You are not getting any calls from any of your friends or contacts so you think that you’re iPhone is not receiving calls. This can be acceptable if it only happens in a day but if it keeps doing the same thing for more days or week, that’s another story. Most people couldn’t afford to be missing calls even in a day especially those who are relying much on phone calls to carry out business and personal transactions.
In this post, we will address an issue on the iPhone 7 Plus calls that go straight to voicemail. So basically, you won’t get any calls on your iPhone unless you open your voicemail. Read on to learn why this happens and what should be done to fix the problem.
Possible reasons as to why your calls go straight to voicemail
This particular iPhone 7 Plus call issue is inflicted by several factors including No Service, Do Not Disturb, and Carrier Settings to name some. In most cases, calls are going straight to voicemail because DND is activated or Do Not Disturb While Driving is enabled on your iPhone.
In most cases the problem is associated with the software, hence your chance of fixing it on your end is definitely higher. Outlined below are possible solutions and workarounds you can use should you attempt to fix the problem by yourself. You may start working on the closest or most applicable method to save time and effort unless you are not certain of the root cause.
Potential Solutions and Recommended Workarounds
Be sure to test your iPhone and see if calls can go through after performing each step. Proceed to the next applicable solution, if necessary.
First Solution: Check and ensure that your iPhone is getting good signal
If your iPhone 7 Plus shows No Service on the status bar, it means that it’s not getting a signal from the cell towers. Perhaps your iPhone is too far away to connect to the network towers or getting intermittent signal. Another possibility is on Airplane Mode that is turned on. To rule these things out from the possible causes, verify and ensure that Airplane mode is off or disabled and that your iPhone is getting good signal strength from your network.
- You can access and configure Airplane Mode through the Control Center or by going to Settings-> Airplane Mode-> then toggle the switch to turn the feature on or off.
Note that when Airplane Mode is enabled, both Wi-Fi and Cellular connections are turned off so you won’t be able to receive calls or text messages. This can be the reason why you are not getting any calls on your iPhone 7 Plus and assumed that they go straight to your voicemail.
Second Solution: Verify and ensure Do Not Disturb is off
Do Not Disturb or DND is an iPhone feature that is used to silence all incoming calls, text messages notifications, and alert sounds on your iPhone. But unlike silent mode, Do Not Disturb will send incoming calls directly to voicemail. You will know if Do Not Disturb feature is turned on if you see a crescent moon icon on the left of the battery icon on your status bar.
If you see the crescent icon, it denotes that DND is enabled and the reason why your calls go straight to voicemail. To turn off this feature, follow these steps:
- Open the Control Center by swiping your finger up from the bottom of your iPhone screen.
- On the Control Center, locate the crescent moon icon then tap it with your finger. Doing so will turn off Do Not Disturb.
Alternatively, you can turn off Do Not Disturb on your iPhone 7 Plus by going to the Settings menu.
- To do so, tap Settings-> Do Not Disturb-> tap the switch next to Do Not Disturb to turn the feature off.
Also make sure that your iPhone is not configured to automatically turn on Do Not Disturb in certain conditions like when you go to sleep or while your iPhone is locked.
- To check, head over to Settings-> Do Not Disturb-> tap Scheduled to turn off schedule for enabling the feature automatically.
You can also turn off Do Not Disturb on your iPhone 7 Plus using Siri. Here’s how:
- Press and hold the Home button to open Siri.
- Say, “Turn off Do Not Disturb.”
- Wait until Siri responds and lets you know that Do Not Disturb is turned off.
In iOS 11, a new relevant feature is added. It is called Do Not Disturb While Driving. It can also be the reason why you are not getting any calls on your iPhone as they all go straight to your voicemail because this feature is enabled. As the name implies, Do Not Disturb While Driving is a new feature that turns on automatically when your iPhone detects that you are driving a car. This can be the culprit if your iPhone won’t ring when using it in your car.
- You can add, access and configure this feature on your iPhone Settings-> Control Center.
- To add a Do Not Disturb While Driving icon on the control center, go to Settings-> Control Center-> scroll down and tap the green plus (+) sign on the left side of the Do Not Disturb While Driving. After doing so, open the Control Center by swiping your finger up from the bottom of the screen, then tap the Do Not Disturb While Driving icon to turn the feature on or off.
Third Solution: Enable Announce Calls feature
The recent version of iOS integrates a new Announce Calls feature for users to configure how often or when their device should announce calls. Among the options to choose from are Always, Headphones and Car, Headphones Only, Never. Other iPhone users who have dealt with the same problem on calls going straight to voicemail were able to obtain solution by setting Announce Calls to Always. If you want to give it a try, here’s how you do it:
- Go to Settings.
- Tap Phone.
- Tap Announce Calls.
- Select Always from the given options. You will know if it’s selected when a checkmark appears next to it.
Reboot your iPhone after making this option change and then try to see if calls can now go through.
Fourth Solution: Update carrier settings
Carrier settings allow your iPhone to connect to your carrier’s wireless network. Any changes including those that are brought by carrier settings update can also affect relevant functions on your iPhone including incoming calls. You are also likely to encounter problems connecting to your carrier’s network especially if your iPhone’s carrier settings are out of date. Outdated settings may lead to connectivity issues between your iPhone and your wireless carrier’s network. As a result, incoming calls go straight to your voicemail.
To eliminate this from the possible causes, check for carrier settings update on your iPhone and then install the update, if available.
- To check for this settings update, go to Settings-> General-> About section. You will be prompted with an alert message saying that “New Settings are available. Would you like to update now?” if a carrier settings update is available for your iPhone.
- Tap Update to proceed with update download and installation.
Perform a test call after updating carrier settings on your iPhone to see if calls can now go through. If not, try the next method.
Fifth Solution: Update your iPhone in iTunes
Updates also contain bug fixes including those that might have affected your iPhone’s calling functions, triggering phone calls to go straight to voicemail. So if you haven’t done it already, update your device to the latest version of iOS available through iTunes. Here’s how:
- Backup your iPhone if necessary.
- Connect your iPhone to the computer using the supplied USB cable.
- Open iTunes on the computer.
- Wait for iTunes to recognize your iOS device.
- Select your iPhone 7 Plus by clicking the iPhone icon in the upper left hand corner of iTunes.
- Click the option to Check For Update.
- If an update is available, you will get a notice. Click Update to get the latest update downloaded and installed on your iPhone.
Be sure to keep your iPhone connected to your computer until the update installation is finished.
Sixth Solution: Reset Network Settings
If the problem started after making some changes to your iPhone’s network settings, then that’s probably what’s inflicting trouble. If possible, try to revert the changes you’ve made back to when things are working fine. However, if you’re not sure of which settings or options to reconfigure, you may go for reset network settings instead. Doing so will give your iPhone’s network a fresh start and fixes any of your iPhone’s network components that may have been problematic. To Reset Network Settings on your iPhone 7 Plus, follow these steps:
- Tap Settings from the Home screen.
- Tap General.
- Scroll down and tap Reset.
- Select Reset Network Settings.
- If prompted, enter your passcode to continue.
- Wait until the network reset is complete. Your iPhone will then reboot when it’s done.
After the reset, you will need to set up your Wi-Fi network and re-enter your Wi-Fi passwords. Be sure you have them noted down beforehand.
Seek More Help
If the problem persists and your iPhone 7 Plus calls still go straight to voicemail, contact your network service provider/wireless carrier to escalate the issue. Sometimes, problems like this are may be due to any known issues on your network service provider’s end, and only they can fix it.