KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Airplane mode, Focus mode, call forwarding, and blocked numbers can prevent your iPhone from receiving incoming calls on iOS 18.
- To fix an iPhone that is not receiving calls after an iOS 18 update, ensure you’re within cellular coverage, turn off Airplane mode and Focus mode, check call forwarding settings, and disable Silence Unknown Callers feature..
- If the problem persists, check for carrier setting updates, restart your iPhone, toggle Airplane Mode on and off, reinsert your SIM card, reset your network settings, or update your iPhone. Contact your network provider if these steps don’t work.
Note: this article is about regular phone calls. If you’re not receiving FaceTime calls, see this article.
Your phone has one main job: make and receive calls. What happens when iPhone isn’t receiving calls after iOS 18 update? Let’s find out why your iPhone isn’t getting calls after iOS 18 update and how you can fix the issue.
Why Is Your iPhone Not Receiving Calls after iOS 18 update?
There are many reasons why your iPhone isn’t receiving phone calls after iOS 18 update. One of the most common is having Airplane mode enabled. When Airplane mode is enabled on an iPhone, nothing that depends on a network connection works. This means no calls can be received or made. Also, if you are outside your phone’s cellular coverage area, you won’t be able to receive incoming calls on your iPhone.
Turning on call forwarding can also stop calls from getting to you. Instead, it passes on the call to the designated number. If Focus Mode is enabled on your iPhone, all the incoming calls will be silenced. A glitch in iOS 18 can prevent the phone calls from getting to your iPhone.
Finally, if you have blocked the number that is trying to reach you, you will not receive calls from them.
How to Fix When Your iPhone Isn’t Receiving Calls after iOS 18 update
Try each of these solutions to fix the issue causing your iPhone not to receive calls.
Turn Off Airplane Mode
When you turn on airplane mode, your phone automatically disconnects from cellular networks. You cannot receive phone calls on your iPhone when airplane mode is on.
Turning off airplane mode on an iPhone is easy. Just swipe down from the top right of your screen and tap on the airplane icon to disable Airplane Mode. Once you disable it, you will be able to receive calls.
If Airplane Mode is turned off, turn it on, wait five seconds, then turn it back off.
Turn Off Focus Mode
If you’ve enabled Focus Mode like Do Not Disturb, it will block all notifications, calls and alerts from reaching your iPhone. To check this:
- Tap Settings.
- Tap Focus.
- Tap Do Not Disturb.
- Make sure Do Not Disturb is off.
Now, your iPhone should be able to receive calls.
Check for any blocked phone numbers
If you’re not receiving phone calls from a particular number, it might be on your iPhone’s blocked contacts list. You’ll need to remove it from the blocked list to get calls from it again.
- Tap Settings.
- Tap Apps.
- Tap Phone.
- Tap Blocked Contacts.
- Scroll through the list of blocked numbers (if there are any) and look for the phone number which you are not receiving calls from.
- If you see it, swipe the number to the left and hit Unblock.
Disable Call Forwarding
If you’re still not receiving calls on your iPhone, the Call Forwarding feature might be enabled in the Settings app. Call forwarding lets you redirect your phone calls to another number automatically. With the setting enabled, you won’t receive phone calls on your iPhone but rather on the number you’ve designated to forward to instead. Here’s how to check:
- Tap Settings.
- Tap Apps.
- Tap Phone.
- Tap Call Forwarding.
- Make sure Call Forwarding is off.
Now, your phone calls will come straight to your iPhone and will not be redirected.
Disable the "Silence Unknown Callers" Option
Your iPhone can silence"Unknown" callers automatically by enabling the feature in settings. With Silence Unknown Callers enabled, any calls from unknown numbers are sent straight to voicemail. You’ll still see the call in your call log under Phone > Recent. This can cause issues since some important calls may come from obfuscated numbers. Here’s how to check this:
- Tap Settings.
- Tap Apps.
- Tap Phone.
- Tap Silence Unknown Callers.
- Make sure Silence Unknown Callers is off.
If the setting is on, a caller must be listed in your Contacts or Recents. Or they must have shared their number in Mail or sent you a message using that number in order for their call to go through. Add their number to Contacts to ensure the phone rings. Calls from some third-party apps might not go through.
Check for a carrier settings update
Your carrier will occasionally release updates to improve call quality, data speed, and overall network stability. These updates also contain important fixes for bugs that might be causing network-related issues on your device, like the one you’re facing.
- Tap Settings.
- Tap General.
- Tap About.
- If a carrier settings update is available, you’ll see an option to install it. Once installed, test to see if you can receive calls. If nothing appears, you can assume your carrier settings are up-to-date.
Check for an iOS software update
It’s possible that you’re not receiving calls on your iPhone due to a bug in your current iOS 18 version. You will need to update the software on your iPhone to resolve this sort of problem.
- Tap Settings.
- Tap General.
- Tap Software Update.
- If a new version of iOS 18 is available, you’ll see an option to download and install it.
After updating your iPhone, test again to see if you can receive calls.
Try to receive calls in another location
One of the main reasons you’re not receiving calls on your iPhone in iOS 18 could be due to poor network connection. Check the status bar to see whether you have a cellular signal by looking at the left side of the screen.
If your signal is weak or you have no signal at all, try moving to a different location and see if you can receive phone calls.
Restart your iPhone
It’s possible your iPhone isn’t getting calls after iOS 18 update due to a temporary software glitch. In this case, the best troubleshooting step is to restart your iPhone. This will reboot the iOS system, which can potentially get rid of any temporary glitches that may be causing problems (like not receiving calls.
- Tap Settings.
- Tap General.
- Tap Shut down.
- Move the power off slider to the right to turn off your iPhone.
- Wait a few seconds for your phone to turn off completely.
- Press and hold the Side button to turn your iPhone back on.
You can also ask Siri to restart your iPhone for you or hold down the side and volume up button until you see the slider appear.
When your phone comes back on, you should be able to receive calls on your iPhone.
Reinsert Your SIM Card
If restarting your iPhone doesn’t work, you may need to take the SIM card out of your iPhone and put it back in. This will reset whatever problem is stopping you from receiving calls and can even help you know if your SIM Card isn’t properly set in the tray.
Shut down your iPhone first. Then, use the SIM ejector tool to push into the hole beside the SIM tray to release it. (This tray is located on the left side of your iPhone. Take out the SIM card and check for damages before putting it back in properly.
Your iPhone should now be able to receive phone calls.
Reset your network settings
If you still can’t get calls to work, it’s time to reset network settings on your iPhone. This will revert all network settings to their default values. This will also cause your iPhone to forget the passwords of any previously connected networks. Be sure that you have the passwords or can access them before you proceed with the reset process.
Nevertheless, this can get your calls coming through again.
- Tap Settings.
- Tap General.
- Tap Transfer or Reset iPhone.
- Tap Reset.
- Tap Reset Network Settings. This will erase all current saved settings, including Wi-Fi passwords, preferred networks, and VPN and APN settings that you’ve used before.
Contact your carrier
Contact your carrier if you still can’t receive phone calls on iOS 18. When you contact your carrier, make sure you let them know all of the troubleshooting steps you’ve tried. They will help clear up any technical or payment issues and get your iPhone to receive calls again.