Guide to Fix iPhone Not Ringing for Incoming Calls

Has your iPhone suddenly stopped ringing for incoming calls? Do you often get a lot of missed calls when you take your iPhone out of your pocket or bag? Do your friends complain that you are not picking up their calls and the truth is you didn’t hear the iPhone ringing? If your answer is yes to any (or all) of these questions, then you need to deal with this issue. We have compiled several possible solutions for glitches that prevent your iPhone from ringing for phone calls.

The solutions in this guide are for landline/cell calls, FaceTime calls and WhatsApp, Zoom, Skype etc. Applies to video and audio calls from third-party apps such as Before trying the suggested troubleshooting solutions below, your iPhone isn’t connected to any Bluetooth audio device like AirPods or other external speakers. These audio devices can hijack your iPhone’s speaker and prevent it from ringing when you receive phone calls.

1. Disable Quiet Mode

First, make sure the switch on the left side of your iPhone is not set to Silent mode. In this mode, your iPhone will not ring or play sound when you receive cellular and app calls, notifications and likes. If the side switch is orange, it means your iPhone is set to silent. Move the switch up to set your device to Ring Mode.

Alternatively, go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics and move the ‘Ringtone & Alerts’ slider further to the right.

If your iPhone is still not ringing after you disable Silent Mode and increase the ringer volume, continue to the next solution.

2. Disable Do Not Disturb

This mode is specifically designed to silence incoming calls, messages and app notifications when your iPhone is locked. Whether your device’s ringtone profile is in Silent Mode or Ring Mode, Do Not Disturb mutes calls and notifications. To disable Do Not Disturb, open your iPhone’s Control Center and tap the violet crescent shape. You should see a message at the top of the screen that says ‘Do Not Disturb: Off’.

You can also disable Do Not Disturb from the Settings menu. Go to Settings > Do Not Disturb and turn off ‘Do Not Disturb’.

3. Reconfigure Call Settings

To prevent unwanted calls, Apple introduced a feature that allows users to automatically silence calls from numbers that are not saved on your iPhone. When enabled, you will not be alerted of incoming calls from unsaved numbers. Your iPhone will not ring and calls will be automatically sent to voicemail.

If you notice that only calls from saved contacts are ringing on your iPhone, you need to reconfigure the call settings to unmute calls from unknown callers. Here’s how.

Note: Disable Silent Unknown Callers is only available on iPhones running iOS 13 or later.

Stage 1: Launch the iPhone Settings menu and select Phone.

Step 2: Tap on ‘Silence Unknown Callers’.

Stage 3: Turn off ‘Silence Unknown Callers’.

Call your iPhone with a number not saved in your contacts and check that it’s ringing.

4. Restart iPhone

Turn your iPhone off and back on. This can also help clear up glitches that prevent your iPhone from ringing for incoming cellular and app phone calls.

5. Update iPhone

The iPhone calls not ringing issue often occurs on devices running the buggy iOS version as well. We discovered that this issue affects iPhone users running early versions of iOS 13. Apple has released subsequent versions of the operating system that do not contain this issue.

To fix this problem, simply update your iPhone to the latest iOS version. Go to Settings > General > Software Update and tap ‘Download & Install’.

6. Reset All Settings

As mentioned earlier, glitches in your iPhone’s call and volume settings can prevent phone calls from ringing. If none of the troubleshooting solutions fix the problem, try resetting your iPhone’s settings.

Stage 1: Launch the iPhone Settings menu and select General.

Step 2: Scroll to the bottom of the page and select Reset.

Stage 3: Select ‘Reset All Settings’ at the confirmation prompt.

Step 4:

Enter your phone’s passcode and tap ‘Reset All Settings’ at the confirmation prompt.

This reset option only restores your iPhone’s settings to factory defaults while keeping personal data.

Ring, Ring, Ring!

Some call blocking apps can also prevent incoming calls from ringing on your device. Typically, these apps are required to silence and block spam and telemarketing calls. However, sometimes they accidentally mute calls from real numbers in your contacts. So, if you have any spam blocker installed on your iPhone, empty or delete the app and check if you are aware of incoming calls now. If the problem persists, you should bring your iPhone to an authorized Apple repair center. Your device speaker may be damaged; Try playing a song to verify this though. Changing your iPhone’s ringtone (Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Ringtone) can also help.

Next: Do you often miss important calls because WhatsApp is not ringing when your iPhone is locked? Read the guide below to troubleshoot WhatsApp Call notification issues especially when your iPhone is locked.