If your iPhone only rings once or you’re getting notifications for missed calls but didn’t hear your iPhone ring at all, it’s probably due to misconfigured settings, software glitches, or hardware issues. Consistently missing important calls due to these issues isn’t ideal for personal or professional reasons.
In this guide you will find the steps you can take when your iPhone only rings once or fails to ring when calls come in.
Solutions When Your iPhone Only Rings Once and Then Go Silent
If your iPhone only rings once and then go silent, you should try troubleshooting it by following these steps:
1. Disable Do Not Disturb or Focus Mode
When your iPhone is in Do Not Disturb mode, incoming calls will be sent directly to voicemail without ringing. The same applies if you have a Focus mode activated that’s configured to block calls (on iOS 15 or later).
To verify if Do Not Disturb or Focus is activated, swipe down from the top-right corner of your iPhone’s screen to access the Control Center. Look at the rectangle adjacent to your brightness controls – if it displays Do Not Disturb, Driving, Sleep, or something similar, it’s activated. Tap this button to turn off Do Not Disturb or Focus mode.
2. Verify Custom Ringtones
If your iPhone isn’t ringing for a particular caller, and that person isn’t blocked, it’s worth checking if a custom ringtone assigned to them is functioning properly.
You can adjust a contact’s ringtone using the Phone app. Launch the Phone app and navigate to the Contacts tab at the bottom. Choose the contact whose ringtone you wish to modify. Tap Edit located in the top right corner of the contact’s page. Select Ringtone, then opt for a standard ringtone from the provided list. Afterward, initiate a test call to determine if your iPhone now rings as expected.
Attempt to play the ringtone and evaluate its volume. It’s plausible that it might contain a silent segment or be too faint for you to hear adequately, particularly in a noisy environment. If uncertain, revert to a standard ringtone and observe if this resolves the issue.
3. Bluetooth or headphone mode
Ensure your iPhone isn’t in Bluetooth or headphone mode Your iPhone might be stuck in headphones mode, directing your ringtone to a device that isn’t actually connected. This could include unplugged earbuds or a Bluetooth device that’s turned off.
Here are a couple of steps to try and reset your iPhone’s audio connection:
- Insert earbuds into your phone and then remove them to prompt the phone to recognize no earbuds are inserted.
- Confirm you’re not linked to another audio device. Swipe down from the top right corner of the screen to reveal the Control Center. Tap the Airplay icon in the music pane (you’ll either see a triangle with three circles or an icon resembling earbuds), and if anything besides the iPhone is chosen, opt for the iPhone.
- Turn Airplane Mode on and off by tapping the airplane icon in the Control Center.
4. Disconnect Bluetooth Audio Devices
If you keep wireless audio devices such as AirPods connected to your iPhone, your incoming call ringtone might play through them instead of the phone’s speakers. This is particularly common with third-party earbuds that don’t automatically detect when they’re being worn.
To disconnect all wireless devices, access the Control Center and tap the Bluetooth icon. Bluetooth is disabled when the icon changes from blue to gray.
5. Restart Your iPhone
Restarting your device is a straightforward and effective method to resolve common issues with minimal hassle. If your phone still doesn’t ring after attempting the previous solutions, try restarting your iPhone by turning it off and then back on manually.
Luckily, restarting your iPhone is a simple process, even if its buttons are not functioning.
6. Check that the number isn’t blocked
Apple provides the option to block particular phone numbers, which can be useful if you receive numerous telemarketing and spam calls.
To ensure you haven’t inadvertently blocked an important number, you can review your list of blocked numbers. Simply open the Settings app, tap on Phone, then scroll down to choose Blocked Contacts. If there’s anyone listed here who shouldn’t be, swipe left and tap Unblock.
7. Deactivate Silent Mode
Ensure that your iPhone’s Ring/Silent switch isn’t set to Silent. This switch is located on the left side of the phone, above the volume controls.
It should be positioned closer to the screen. If it’s flipped downward (with a red band visible), it’s in silent mode.
8. Verify your iPhone’s volume
If your ringtone volume is too low, you might miss incoming calls, especially if your iPhone is in your bag. This can give the impression that your iPhone didn’t ring at all. You can easily rectify this by increasing the ring volume. Here’s how:
- Open Settings and tap on Sounds & Haptics.
- Adjust the Ringtone and Alert Volume slider to the right. The further right it is, the louder your ringtone will be.
- Additionally, on the same page, consider toggling off Change with Buttons. This prevents accidental reduction of the ringtone volume when adjusting volume in gaming or video apps. With this option disabled, the volume buttons only affect media volume, not your ringtone volume.
9. Deactivate “Silence Unknown Callers” setting
If you’ve enabled the iPhone’s Silence Unknown Callers feature to reduce interruptions from spam and unknown callers, you may find it occasionally blocks calls you want to receive. When this feature is active, calls from unknown numbers bypass the ringer and head straight to voicemail.
To disable this feature, follow these steps: Open the Settings app, tap on Phone, then select Silence Unknown Callers. On the Silence Unknown Callers page, swipe the button to the left to turn off this setting.
10. Disable call forwarding
Call forwarding can be useful for redirecting incoming calls to another phone temporarily. However, if you’re not receiving any calls on your iPhone, there’s a possibility that you’ve set up call forwarding and all calls are being redirected to another number.
To verify and disable call forwarding on your iPhone, follow these steps: Open the Settings app, tap on Phone, then select Call Forwarding. Toggle off Call Forwarding by swiping the button to the left.
11. Enable Cellular Data or Connect to a Wi-Fi Network
This solution is relevant if you’re receiving missed call notifications on apps like WhatsApp and Messenger, but your iPhone didn’t ring when the caller tried to reach you.
Messenger apps like these require an active internet connection to function properly. Therefore, if your iPhone isn’t connected to the internet, these apps will only notify you of missed calls once your device regains internet access.
If you frequently rely on third-party apps for texts and calls, it’s advisable to keep your mobile data enabled or connect your iPhone to a Wi-Fi network throughout the day. To enable Cellular Data, access the Control Center and tap the Cellular Data toggle-it will turn green when enabled. For Wi-Fi connectivity, navigate to Settings > Wi-Fi and select an available network to connect to.
12. Reset Your iPhone
As a last resort, if none of the previous methods resolve the issue, you can try the following:
Navigate to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset All Settings. This action won’t delete personal data such as music, photos, and apps. However, all customized settings, including Wi-Fi configurations, Home Screen layout, notifications, and others, will revert to their default states.