disconnect your iPhone XS Max from the computer.
Seek more help
Contact your network service provider or carrier to verify and ensure that there are no temporary outages transpiring in your place. Network outages can also trigger similar symptoms to occur particularly on network-related services. If you’ve confirmed that there are no outages but your iPhone XS Max is still having the same problem with incoming call delays, then you should report the problem to Apple Support for further assistance and official suggestions. Just let them know exactly of what happened or how your iPhone ended up having the symptom.
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