Voicemail is an essential feature for staying connected because it allows you to receive important messages even when you can’t answer calls. Voicemail is particularly beneficial for professionals, travelers, and anyone who needs to stay reachable without being constantly on the phone. However, like any smartphone feature, your iPhone’s voicemail feature can sometimes experience issues that disrupt its functionality.

Advertisement

Voicemail issues on iPhone can range from simple loading issues to more complex situations, like not being able to hear messages or voicemails not appearing at all. Sometimes these are software issues or network issues, while other times it could be due to configuration settings that need to be adjusted.

The good news is that troubleshooting iPhone voicemail issues is usually simple. From adjust voicemail settings To perform system updates, there are several things you can do to get your voicemail working again on your iPhone. This guide will walk you through each of them. So, let’s take a look.

Before diving into advanced troubleshooting tips, it’s a good idea to check that your voicemail is enabled. To check, open the Phone app, tap the Voicemail tab and see if you can access your messages. If you can’t, tap the Setup button and follow the on-screen instructions to enable voicemail. If voicemail is already set up, your mailbox may be full. In this case, tap Edit in the upper right corner of the Voicemail tab. Next, select the voicemails you want to delete and tap Delete in the bottom right corner.

Advertisement

Another thing you should do is review your voicemail greeting. If not set up correctly, callers may be deterred from leaving a message. Go to the Voicemail section of the Phone app and tap Greetings to check your current settings. You can opt for a default greeting or record one to ensure callers can easily leave a message.

Finally, you should try restarting your iPhone. This can help resolve any temporary glitches or minor network issues that may be causing the problem. To do this, hold down one of the volume buttons and the side button until the power off slider appears. After that, slide the power slider to your right, wait for your iPhone to turn off completely, then turn it back on by long-pressing the power button again.

Advertisement

A common reason you may not receive voicemails on your iPhone is if your calls are redirected to another phone number via call forwarding. To ensure that calls reach your iPhone and are not redirected elsewhere, you will need to disable the call forwarding function. Here’s how to do it:

Advertisement

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone and scroll down to tap Apps.
2. Find and tap the Phone app from the list.
3. Select Call Forwarding and turn off the toggle in the following menu.

Additionally, network reception also plays a crucial role in the transmission of voice messages. If you are in an area with poor cellular reception, your iPhone may have difficulty receiving voice messages. Enabling Wi-Fi calling allows your device to use a Wi-Fi connection to make calls and receive voice messages when cell service is low. To enable Wi-Fi calling on your iPhone, go to Settings > Apps > Phone > Wi-Fi Calling. Next, turn on the Wi-Fi Calling on this iPhone toggle. Note that Wi-Fi calling generally doesn’t incur additional charges, so there’s normally no harm in leaving this feature enabled.

Voicemail issues could be caused by a buggy or outdated iOS version. Apple frequently releases software updates to resolve such issues. essential to keep your iPhone up to date. To check for available software updates, open the Settings app, scroll down and select General. Next, tap Software Update. If an update is available, simply download and install it. After installation, test if voicemail is working properly.

Advertisement

Mobile carriers also periodically release updates, which can improve your device’s connection to their network and improve services such as voicemail. Although your iPhone will usually notify you when a carrier update is available, there may be times when you miss the notification or the update fails to install. Fortunately, you can manually check for carrier updates by doing the following:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Scroll down to tap General.
3. Tap About.

If an update is available, you will see a prompt to update your carrier settings. Once installed, voicemail services should work as expected.

Reset your iPhone’s network settings can help resolve any connectivity issues that may affect voicemail functionality. However, it’s important to note that this process erases saved Wi-Fi networks, Bluetooth connections, and VPN configurations, so you’ll need to reconnect to them afterward. Despite this minor inconvenience, resetting network settings can effectively resolve network-related issues or misconfigured settings causing voicemail malfunctions. To reset network settings on your iPhone, follow these steps:

Advertisement

1. Open the Settings app and go to General > Transfer or Reset iPhone.
2. Tap the Reset option at the bottom and select Reset Network Settings from the resulting menu.
3. Enter your iPhone passcode and select Reset network settings again to confirm.

Once your iPhone has completed the network reset, try accessing your voicemail again: it should work fine. If not, it might be time to contact your carrier for help. Since voicemail is a service provided by your carrier, the problem could be due to an outage, server maintenance, or an error in your account settings. Contacting your carrier’s support team will allow you to check for service outages or request a reset of your voicemail configuration. The carrier can also verify that your voicemail is set up correctly on your account and offer additional troubleshooting if necessary.