How To Set Iphone To Ring For Phone Calls Only

8 ways to fix an iPhone that's not ringing properly

Updated

2021-04-05T15:12:19Z

on the iphone — When your iPhone won't ring, it could be due to incorrect sound settings or several other issues.

If your iPhone won't ring, it may be a volume or settings issue that can be easily resolved.
You should first try fixes like checking the volume and turning off Do Not Disturb or Silent mode.
Consider restarting your phone or having it serviced as a final step to fix your iPhone.
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If your iPhone isn't ringing properly, there may be several reasons why.

Before you attempt to service your phone for ringer issues, check that your iPhone doesn't have Do Not Disturb Mode enabled or that it's not stuck in headphone mode.

You should also make sure that your iPhone isn't on Silent, you haven't blocked any numbers, and that any custom ringtones are working properly.

Here are a few tips on how to fix your iPhone if it's not ringing.

Turn off Do Not Disturb mode

The Do Not Disturb icon is a crescent moon.

If your phone is in Do Not Disturb mode, incoming calls won't ring and they'll go straight to voicemail. When enabled, there's a crescent moon icon in your status bar. If you see it, here's how to disable Do Not Disturb mode.

1. Swipe up from the bottom of your Home screen.

2. If the Do Not Disturb button — which looks like a quarter moon — is highlighted, tap it to disable the feature.

Check that your iPhone isn't stuck in headphone mode

Test whether your phone is stuck in headphone mode.

It's possible that your phone is "stuck" in a mode in which it thinks it's playing the ringtone, but it's sending it to a device that isn't connected, like earbuds that aren't plugged in or a Bluetooth device that isn't turned on.

Here are a few things you can try to "wake up" your iPhone's audio connection so it's working properly:

Plug earbuds into your phone and remove them again to coax the phone into recognizing there are no earbuds plugged in.
Make sure you're not connected to another audio device by swiping up on the screen to display the Control Center. Then tap the Airplay icon in the music pane — it looks like a triangle with three circles — and if anything other than the iPhone is selected, choose the iPhone.
Enable and disable Airplane mode by tapping the airplane icon in the Control Center.

See if any custom ringtones aren't working

Custom ringtones may be creating ringer issues.

If the phone won't ring for a specific caller and that person isn't blocked, then check to see if it's a custom ringtone you assigned to them that isn't working.

On iPhones using iOS 12 and earlier, you can change the custom ringtone for a contact. Open the phone app, select their name from your contacts, and tap "Edit" in the top right corner of the contact's page. Under the "Ringtones" header, select a non-custom ringtone from the list of available options and then do a test call to see if your iPhone still won't ring.

For iPhone users with iOS 13 or higher, follow these steps to remove a custom ringtone before resetting the tone for a contact.

1. Open the Settings app.

2. Select "Sounds & Haptics."

3. Choose "Ringtone."

4. Locate the tone you want to delete from the Ringtones list before swiping left on it.

5. Tap the red "Delete" icon that appears to delete the ringtone.

6. Go back to your contact and assign a different ringtone to their profile.

Make sure the number isn't blocked on your iPhone

You might not be getting calls from blocked numbers.

Apple gives you the ability to block specific phone numbers, which is handy if you get a lot of telemarketing and other spam phone calls. To make sure you didn't accidentally block an important number by accident, follow these steps.

1. Open the Settings app.

2. Tap "Phone."

3. Tap "Call Blocking and Identification."

4. In the list of blocked calls, see if you have accidentally blocked any numbers. To unblock it, swipe it to the left and tap "Unblock."

Ensure your iPhone isn't on Silent

Make sure that the Ring/Silent switch is flipped up, which enables the speaker.

Make sure that your iPhone's Ring/Silent switch isn't in the Silent position. It should, of course, be flipped up toward the screen. If it's down (with a band of red visible) it's set to silent, and might have accidentally been bumped into that position.

Increase your iPhone volume

Check your volume to ensure it's not on silent.

It's possible the phone's volume is too low to hear it ringing. To fix a volume issue and make your iPhone louder, press the Volume up button on the left side of the phone until you can hear something.

You can then test if your iPhone ringer is not working by playing music or a video. If you hear noise, the issue is low ringer volume, not your ringer not working.

Restart your iPhone

If all else fails, consider restarting or force-restarting your iPhone. This is a last resort step when your iPhone runs into software bugs that cause the phone to run slowly or wonky, including if its sound or ringer has stopped working.

Dave Johnson

Freelance Writer

Dave Johnson is a technology journalist who writes about consumer tech and how the industry is transforming the speculative world of science fiction into modern-day real life. Dave grew up in New Jersey before entering the Air Force to operate satellites, teach space operations, and do space launch planning. He then spent eight years as a content lead on the Windows team at Microsoft. As a photographer, Dave has photographed wolves in their natural environment; he's also a scuba instructor and co-host of several podcasts. Dave is the author of more than two dozen books and has contributed to many sites and publications including CNET, Forbes, PC World, How To Geek, and Insider.