Picture this: You’re waiting for an important phone call. You’ve double-checked your iPhone to make sure the ringer is on and you’ve turned the volume all the way up. When the phone rings, you’re going to hear it. 5 minutes go by and you glance at your iPhone, only to find out you’ve missed the important call! Don’t throw your phone at the cat. In this article, I’ll explain why your iPhone won’t ring and I’ll show you exactly how to fix it.
Martha Aron inspired me to write this article when she asked, “My iPhone does not ring on all calls, I miss lots of calls and texts because of this. Can you help me?” Martha, I’m here to help you and everyone else that has missed incoming calls and texts because their iPhone isn’t ringing.
You Probably Know This, But Check Anyway…
If you’re reading this article, you probably already know that for your iPhone to ring, the Ring / Silent switch on the side of your iPhone has to be set to ring.
If the switch is pulled toward the screen, your iPhone’s ringer is turned on. If the switch is pushed toward the back of the iPhone, your iPhone is on silent and you’ll see a small orange stripe next to the switch. You’ll also see the speaker icon on the iPhone display when you flip the switch.
Once you’re sure the Ring / Silent switch is set to ring, make sure your iPhone ringer is turned up so you can hear your iPhone ring when you get a call. You can turn up the ringer volume by pressing the volume up button on the side of your iPhone.
You can also turn up the ringer volume by opening Settings -> Sounds & Haptics. Drag the slider under Ringer And Alerts to the right to turn up the ringer volume on your iPhone. The further you drag the slider to right, the louder the ringer will be.
If your iPhone isn’t making any sound at all, my article about what to do when an iPhone speaker stops working will show you how to fix that problem. If you’ve already done all this, here’s why your iPhone isn’t ringing:
Here’s The Fix: Turn Off Focus Or Do Not Disturb!
Most of the time, the reason an iPhone isn’t ringing for incoming calls is that the user has accidentally turned on Focus (iOS 15 and newer)Â or Do Not Disturb (iOS 14 and older) feature in Settings. Focus and Do Not Disturb silence calls, alerts, and notifications on your iPhone.
How Do I Know If A Focus Or Do Not Disturb Is Turned On?
The easiest way to tell if a Focus or Do Not Disturb is turned on is to open Control Center and look in the upper right-hand corner of your iPhone, just to the left of the battery icon. If a Focus is enabled, you’ll see the corresponding Focus icon there. If Do Not Disturb is enabled, you’ll see a small moon icon there.
You can schedule a Focus to automatically turn on by opening Settings and tapping Focus. Tap the Focus you’d like to schedule, then tap Add Schedule or Automation.
If you’d like to dive deeper into Do Not Disturb and set up an automatic schedule, instance, head to Settings -> Do Not Disturb to see all the options available to you.
How Do I Turn Off A Focus?
Open Control Center by swiping up from the very bottom of the screen (iPhones without Face ID) or down from the upper right-hand corner of the screen (iPhones with Face ID). Tap on the Focus icon to turn it off.
How Do I Turn Off Do Not Disturb?
Ever since Apple released iOS 7, it’s been easy to turn Do Not Disturb on and off. Open Control Center and tap the moon icon to turn Do Not Disturb on or off.
You can also turn off Do Not Disturb or Focus by going to Settings -> Do Not Disturb and turning off the switch next to Do Not Disturb. You’ll know Do Not Disturb is off when the switch is white.
If your iPhone is running iOS 15 or newer, open Settings and tap Focus -> Do Not Disturb and turn off the switch at the top of the screen.
Turn Off “Silence Unknown Callers”
One reason why you have an iPhone ringing problem may be because your block unknown callers feature is turned on. This feature is great for stopping telemarketers and robocalls in their tracks, but unfortunately it also filters out some people that you actually do want to talk to.
To turn this off, head over to Settings -> Phone and turn off the switch next to Silence Unknown Callers. Once you’ve done that, your phone should be able to ring again when someone who isn’t in your contacts tries to call you.
What If My iPhone Still Won’t Ring?
I’ve received a couple of comments from readers who have taken all of the suggestions and whose iPhones still aren’t ringing. If you’ve made it this far and your iPhone isn’t ringing, there’s a good chance you may have a hardware problem.
Often times, when gunk or liquid gets into one of the ports (like the headphone jack or lightning / dock connector), your iPhone thinks there’s something plugged into it, when in fact there isn’t. My article about how to fix an iPhone that’s stuck in headphone mode explains why that happens and how to fix the problem.
It’s a long shot, but you can take an antistatic brush (or toothbrush you’ve never used before) and try to brush out the gunk from your headphone jack or lightning / dock connector port. Antistatic brushes are helpful for cleaning all sorts of electronics, and you can pick up a 3-pack on Amazon for less than $5.
If you’re successful, the issue should resolve itself. Unfortunately, most of the time the damage has already been done. Something has shorted out on the inside of your iPhone, so the only solution is to visit your local Apple Store or use the mail-in options at Apple’s support website to have your iPhone repaired.
Now might also be a good time to upgrade your iPhone. Repairs can be expensive, especially if more than one thing is wrong with your iPhone. Rather than spending hundreds of dollars on a repair, you could use that money to purchase a new phone. Check out UpPhone’s cell phone comparison tool to find a great deal on a new iPhone!
Wrapping It Up
Do Not Disturb is one of those great features that comes in handy if you know how to use it, but it can be really frustrating if you don’t. To Martha and everyone else who has missed important calls or yelled “My iPhone won’t ring!” at an innocent bystander, I hope this article has you to solve your silent iPhone problem. If you have follow-up questions or other experiences to share, post them in the comments section below. I look forward to hearing from you!
Thank you!!!
Thank you!!! Have had this issue for a couple of months. You rock!
fantastic. thank you –
Thank you Dave so much!!
Once again you easily fixed an annoying problem! I really do love you (okay, maybe not YOU – you but your awesome Payette Forward website and philosophy.
I never knew about the switch!!!! Thank you
I did all those things. My iphone rings when i do a sound test, but when i get incoming calls or texts, it remains silent. I also checked Sounds > Ringer and Alerts (volume up); and Sounds > Change with Buttons (on). Might be hardware problem, but my phone is clean, and like i said, the iphone rings to my own tests of sounds–just not when i get incoming calls (or text myself, for that matter).
Thank you so much for an easy solution!!
Thank you! This was the problem! (do not disturb accidentally turned on).
Thanks wasn’t aware of the switch
DUH..Da switch!
Thank it was the switch!
Plugging in and taking out headset worked!
Thank you!!! Do not disturb was on and I didn’t even know it was there!!!!!
Both suggestions worked. This is the first time I have ever heard my phone ring.
My iPhone stopped ringing after the recent update
Thanks for your tips, it helped! The switch was pressed away from the iPhone screen for some reason.
I thank you and I thank your entire family. That little crescent moon icon is so subtle. Thanks again, your writing style is very helpful to, you don’t make your reader feel dumb
You just helped me too! xo
Thanks, David. My ringer switch was set to off. Don’t know it got into that position but I’m hoping the problem is solved. I just have to remember to keep an eye on that orange stripe and to eliminate it when I see it. Thanks again for your solution. Dave
THANK YOU
It was the switch… Thank you sooooo much!
Thank you. I forgot the little button above the volume ones. Turn my ringer off when I was in the hospital.
Thank you for the additional info. I could not increase or decrease the volume at all. None of the other fixes were apropos to my problem. However, when you mentioned the hardware/headjack, opened it and blew into it. It now works!! THANKS
David, there is also a problem when using an iwatch. For some reason, the setting get transferred and can only be turned back on through some communication with the watch.
I’m on a business trip for a week and forgot my iWatch at home. I can ONLY get my phone to vibrate for texts… no ding ding. When I get home it will fix itself when I’m in contact with the iWatch I’m sure.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
So simple!!
My Iphone SE(6) wont ring in LTE mode but will ring in 3G. Whats up with that? Tried all tricks above
Yes, the small button on the left side! It. it works now! Thank you so much!
So thankful – problem solved.
I replaced my iphone 7, 4 times with a brand new one and got also 7 , they all arrive to the same problem – after about a week of operating, the sound and vibration for alarm and phone calls stops working, in addition to that, videos, voice memos, voice messages don’t play. If I reboot the phone, that all comes back exactly for one week, and it goes dead again. Worked with Apple for about a month, went to Apple store 4 times, we run dozen of diagnostics – no result. The whole Apple team cannot figure out what… Read more »
Hello, I have done all that and my phone still doesnt ring. I do have ‘announce calls’ feature switched on (always had it) so at least the phone talks to me and tells me who is calling or tells me ‘unknown number’ but it still doesnt ring> What else can I do? If I do a hard reset, what I am going to lose from my settings?
Omg thats crazy bug. I was adjusting volume and i saw the volume bar (not signalling “silent” but normal) and it still didnt work, until i switched small hardware button above volume buttons which switches silent and normal mode. Then ringing again started working. Notice that before the problem occured i activated DND mode, but i disabled it also after and phone was not ringing.
thank you ever so much it hekped me
Interesting. I read your article. tried you solutions but that did not work. It didn’t seem to be hardware (becasue some alerts were sounding, but ringtone was not – nor was itunes tracks). I then thought it must be a software issue. So I rebooted the phone, and all is resolved. Very strange.
Okntheres only on number that wont get through on my ohine and thats my sisters and thats the one that i need ti be abke to get to me in case of an emergency becouse shes not in the best of health
I just tried rebooting the phone and that worked.
I am going to try iresq.com. Thanks for the recommendation. The other solutions did not work for me this time. but the DO NOT DISTURB switch has been the problem in the past. I also tried resetting the volume, a suggestion I found somewhere else, and that did not work either.
ALSO i had no ring problem when i rest my iphone to let hubby use. I entered contacts for him but the do not disturb had ” only calls from favorites ” there were no contacts for favorites. i put ” allow from everyone and now the phone rings…..
You’re welcome. I love you too!
David
You suggested a simple fix that in retrospect I should have done since I made the same mistake about a year ago. I found your suggestions very clear, easy to follow, and very helpful–and they appear to cover the water front. Such is rare. Thanks.
“…you probably already know that for your iPhone to ring, the ring / silent switch …”. Well, maybe I knew, maybe not. But that was the problem! Thank you.
Bill
I will give it a try
Omg thank you because if I had a cat it was on danger of the phone flying at it. I have been messing with it for a week! Toggle switched off. Uggggh lmao
Thank you! I was losing my mind trying to find the setting. I’d never (intentionally) used the switch.
Thank you so much :)))))))) it was stuck in headphone mode
I would have never guessed it
Kind regards :)))))))
It was that stupid little switch on the side but I appreciate that. Thank you
No I have to admit my ringer was turned OFF so thank you very much. A few days ago I told my wife to turn down the volume on my phone, and she did, she turned it completely off. Good Wife. After reading your note about the switch on the left side of my Iphone I checked mine and it was in the off position. When you tell someone to turn down the ringer volume some use the switch. From now on it’s CHECK SIDE SWITCH FIRST. Thanks so much.
Thanks so much! It was the Do Not Disturb feature
Thanks for the reminder. Happened before, but slipped my mind. Thanks again.
very helpful. It solved my problem. Thank you!
The ringer works for texts but not phone calls. Took my phone to T-Mobile to see if they could help. They turned the power off and then turned it on. They then called my phone and it rang. When I got home, it didn’t ring. I tried turning the power off and back on. Still didn’t work.
Help!!