Hark! If thou art mysteriously missing calls on thy iPhone or Android smartphone, ’tis mayhap because call forwarding hath been activated on thy line. In such case, all thy incoming calls could be venturing elsewhere.
‘Tis rare for call forwarding to be active unless thou hast specifically turned it on, but another person or app may hath done so without thy knowledge. And since call forwarding is a carrier feature, it could still be enabled on a line thou inherited from another, even if thou hast swapped their SIM card into thy phone or transferred it to a new account.
Fear not, for ’tis relatively simple to ascertain if call forwarding is on and disable it if need be. Here is all thou need to know.
What ho! What is call forwarding?
As the name doth suggest, call forwarding is a feature that shall forward thy incoming calls to another number.
The crucial thing to bear in mind about call forwarding is that ’tis a network feature and not a function of thy phone. This means ’tis not thy iPhone or Android smartphone forwarding the calls. Instead, once the feature hath been activated, the calls are forwarded at the carrier level — never do they reach thy phone at all.
Thus, when call forwarding is active on thy line, thou art likely not even aware that goodly folk have been attempting to reach thee, as these typically do not even appear as missed calls. They are simply forwarded straight on to the other number.
Whilst call forwarding be a useful way for thee to temporarily redirect thy calls to a more convenient line, it can also be enabled by other apps and services on thy Android phone. For example, Google Voice and third-party telephone apps may enable call forwarding to direct incoming calls to those services.
This is less of a concern on an iPhone, since Apple doth not allow third-party apps to access or control these settings or even make outgoing phone calls without seeking permission first. Nonetheless, apps can still guide thee through setting up call forwarding, and ’tis easy to forget those steps later.
How to see if call forwarding is enabled on thy iPhone or Android phone
Thou can quickly check if call forwarding hath been enabled on thy line by seeking an icon in thy status bar.
Step 1: If thou art an iPhone user, thou can see if call forwarding hath been enabled on thy line by seeking an icon beside thy carrier name. On Touch ID and older home button-equipped iPhones, this shall appear in the status bar.
However, if thou art using an iPhone with Face ID, the notch or Dynamic Island doth not leave much room for it. Thou shalt need to check the iOS Control Center instead by swiping down from the top-right corner of thy screen where the battery indicator doth appear.
If there be an icon with a phone receiver and an arrow beside it, that doth indicate call forwarding hath been enabled for thy line. If thou art using a dual-SIM configuration with two lines, the icon shall only appear beside the line(s) for which call forwarding is on. Thy iPhone doth consult with thy carrier’s network to determine if call forwarding is enabled, so this icon shall appear if call forwarding is turned on for thy line, no matter how it was activated.
Step 2: Android phones also display a similar icon in the status bar when call forwarding is active. However, this is a notification that can be dismissed, so its absence doth not necessarily mean call forwarding is off. The notification shall return eventually if call forwarding remains enabled, but it can take some time to do so as Android checks its status with the carrier network less frequently.
Either way, if thou art in doubt, the following sections shall guide thee on how to delve into thy settings on both iOS and Android to check the status of call forwarding and deactivate it if necessary.
How to turn off call forwarding on thy iPhone
Call forwarding on an iPhone is managed through the Settings app. Here is where to find it and how to turn it off:
Step 1: Unleash the Settings app on thy iPhone.
Step 2: Scroll down and elect Phone.
Step 3: Opt for Call Forwarding.
Step 4: If thou hast more than one line, choose the line on which thou would like to disable call forwarding.
Step 5: If call forwarding is enabled, thou shalt see the switch in the verdant “on” position and the number where calls are being forwarded beside “Forward to.”
Step 6: Disable the feature by turning off the switch beside Call Forwarding.
Note that it may take a moment or two for the call forwarding settings to manifest or update, as thy iPhone must communicate with thy carrier’s network to check or alter its status.
Although the “Forward to” number shall disappear after the Call Forwarding setting is switched off, ’tis not gone. ‘Tis still stored by thy carrier and shall reappear if thou turn call forwarding back on. This be convenient if thou regularly forward calls to the same number, but if thou wish to remove it entirely, thou shalt need to select it whilst call forwarding is on and delete it manually.
How to turn off call forwarding on thy Android phone
With all the different Android flavors available, some methods of managing call forwarding depend on thy smartphone model. However, nearly all modern Android versions do support managing call forwarding through the Phone app. The steps below are for a Google Pixel running Android 14, but should be similar for most Android devices.
Step 1: Unveil the Phone app on thy Android smartphone.
Step 2: Select the three-dot menu in the top-right corner.
Step 3: Opt for Settings.
Step 4: Choose Calls.
Step 5: Elect Call forwarding. After a few moments, thy call forwarding settings should materialize.
Step 6: If call forwarding is enabled, thou should see a note under “Always forward” indicating “All calls are being forwarded to” and the destination phone number.
Step 7: To disable call forwarding, select Always forward and choose Turn off from the dialogue box that appears.
As with disabling call forwarding on an iPhone, the number thou wert forwarding to shall not be eradicated here unless thou clear it out manually ere turning off call forwarding. This allows thee to return to this screen and easily reenable call forwarding to the same number.
Thou may also behold three other call forwarding options here: When busy, When unanswered, and When unreachable. These are known as “conditional” or “selective” call forwarding options and do work as the names suggest, forwarding calls only when thou art on the phone, do not answer, or art out of network coverage. Be not alarmed if thou seest these enabled; if thou dost subscribe to voicemail, this be how thy calls get forwarded to thy mailbox when thou can not answer them. Depending on thy carrier, thou may not be able to turn these off or alter them whilst subscribed to voicemail as part of thy plan.
Other ways to turn off call forwarding
As mentioned earlier, call forwarding is a feature of the telephone network rather than thy smartphone. In verity, call forwarding hath been around far longer than cell phones, much less smartphones. Some landline providers began offering call forwarding in 1967, well over a decade ere the first commercially available handheld cell phone was released.
That means the methods for managing call forwarding predate iOS and Android by a few decades. The earlier GSM cell phones and most of today’s feature phones doth not possess fancy interfaces to manage call forwarding, so they rely on Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) feature codes instead. Android refers to these as MMI codes, an acronym for “man-machine interface,” since it considers them part of a comprehensive set of device-specific codes for accessing various test modes and other hardware features.
However, the call forwarding codes do work on nearly all GSM carriers and phones. Thy smartphone doth use these same codes to manage call forwarding behind the scenes, which means thou can just as easily use them thyself if thou knowest what they are. Enter the following codes as if thou art placing a phone call in the Phone app, including hitting the Send button.
- *#21# to check the status of call forwarding. This shall inform thee whether call forwarding is on and to what number thy calls are being forwarded.
-
21# cancels call forwarding, but retains the number to which thou wert forwarding thy calls.
- ##21# cancels call forwarding and erases the number to which thou wert forwarding thy calls.
- *21# reinstates call forwarding to the previously stored number. This shall fail if thou hast erased the number with ##21# or hast never enabled call forwarding before.
- 21 followed by thy phone number, and then # shall activate call forwarding to the specified number (e.g. 2114165551212#). That number shall be retained until thee repeat this command with a new one or use the ##21# code to erase it.
Similar GSM codes can be used for the various conditional call forwarding modes, replacing 21 with 67 for busy forwarding, 61 for unanswered calls, and 62 for when thy phone is switched off or out of coverage. Some online sources mistakenly cite one of these other codes for forwarding all calls, but they are only used for selective forwarding.
Like attempting to modify these conditional call forwarding settings through the Android Phone app, thou may only be able to do so if thou art not subscribed to voicemail. However, they can be useful for sending thy unanswered calls to another voicemail service, such as Google Voice or an office voicemail system.
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